In April I posted in regards to Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone, “cut the price to $299 and you may have something. A $599 phone will not gain mass acceptance no matter what it does, especially when people can still get it’s functionality from their existing devices.”
Of course the Apple folks countered that the iPhone did everything in the world including cook dinner and put the kids to bed at night. So what? I replied, I costs too much and in order for it to be a big seller, the price has to come down. But despite this, I was still a moron according to these folks.
Now I was upset that these same folks neglected to email me yesterday when Mr. jobs announced that he was dropping the price $200 to $399 for the 8GB model “so more people can afford it”. HMMMMM. Now, where have we heard that before?
You can also now get a 4GB iPod for drum roll please…. $299!!!!!!
Now the point of the post is not to brag about being right (well, maybe a little) but to point out the larger issue here. After the initial buzz over the phone that had people of questionable intellect sleeping in the streets for 5 days for A PHONE it would seem that Apple is seeing sales slow. There is no other reason for them to be dropping the price now only 2 months into the product’s launch. None. Perhaps this is the reason for the 5% sell off in shares yesterday, others are realizing this also?
Now, the real winner here? RIMM’s (RIMM) Blackberry. Sales have exploded over the summer as it has become the very affordable alternative to the iPhone. Even at the $399 price, a great Blackberry can be had for 1/2 that from all cellular carriers, not just AT&T (T) and people are choosing this option in droves.
How pissed are the people that waited in line? One thing you should know, Apple does have a 10 day price guarantee, if you bought your phone in the last ten days, take it back to get your $200 refund.