Thursday, September 6, 2007

I've Been Bamboozled - UPDATE

-by Rashidi Barnett

Apple has offered $100 Store Credit and Jobs apologizes to iPhone users. Wow, maybe Steve read my blog?

So do I need to do a "what can I do with $100"? Is that new wireless iPhone earpiece out yet?

I'll try to go to the Apple store over the weekend. We'll see what happens. I'll repost then.

Thanks Steve

(See how easily us early adopters can be won over? - haha, i'm cool again)

Sources:

Apple.com
Wall Street Journal

I've Been Bamboozled

by --Rashidi Barnett

"...with more Mac than Steve Jobs" - Common from the song "Southside"

The rapper Common, formerly known as Common Sense, thinks he has more Mac than Mr. Jobs? I don't think so. There's another joke in their somewhere.

Yes, I was one of the early adopters of the iPhone, I purchased my phone on Saturday, June 30th at the Apple Store at Lenox Mall here in Atlanta. No, I didn't wait all night, or camp out. I waited for about 15 minutes in line with the rest of the customers. I got to walk around the mall with my really cool, iPhone only, Apple Store bag.

I will do another blog on how cool I think the iPhone is, but this one is about how wronged I now feel that they have slashed the price of the iPhone by $200. I would have expected a price cut for the holiday's, maybe $50, but a whopping $200!?!?

Aren't they concerned that for their next big product release, that there would be a certain number of people who would just wait a few more months before making an investment? Wouldn't this impact initial sales of their next big product? Apple shares did dip with the announcement of a lower iPhone price. Sure die hard Apple fans will still camp out, but, I myself definitely would not. I'll be waiting at least six months, or for a holiday season. I'm sure this was carefully considered, but without sitting in the meeting when this plan was formulated, I can only make assumptions based on the information that I have.

I feel like I've been had, hoodwinked, and bamboozled. Sucked in by the hype. I drank the kool-aid! Is this their way they repay me for going without a phone for 30 hours 23 minutes and 8 seconds, while my service was being activated. Where's the love? Can I get commission for the iPhone's I helped sell by walking around, taking pics, giving people hands on demonstrations, writing and commenting on blogs about the iPhone?

Commercial Break:
So my buddy just called me, (as I am typing this) and his words are "Are you upset?!!?" (censored for all the boys and girls) No 'hello', no 'what's up man?'. He just knew I was upset about the recent price drop of my new best friend, the iPhone. I was in Los Angeles a few weeks ago for a wedding, and I was showing off my shiny new iPhone, so he had the chance to see it. So he might go pick one up. I told him I was writing a blog about it right now and he just gave me more content to post.
Back to the regularly scheduled program "The Rashidi Barnett Show"

So ok, I guess I was thinking of it more along the lines of consumer products, such as the Xbox, PS3 in which people camp out for days, buy on Ebay for 5x the retail price. But when thinking of the mobile phone industry, it is common practice to slash prices months after a phone is released.

I guess in the end, everyone who didn't get it the first few days doesn't have the excitement of "hey is that an iPhone, can I see?" Being an early adopter was cool. I got to laugh at those who would drop their iPod at the gym when a call came through. Well, actually just laugh at anyone who called themselves having a moblie internet device or a cell phone, or even an iPod for that matter. When I look at my friends phones, I feel like i've been playing Madden '08 (top) while they have Madden '93 (bottom).





























AND I can't forget, they don't have the chance to write an angry blog about price cuts.

So I guess it balances out. It just stings a little.

So if you need advice on how NOT to drop or scratch your iPhone, what the cool iPhone websites are, the cool iPhone blogs, just let me know. Or maybe I'll post them.

In closing, for all you early adopters, here is my list of what you could have done with an additional $200?
  1. Buy 200 songs from iTunes
  2. Sell my 30GB Ipod for $50 bucks to my brother and get the 80GB Ipod
  3. Bought the new 8GB Nano
  4. Bought 2 Shuffles and bought 20 songs from iTunes that expresses my love for my girlfriend and Mom and given it to them as a gift
  5. Sell my iPod for $100 bucks on eBay and put the money towards and an AppleTV
  6. Bought every episode/season of 24 available on iTunes
  7. I know its not Apple related, but didn't they just do price cuts on the XBox360? Darn
And oh, those folks with their $399 iPhones won't have the chance to write an angry blog about price cuts. :-)

Sources:

ZDNet
Gigaom