While I didn't wait in line, I did buy my phone the first day online. I received it a week later and have been delighted with it. HOWEVER...

Dropping the price so soon has certainly got me hot under the collar. Yes, I understand that consumer electronics have a tendancy to get cheaper/obsolete quickly. But this was just wrong. I would certainly feel a LOT better if Apple were to gift me with an extension of my warranty for another year and compensation for being a beta-tester, er, early adopter. That would certainly make me feel a lot less ripped-off without the company having to fork over costly refunds...

Had to make an account for this:

BURNED!

He's a real iCon of the computer industry ....

Standing out in the cold waiting for the iPhone.... no just wait 68 days and save $200.... just in time for when they sell it in the UK... $399 thats £200+- so the price of a nice Nokia. Oh well thats $200 million for Steve's bonus this year.

I can see all the people selling on eBay shitting themselfs as they are on a loss already...

I know a lot of people who ran out and bought the first iPhones are

upset about the price of the new iPhone going down, but that

is partly due to the fact that Apple can now sell iPods and iPhones

cheaper than when they first developed them.

Taking a closer look at manufacturing commodities like DVD writers,

televisions and other products show that companies can sell

products cheaper if the make millions of them. I'm sure even

the people with no experience in manufacturing could learn

how to make and sell almost any product cheaper after moving

the first few million or two.

Whats new ??

Apple 5h17 has always been overpriced, and over rated

The market price is what a willing seller can sell to a willing buyer. Apple was willing to sell the iPhone for $599, and you were willing to buy it (and did so) at that price.

It's $200 bucks you were willing to pay to be an early adopter. Even the Razr was priced pretty outrageously when it first came out, and people were willing to pay that.

If you buy a car today, and the manufacturer offers a $1000 rebate six weeks later, do you feel the same way?

Most technology companies know that you can charge early adopters a premium and then sort out the pricing from there. Always best to wait for the next version with better spec and lower price.

This is not a story. This is normal business practice. If the author has an issue with Jobs or Apple, then the author should just publish a story with headline "I have an issue with jobs".

When AMD brought out the Athlon MP I was psyched. I ran out and spent about $3K to put together a dual 1.2GHz (1.2GHz, not 1200+) dual CPU rig. Likely it was one of the first in Canada. It rocked, I was happy. I certainly did not whine when 6 or 8 weeks later the price had dropped considerably. I knew what I wanted and I paid for it. AMD had no contract with me to protect my l33t status, I did not expect that of AMD.

Grow up, you whiners.

Yes... but 2 months later? I find it absolutely impossible to believe they've somehow refined their manufacturing process that much in two months. I doubt it's changed at all, actually.

They may well have been unsure about the market's reaction to the phone and set the the initial price based upon conservative projected sales figures to help cover development. A couple of months later though, it turns out people like it so Apple expects to sell more and can therefore lower the price.

Now the early adopters are not only beta testers, but they're also financing the risk Apple took in developing the phone. That's pretty slimy. Clearly one of the biggest objections to the iPhone was the price, so it's not unreasonable for them to lower it. Unless they offer to refund the difference to current owners however, they're slime.

Of course, I have little sympathy for anyone who is a 'fan' of some huge corporation. This is exactly the sort of thing that leads to. The customers are just figures in a ledger. To be honest though, I expect Apple will offer some sort of compensation. I just hope it's not something silly like iTunes credit- which it probably will be.

Obviously you who plopped down your 599 USD were completely robbed but you don't have to take my word for it.

Apple has historically slashed pricing on products which haven't sold to their expectations, i.e the Newton.

ROFL take that apple fanboys!

Product goes significantly down in price. People who just bought said product get annoyed because it's now cheaper. It happens all the time... but since it's Apple, it's suddenly newsworthy? And it's a bad thing?

All the other cellphone companies do this, I can't imagine why El Reg is singling out Apple. (oh no).

How much was the N95 on release, and how much 2 months later? (and that has an operator subsidy)

yES i WAS ONE OF THE IDIOTS THAT BOUGHT AN IPHONE BUT I WOULD NOT FOLLOW HIM (jOBS) TO AFRICA. aPPLE BETTER MAKE THIS RIGHT WITH US MILLION CUSTOMERS OR THEIR WILL BE HELL TO PAY

That ugly little green-eyed monster, who hangs around Vulture Central whispering "They didn't send us an iPhone to evaluate, did they? We're still not happy, are we?"

Why not leave off talking about Apple until old green-eyes vanishes in a puff of it's own bile and you can settle back down to a more, er, balanced approach.

Sorry to everyone who bought the dam iPhone with the amount $599.I guess is not to late to bring it back to the shop so you can $200.This is money we talking about.The owner he very wrong how can sell something without think about how much you will sell it coz it's seems he did not how much he would charge it.

Before you buy something think twice.This is totally ripped off

early adopters always pay a premium for new devices, quit the bitching, its been like that so long that there is no excuse to act surprised.

...I never buy something just when it's been released. Money aside, released products are usually so bug-ridden that it soon takes the shine off your purchase.

No. I'll wait a year (maybe two) - and buy then (maybe even just before it gets EOL'ed). That way, I'm sure it's cheaper, better and more reliable than it was when it was first released.

I used to ride the technology wave with all the cutting-edge stuff (phones, computer equipment, etc), until I wised up and realised that the cost premium just wasn't worth it.

Oliver.

He made $200m gross profit in 68 days from the idiocy of consumerist America.

Fair play to him for playing the market for the fool that it is.

Next time apple release a product consider me not joining the queue until 2 or 3 days before release, that'll show em

Certainly seems that way the article is yet another slagging match to apple, the register meant to be independent yet can not even write an article without being biast and slagging off apple...

... Get a grip, so its come down in price big deal. This is what happens all the time. not a rip off at all, why don't i go and complain that my vauxhall tigra sport was 1k cheaper 6 weeks after i bought it on a promotion. Nah cuz thats just the way the cookie crumbles DEAL WITH IT!!!!!!

Think of it this way, YOU decide what something is worth to YOU. If Apple, or any other company offers for sale any product at any price point and you're happy to pay this price, then thats the value you have assigned to the product. If the price drops, then y'know what, you've lost nothing, why? You decided that the product was worth the asking price, otherwise you wouldn't have paid it. Same is true of any product from any company.

What is this with people treating electronics like investments these days anyway?

FYI. Recent purchasers (Past 10 calendar days) can contact apple for a refund of the difference in cost, within the next 14 calendar days. But then the Reg, with their typical anti apple bias wont tell you that, how about having some slight more responsibility to your readers and giving them as much information about something as you can, eh guys?

You know, I used to be a Linux geek too but then switched to Mac. And sure as hell I'm not going to switch back. Have you ever actually used Oh Es Ten?

You thought something was worth the money when you bought it. Yup. Has it suddenly changed in functionality? Nope. You're on a 2-year contract: so are you going to be selling it in the near future? Nope. Is the price drop tiny as a percentage of your total costs over those 2 years? Yup.

The people who bought early to resell on eBay have long gone. No-one loses by this in reality - but perception, now that's a different thing...

The phone was overpriced- particularly when you consider that its only on one network and has more limitations than you'd normally consider for the fancy paperweight that it is. It was Publius Syrus who recognised over 2000 years that "Everything is worth what its purchaser will pay for it". They ran out of people willing to splash out $599- so now the phone is targetted at an entirely different market- its actually pitching itself against a new Nokia or Sony Ericsson- in recognition of the fact that its allegedly a phone........

Personally I do like Apple- I've been using the same 17" powerbook for 5 years now. Would I pay $599 for an iphone- nope. Would I pay $399- nope. When they add a feature set to the phone that rivals the Sony Ericsson P990i (exclude the memory seepage issues and poor battery life) I might be interested. At the moment if I want a pretty goldfish swimming around in my pocket, I'll persuade my pet Koi to join me in work for the day.

No one has a god given right to expect anyone not to drop prices in order to shift stock. Look at the housing market for crying out loud. To those who shelled out $599 on their shiny new 8Gb iPhone- tough. You still have what you happily paid for- move on and enjoy your toy. It sounds like sour grapes- people annoyed because they are going to loose the exclusivity of having an iPhone.

Ps- I wouldn't buy an iPod either......

not surprised how one line and flipping a character turns iPod into iRob

lol

Best. Tagline. Ever.

To all those who have said "but people do this all the time," yes they do. But do they do it to this extent. Don't compare it to cars unless you're going to talk about relative value. When I bought my iAudio, I paid a premium for it so I could import it before I went on holiday. When I came back, the product was on sale for a whopping....£30 less. Oh noes! Then it went down over time in small increments - £20 here, £30 there, until it ended up a lot cheaper than I paid for it. But that's the way of things - the value of a product declines with age.

What didn't happen was that I came back off holiday and iAudio had lopped £150 off the price of the machine, because that would have been just stupid, and a fairly good indication of rampant profiteering. Which is what's going on here.

Of course stuff comes down in price after it comes out. But by that much, that fast?

Well at the time people thought that 'x' was a good, fair price for the product and paid up.

A short time later it's 'x-200' and those that bought it at 'x' should remember that they didn't feel ripped off at the time.

Those that bought it the day before should apply the above rule as well. I'd be more inclined to grumble at the shops that probably knew the price fall was coming and didn't bother to inform customers. I'll be some shops made an extra 200 on several of the items!

"...why don't i go and complain that my vauxhall tigra sport was 1k cheaper 6 weeks after i bought it on a promotion."

Interesting to see that El Reg is frequented by members of the hairdressing community.

What's *your* IT angle?

Regarding Nick's comment about "whining"

"It's $200 bucks you were willing to pay to be an early adopter. Even the Razr was priced pretty outrageously when it first came out, and people were willing to pay that.

If you buy a car today, and the manufacturer offers a $1000 rebate six weeks later, do you feel the same way?"

No, because chances are $1000 is a small percentage of the price.

However, if I'd just bought, say, a $30,000 car, brand new off the line, newest model, just announced etc.. and 62 days later they dropped the price by 33% to $20,000 -- yes, I'd feel pretty pissed, and ripped off.

That said, I frankly think that all those who follow the Church of Steve and repeatedly buy his polished turds get what they deserve.

I've never been happier with my N95 ..

Where do you get your original ideas on economics?

In the market economy if an adult willingly spends $600, he thinks that the iPhone is worth it. He was not tortured or forced to spend these money. The buyer thinks he will get the maximum benefit by spending these $600 on iPhone, he goes to Apple store, the transaction completed, done.

The fact that two months later the same stuff sells for less does not invalidate it or make him "robbed" - repeat, he thought that iPhone was worth his $600 at that time, nothing changed.

It appears to me American are more concerned about "getting real value" that getting good stuff they want for the money they think it worth. Kind of similar to "keeping up with Jones". If you think iPhone is worth your $600, go get it, and don't regret if it is sold for less later. If not - wait for Apple to drop price (it had to happen, if not sooner than later) or keep using the crappy Razr.

Well, I'm not entirely sure why this is a problem or a trait of Apple.

This is very normal for the Telecoms Market.

Take a look at price trend on any high end phone from release to the first few months and you will see similarities.

Apple aren't being original with their pricing, indeed I happen to think that $600 was pretty decent price. My P990i when it was released was £469+VAT that's GBP, which would be around $900. You can now pick a P990i up for less than half that!

All handset manufacturers have been doing this for years, wise up and enjoy the technology early or don't bother and wait until the price drops.

P.S. P990i battery life and memory seem to improve with the latest firmware.

Or what?

Basically, you've gone out and bought a product, paid over the odds and now you've been had. You feel like a safety net, guinea pig and a chump. Why? Because you got swept away by how wonderful the dream of owning this device was.

You have no rights to claim anything back from Apple, live with the disappointment.

I'm not going into how the crApple fanboi's are all morons, and the general idiots we all know they are. But look at it, 2 months after release a huge price drop and a huge slap in the face of early adaptors. "Ohh it always happens"...not really so soon, and not if its as "successful" as the manufacturer claims. But thats just pointing a bit to Apples customary number fudging to prove things again *cough* benchmarks *cough*.

Anyhow, a few cases in point...Sony on the original PS1 launched for £299 in the UK, almost two months in they slash it to £199...what happens? they send the early adaptors two free games. Another case, Microsoft with the original Xbox in the UK. Early release £299, short time after a quick drop to £199. What do they do? give the users a 2nd controller and a pick of two games from a list of all those currently released.

Big companies have done price cuts early but its not usually there to milk the early adaptors, or even due to manufacturing costs early on. Its because sales haven't gone the exact way they wanted. And slapping early adaptors isn't a bright idea either, but then again it is a bunch of fanboi's and they needed it frankly.

Would I buy one now? not likely as it is still an incredibly awful product lacking the functionality it needed, and the applications it needed. And until its priced closer to the competition on a similar set of rules it can quiet happily be a fanboi fashion item of no real use in the real world. Yes its getting onto a similar price now as a totally unlocked N95...opps, the N95 out features and is "unlocked". Then again, on a similar note, if you don't mind a contract you can pick up the N95 for FREE.

If Apple wants to sell the damn thing, make it into what its claimed to be, a smart phone. And give the users the functionality it needs to actually be of use other than a fashion statement.

Don't buy overpriced, over hyped, crap.

I can't believe the hype on this supposed phone with all its limitations - and yet people STILL ran to get one.

You can put candles on crap and call it a cake but its still a pile of crap.

Lesson to be learned there.....

Who pays such a stupid amount for such a crap phone anyway?

Anyone who paid that much and is crying now deserves it. Stop following hyped-up trends and buy something that's actually worth the money you spend.

And where's the Paris Hilton angle, then?

All these people moaning including the articles author need to go and read a book titled along the lines of "Supply and Demand". Most GCSE Economic students seem to have a greater understanding that the seasoned *cough* professionals on here.

To all those thinking of purchasing an iphone who are incapable of thinking for yourselves and taking responsibility for your own actions - buying an iphone when they are first released in Europe could seriously damage your wealth. Wait a few months and you will be able to buy one cheaper. PS. This can be applied to any consumer item.

To everyone else who can make up their own mind and take responsibility for their own actions - make your own decision when to buy and enjoy. Don't bitch after the event if you find the product cheaper.

To The reg - get rid of that anti apple chip on your shoulder. This happens with every consumer product, its called supply and demand and making a profit, recouping development costs etc. It does not do you any favours to be so biased but I guess if you were real journalists you would realise that.

As has been said before -- this happens with most products, where early adopters effectively subsidise and beta-test new devices.

Oh, and to anyone who queued up to be one of the first to buy an iPhone:

If you have to send me your bank details I can be sending you $1000 ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS!!!!!!!!! as rebate if cost but will need $200 for fee in front to pay lawyer please be of sending bank detail to...

It's not just Apple who do this. It's called the entire consumer electronics and IT industry.

So - you bought an Xbox on the first day and it now costs you the same for the premium model as it did for the basic model back then.

You bought a PS3 on the first day and now you can get another controller and a pile of games for a little less money.

My example - I bought an LG plasma TV which was originally £2500 for £1800. 12 months later I can buy the same unit for £999 in Makro.

I've even been 'Appled' - I bought a £999 macbook for it only to go obsolete (and cheaper) within 3 months.

We all know if you're willing to be an early adopter to show of your 'shiny toy' then you'll pay more for it. Everything becomes cheaper in the long run (apart from houses, of course!)

As a terminal cartoon nerd, I can't help but be reminded of the Family Guy episode where Death twists his ankle and stays at the Griffin house...

...because when I read this, I laughed. And laughed. Then laughed some more.

Apple has shown that...

No, wait. I'm not done holding my sides!

With this blatant disrespect for...

Nono! That was a good one! Ahahahahahahaha!

My N95 has never felt better... yesterday I switched off dual mode searching, so it no longer looks for UMTS (3G) networks all the time. This fixes the short battery life problem (now lasts ~2x as long), which was prettymuch the only thing which I found faintly embarassing about it.

Even after this hilarious (to those of us who remain free-thinkers) price drop, I still think the iPhone is garbage at $399. Why on earth would I want a device with rich media capability (albeit no 3G... wtf?) but locked down so I can only do what Steve Jobs says is cool? After all, he told us a $599 iPhone was a good deal. What does he know?

Eat that you mindless fools :D

I may be completely mistaken, but I would have sworn some credit card companies offer a price-matching bit for 30-60 days? As in, if the product sells for a cheaper price, you can request the credit card company match that price and give you the difference. Check your terms and conditions - it's probably only in higher quality cards that have an annual fee (ie, Gold American Express cards?).

Its 2 months, not a year, not even 6 months. It has not been superceeded. It just hasn't sold as well as Stevie $ Jobs would like.

Your idea of economics is a bit skewed Mike. If you think the device was worth $600 why isnt it still. 1 Million certainly is not enough to reach any sort of volume price reduction. If someone is prepared to pay $600 for a device worth $400, then they are a prat, and Stevie $ Jobs has made a bundle on other people bad economic decisions.

Bottom line, the iPhone was not, is not and never was worth $600 you paid a tax for brand cool, and now we know what that tax cost, $200 or 33% of the phone.

The question really is now, how much cool tax is left in the iPhone at $400 ?

Has anyone else noticed that CADE METZ is an anagram of SLIMY ANTI-APPLE HEADLINE WANKER?

The Register used to be a good site, with good articles, impartial, reasonable journalism - This "Apple Vendetta Thing" is showing "The Reg" from a rather nasty, childish angle - Now I can't get read an article here without this bad taste in mouth. If this was my site I would rethink my policy, perhaps getting rid of one, two elements, that are working on destroying the journalistic reputation of my business.

"Biting the hands that feeds IT" - You should consider changing that to: "Whining when we don't get fed by IT, for free!"