Apple Gets Feisty For Nano, Offers Store Credit To Early iPhoners
There ya have it: Feist's big year just got bigger. Stevie's Touch-ing announcement yesterday came with news of a new, video-enabled Nano fatty replete with an ad campaign featuring Leslie's Scorsesian clip. "1234" tell us what can't she afford...
But it's not just Feist that's getting a little ching from Mr. Jobs. After a barrage of complaint letters from early iPhone adopters about that $200 price slash, Uncle Steve's replied with a promise of some hush money.
Bought your iPhone early? Jobs loves ya, and is giving you $100 in store credit. Here's his letter, reprinted in full...
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To all iPhone customers:
I have received hundreds of emails from iPhone customers who are upset about Apple dropping the price of iPhone by $200 two months after it went on sale. After reading every one of these emails, I have some observations and conclusions.
First, I am sure that we are making the correct decision to lower the price of the 8GB iPhone from $599 to $399, and that now is the right time to do it. iPhone is a breakthrough product, and we have the chance to 'go for it' this holiday season. iPhone is so far ahead of the competition, and now it will be affordable by even more customers. It benefits both Apple and every iPhone user to get as many new customers as possible in the iPhone 'tent'. We strongly believe the $399 price will help us do just that this holiday season.
Second, being in technology for 30+ years I can attest to the fact that the technology road is bumpy. There is always change and improvement, and there is always someone who bought a product before a particular cutoff date and misses the new price or the new operating system or the new whatever. This is life in the technology lane. If you always wait for the next price cut or to buy the new improved model, you'll never buy any technology product because there is always something better and less expensive on the horizon. The good news is that if you buy products from companies that support them well, like Apple tries to do, you will receive years of useful and satisfying service from them even as newer models are introduced.
Third, even though we are making the right decision to lower the price of iPhone, and even though the technology road is bumpy, we need to do a better job taking care of our early iPhone customers as we aggressively go after new ones with a lower price. Our early customers trusted us, and we must live up to that trust with our actions in moments like these.
Therefore, we have decided to offer every iPhone customer who purchased an iPhone from either Apple or AT&T, and who is not receiving a rebate or any other consideration, a $100 store credit towards the purchase of any product at an Apple Retail Store or the Apple Online Store. Details are still being worked out and will be posted on Apple's website next week. Stay tuned.
We want to do the right thing for our valued iPhone customers. We apologize for disappointing some of you, and we are doing our best to live up to your high expectations of Apple.
Steve Jobs
Apple CEO
Posted at 5:07 PM in Video
Tags: Apple | Feist
I'm not diggin' the new ipods, especially the nano. It looks like an ipod thats been having growth problems and ends up being short and fat, and no one's gonna be watching videos on that for sure. Unless they want to go blind and have their eyes fall out.
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It may be short and fat but it has a nice personality.
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I'd scroll that.
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damn! so what does this mean for sally seltman aka new buffalo aka australian songwriter who wrote '1234' ?
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she co-wrote with feisty
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she gave her the song and feist changed it a little as i understand it. ?
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and what about the other $100?
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^^^yeah exactly. More corporate marketing guff.
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i don't even think that the people who camped out for days waiting to snag an iphone due to media hype deserve the $100 in-store credit. that's the gamble you take in 'being first in line'. "i want to be compensated for the 20gb ipod i bought for $300 three years ago since they have an 80gb now for only $250." quit complaining.
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Feist doesn't write her own lyrics? Did she write any of the songs on either album?
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seeing feist open for elvis costello tonight. should be pretty dope.
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you can barely see her! but then again, that song is damn catchy...
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^ Yeah, it's not the best-designed ad for a video feature, is it?
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@serj: Feist does write her own songs, but I guess she's still not totally confident in her songwriting, because she co-wrote with quite a few people. Personally, I think she's a great songwriter. I love "Gatekeeper" and "Intuition". I believe the lyrics for those are hers alone.
@tiffany: I think Apple got the concept right though. Feist was singing the numbers 1234 like she was counting the numbers [or number of colours] of the new nano. Still, it's Feist! We all love her right? Even if you dislike "Fat Nano".
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BTW I finally gave in and bought a refurbed 8gb nano right before the announcement of the latest model. I'm pretty steamed about this. I'm definitely better off returning it for a refund and getting a Creative Zen Micro instead! It plays videos too at a cheaper price.
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