Cringely on the Price Cut

Great one from Cringely:

Had nobody complained, Apple would have left it at that. But Jobs expected complaints and had an answer waiting — the $100 Apple store credit. This was no knee-jerk reaction, either. It was already there just waiting if needed. Apple keeps an undeserved $50 million and customers get $50 million back. Or do they? Some customers will never use their store credit. Those who do use it will nearly all buy something that costs more than $100. And, most importantly, those who bought their iPhones at an AT&T store will have to make what might be their first of many visits to an Apple Store. That is alone worth the $50 per customer this escapade will eventually cost Apple, taking into account unused credits and Apple Store wholesale costs.

I think Cringely’s wrong, though, that Jobs is still obsessed over his getting fired from Apple in 1985. I don’t think he’s forgotten it, but I think that in his mind it’s ancient history, and he’s been vindicated several times over since returning to Apple in 1997. For example, at last month’s iMacs/iLife/iWork special event, Jobs several times alluded to Apple having released the first version of iLife “a long time ago”. It was actually just four and a half years ago, but I think in Jobs’s mind, even 2003 is the distant past.

★ Friday, 7 September 2007