

Steve Jobs: "Because I Can" - Neoryder
http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2007/pulpit_20070906_002891.html

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ivankirigin
There is simply no way Jobs decided on the $100 gift certificate a day or two
after the keynote announcing the price cut.

Considering all the planning that goes into all public presentations by Jobs,
that is not plausible.

Cringely is spot on here.

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tyler
The author makes some good points (Jobs is a tool for snubbing the interview,
the price cut was well planned, and the reasoning behind the price cut,
etc)... But, I think he's off the mark on some things:

"In the mind of Steve Jobs the entire incident had no downside, none at all,
which is yet another reason why he is not like you or me." "So Apple still
comes out $75 million ahead, which is important to Steve Jobs."

Jobs is a CEO. Making money for the company and the company's stakeholders is
what he does. Its his job, if you will. So yes, coming out ahead is important
to Jobs... and every other competent CEO.

And as for the Gates comment, "He has to know he can never win"... Define
'win'. The way I see it, Apple is indeed winning... they're just not playing
the same game as Microsoft anymore.

~~~
reitzensteinm
Well, you've got to take the Gates quote in context. This was about two years
after Michael Dell said that he'd shut the company down and give the money
back to the shareholders. Back then you'd have needed some serious crystal
ball mojo to see forward to the Apple of today.

~~~
tyler
Definitely. I'm not bashing Gates for saying it. In the context he was dead
on. But the author of the article seems to still push it as truth. Could just
be my perception though, because he doesn't explicitly say it.

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projectileboy
Holy crap... Exactly how badly am I supposed to feel for people who had no
issue shelling out $500 or $600 on a version one product? The way the tech
press is pissing and moaning, you'd think Steve Jobs had just robbed money
from UNICEF.

Of my friends who own iPhones, I haven't heard any of them complaining. They
just _had_ to go out and spend top dollar for the latest shiny gadget as soon
as it became available. They've done it before, and they'll do it again. As
such, none of them were surprised to see a big price drop.

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forgotmylastone
This whole thing is stupid. They set the price. In the product they sold, they
made no guarantee that the price wasn't going to drop--lack of a future price
drop _wasn't_ part of the product. If anything, the main 'intangible' in this
product was 'smugness'.

So, they set the price, and people bought it. End of story. They didn't force
anyone to. If someone thought it was worth $600 when, as Cringely says, the
'real' price was the current price, then _you_ made the mistake.

~~~
DougBTX
> they made no guarantee that the price wasn't going to drop

Interestingly, they do guarantee that if the price drops within 14 days of you
buying the product then you can pay the lower price.

[http://store.apple.com/Catalog/US/Images/salespolicies.html#...](http://store.apple.com/Catalog/US/Images/salespolicies.html#topic-15)

As the return period is 14 days too, this is probably to stop people returning
the product just to get a new one at the lower price.

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andreyf
This reminds me of bad relationship advice - you have to abuse your customers
a little in order for them to appreciate you better in the long run.

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dappelbaum
Didn't you all see the price drop coming? Maybe a $200 drop was a little
unexpected, but I fully thought apple would come out with a new, better, and
shinier iPhone months after the initial release when they announced it.
Marketing-wise, its hard to claim that the price drop is a bad business move
since they are still beating projections.

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gibsonf1
The key here is to learn from the master.

~~~
portLAN
I've been doing the splits on chairs and having coconuts dropped on my abs
from increasing heights but I still can't catch tiny koi fish while I'm
blindfolded. When do we learn the Art of Flipping Off Your Customers?

