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Why I Don't Want an iPhone - and Really Want an iPod touch
Apple Seduction: The iPhone and iPod touch
Apple lobs $100 credit at iPhone buyers
The iPhone Bubble Bursts
Q&A with Jobs: 'That's What Happens In Technology'
Getting Inside Google's gPhone
The iPhone Price Cut: Just Smart Marketing
iPhone Price Cut: 10 Reasons Why Apple Did It
A Sinking Feeling Down in San Antone?
Why I Don't Want an iPhone - and Really Want an iPod touch
Low End Mac's Ted Hodges says:
It was eight months ago that the iPhone was announced to much acclaim. It is by far the most advanced (and the coolest) phone in the history of the world, but it does have a few problems:
1. It only has one carrier: AT&T. This means that if you're not already with AT&T, you need to ditch your current carrier and possibly pay a big penalty.
2. It costs too much. Some would argue that it costs way too much, but in a world where people pay $600 for a Playstation just so they can play the latest games, I would say that it is a bargain.
Apple resolved both of these issues (and, in the process, created a new issue) by announcing the new iPod touch.
The new iPod touch looks just like the iPhone, except that it's a bit shorter and doesn't have the silver trim. The user interface (UI) is the same, it has the same multi-touch 3.5" LCD display, and it even has Safari and WiFi built-in.
I believe that it is nothing but an iPhone without a cellular receiver and a camera.
For the full commentary visit here:
http://lowendmac.com/hodges/th07/0906.html
Apple Seduction: The iPhone and iPod touch
Low End Mac's Dan Knight says:
Apple did it - they released an iPhone without the phone!
For those of us locked into service contracts, this is good news indeed. We can buy the new iPod touch and have almost all the functionality of the iPhone (no phone or camera) for as little as US$299. (That's for the 8 GB version. The 16 GB model, which has more flash memory than the iPhone, sells for US$399.)
Even with Apple slashing the price of the 8 GB iPhone from US$599 to US$399, not having to sign a two-year, $60 per month contract with AT&T Wireless makes the iPod touch a real bargain.....
I'm not exactly sure what I'd do with an iPod touch, but I want one. That's how lustworthy it is.....
We're all about value at Low End Mac, and you simply can't put a value on cool. That's most of what the iPhone and iPod touch have going for them. They are immensely cool, extremely well thought out, incredibly flexible tools for the digital lifestyle.
They're not the kind of thing a lot of people need, but they are the kind of thing a lot of people want. Including me. This may be Apple's most seductive product ever.
For the full commentary visit here:
http://lowendmac.com/musings/mm07/0906.html
Apple lobs $100 credit at iPhone buyers
The Register's Cade Metz reports:
Much to our surprise, Apple mavens have revolted against Steve Jobs. And he's trying to appease them.
After receiving hundreds of emails from iPhone buyers upset that Apple lopped $200 from the price of its handheld status symbol just 68 days after its debut, Jobs has offered an olive branch via the company web site. According to a letter posted earlier today, each person silly enough to have purchased an iPhone since the end of June will receive a $100 credit - for more Apple stuff.
For the full report visit here:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/09/06/apple_jobs_give_refund_to_iphone_buyers/
The iPhone Bubble Bursts
MarketWatch says:
First the market for $1 million split-level homes goes belly up, and now the market for $600 cell phones is on the rocks.
But can anyone really be surprised that Apple had to cut the price 33% on the iPhone barely eight weeks into its product life?
The high price was always part of the marketing hype. Early adopters paid the exclusivity premium just so they could show off the hot new gadget.
So, surprise, surprise, it turns out that a cell phone that comes with a 25-minute instruction video and no buttons isn't a justifiable purchase for most folks.
For the full commentary click here.
Q&A with Jobs: 'That's What Happens In Technology'
USA TODAY's Jefferson Graham and Edward C. Baig interview Steve Jobs:
It's not every day you slice the price of a popular product by one-third.
Q: What do you say to customers who just bought a new iPhone for $599? Sorry?
A: That's technology. If they bought it this morning, they should go back to where they bought it and talk to them. If they bought it a month ago, well, that's what happens in technology.
For the full interview, visit:
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/2007-09-05-jobs-qanda_N.htm
Getting Inside Google's gPhone
BusinessWeek's Olga Kharif reports:
Still coming to terms with Apple's iPhone invasion, the cellular industry now finds itself bracing for yet another intrusion by a mighty outsider bent on altering the way wireless does business. This time it's Google.
New signals and speculation about Google's mobile initiatives emerge daily, but with no clear proclamations as yet from the Web search leader. One day there's buzz that Google will follow Apple's lead by introducing its own mobile device, the gPhone. Next comes word the company has developed its own mobile operating system or Web browser. Against this uncertain backdrop, providers of wireless service, handsets, and software have been left to guess anxiously at Google's true intentions, not unlike children gathered about a campfire, scanning for monsters in the shadowy forest.
So what's really lurking behind those trees? .....
For the full report visit here:
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/sep2007/tc2007095_107344.htm?campaign_id=yhoo
The iPhone Price Cut: Just Smart Marketing
Blackfriars' Marketing says:
Based upon the press today about yesterday's Apple special event, you'd think that Steve Jobs was selling Zunes instead of cutting prices on Apple's highly popular iPhone.
Despite completely revamping Apple's iPod line for the holidays, the number one story today is about the $200 price cut on the Apple 8 GByte iPhone. There were more than 11,000 stories on Google News about the iphone over the past 24 hours, Apple stock dropped 5% yesterday, and pundits are claiming people who bought iPhones over the past few months are anywhere from "irked" (USA Today) to "angered" (The Boston Globe) to "screwed" (The Unofficial Apple Weblog, and it's their word not mine).
Get a grip, folks. This wasn't personal; Apple simply made a shrewd marketing move. It paid off too - to the tune of about $150 million which will fall to the profit line over the next couple years.
For the full commentary visit here:
http://www.blackfriarsinc.com/blog/2007/09/iphone-price-cut-just-smart-marketing
iPhone Price Cut: 10 Reasons Why Apple Did It
Business 2.0's Philip Elmer-DeWitt says:
Yesterday's iPhone price cut - from $599 to $399, 68 days after product launch - came sooner and was deeper than anyone expected. Why did Steve Jobs do it?
"We want to make iPhone even more affordable for even more people," was the reason he gave. "We want to put iPhones in a lot of stockings this holiday season."
But is that the whole story? Apple watchers have been pondering the question overnight and have come up with at least 10 other possibilities. Cutting and pasting from various websites, we offer them here...
You can check it out at:
http://blogs.business2.com/apple/2007/09/iphone-price-cu.html
A Sinking Feeling Down in San Antone?
BusinessWeek's Peter Burrows says:
For the boys down at AT&T, Apple's iPhone partner, there was plenty not to like about Steve Jobs' many announcements today. Here's a few:
Hope you enjoyed those Ringtone profits - The days of fleecing folks for $2.49 for a snippet of song may now be numbered. Apple will let you take any part of an actual song for $.99 (so long as you've also spent the $.99 to buy the original from iTunes). As far as I know, the carrier gets nothing. It's not just the lost cash profits that will hurt. To the extent that the industry has to follow Apple's lead--highly likely--then AT&T and its carrier pals will no longer be able to point so much to this silly market as proof that they can build profitable new consumer service offerings on top of their basic business of selling connections. If ever there was a market just waiting for disruption by the likes of Apple, this was it.
For the full report click here.
Charles W. Moore
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