Apple Releases New iPods

[Ghoulish Delight]

It was a good short term PR move, but a weak business decision, the kind of "appeasing the hardcore geek base" that's gotten them in trouble in the past. If they're going to compete in the cell phone world, they need to be able to have the balls to be like the other cell phone giants, and one of those characteristics is total price discrimination. Oh no, the price changed in 2 months!! Um, so? Everyone's completely okay with the fact that on any given day, two different people will pay wildly different prices for the exact same phone. Sometimes as dramatic as paying $400 vs. getting it for free. So a 30% price difference after a couple months in the cell phone market is nothing.

Now Apple's just set themselves up for future nightmares as consumer know that if they whine loud enough to a few choice reporters, they can force Apple's hand regarding price choices. It was a panic move by there PR department to quiet a minority segment ("early adopters" is a small segment to begin with, and among THAT small segment, the opinion was pretty much split, so it was half of a THAT). The success of the iPod was driven largely by Apple's bold and uncompromising moves. No tentativeness, no listening to people trying to put price pressure on them. They made decisions and stuck with them. An appeasement move like this does not bode well for the future.