Yesterday, as all of internet knows, Steve Jobs revamped and introduced the iPod and its various children, brothers, cousins, what have you. Yet, unlike previous apple announcements, everyone did not leave Jobs' keynote address all fuzzy inside. In fact, some people left pissed. With good reason? I happen to think so.
First we've got Fatty Magee, the Nano. It's ugly. No really, it is. And surprisingly so, especially for a company that's oftentimes the epitome of trendy and sleek like Apple. The first nano was cute. Fatty Magee is not. Yes, it now has video and some pretty impressive battery life but I have a hard time believing that anybody was waiting for the day when they could watch 5 hours of video on a 2 inch screen. iPod nanos (and mini's) have traditionally been for the casual music listener wanting to toss on some tunes during a jog, not having a music library large enough to be disappointed with a 4 Gig device. With the emphasis shifted to video, I think Apple's lost its focus for this class of iPod.
Next we've got the iPod classic which I find to be the most under appreciated announcement of the keynote. For those with moderate to enormous music and/or video libraries, you can pay $50 more than a 8 gig nano and get 10 times the capacity at 80 gigs. The $250 price tag puts an iPod, a real iPod, not a slimmed down copy, in the hands of the budgeting audiophile for the first time.
Then there's the iPod touch. It's cool. Really cool. And also REALLY expected. It's what 90% of people wanted when the iPhone was announced - everything but the phone function itself. Yet, the amount of customers I believe it loses based on storage size alone is astonishing. Yes, it's thin indeed, but that's because it can barely hold the Bon Jovi discography. But make no mistake, people are going to be going crazy over it. WiFi enabled, multitouch, and widescreen video are serious, serious kudos to this device... but going from a 30 gig iPod video to an 8 Gig iPod touch, the 30 gig replacement as far as Apple's line is concerned, and having to cut your library into a fourth... seems like kinda a bummer to me. That being said I'd gladly take one off someone's hands if they don't want it.
Finally, there's the announcement that made several tens of thousands of people a little nauseous - a price drop of $200 for the iPhone. Congrats, suckers, 1/3rd of what you paid for an iPhone got you a whole 70 days of look-what-I-have-that-you-don't pleasure. That's $2.85 a day. Now, are you to be blamed? Not entirely. How were you to know that Apple would make you queasy in such a fashion? A $200 price drop in 2 months is unheard of! Price drops at this level of gadgets generally occur when the technology for a device becomes easier and cheaper to produce. Technology evolves quickly, but not 2 months quickly. A 33% price drop this soon shows you how massively Apple was overcharging its loyalists who waited in line at launch day. They could have charged whatever they wanted and the fanboys would have bought it. Now Apple is paying the price in the form of angry emails from those who have a tattoo of the rainbow macintosh on their ass. There's some fixing to be done.
Some say, "Tough noogies, that's what you get for being a gizmo fanatic". Jobs himself even hinted at that idea in his apology letter. You'll always pay more at launch than you will if you wait... but this much more? This soon? As an iPod video owner I STILL FEEL QUEASY when comparing the $400 I spent for 60 gigs vs. the new iPod classic at $250 for 80 gigs... and I got my iPod 2 years ago! I have to justify it as "C'est la vie" and get over it. But 2 months? I'd certainly feel wronged myself and I sympathize with those who forked out $600 because of their love for the fruits of Apple.
Thus, we have Mr. Jobs write us a letter apologizing and trying to make amends in the form of a coupon for $100 we can use to buy MORE APPLE STUFF. Whoopee. For a $100 I can get an iPod shuffle or - oh, wait, that's all you can get for $100 from Apple. Yet, this move is being praised as a maneuver that shows Apple's true colors and focus on customer satisfaction. I disagree. They did the very least they could to prevent inciting a riot. If they really wanted to show how much they cared they'd offer a $100 refund, and they wouldn't have done it as an after thought brought on by outrage.
Listen, if I go into Best Buy and buy a TV and 2 weeks later it goes on sale and I come back with my receipt I get the FULL difference back. Some places even allow up to 30 days. Why should Apple be any different? 60 days and 1/2 of the difference in the form of a coupon? This is not a gift from the benevolent Steve Jobs, this is Apple's duty. When you're paying for an Apple product you are paying that extra money over comparable items for customer "care". Not providing this most meager of attempts to keep their fans, let alone customers, happy would have been shameful.
Yes, this was a bit of a rant. And it's not that I have something against Apple because that's not the case at all. I think Apple is doing more things right than any other computer producing company at this point. I'm an Apple, iPod, and iPhone supporter! However, I'm bothered by their fan base. Everything Apple does is not the best thing there ever was and exempt from objective evaluation. Steve Jobs is not to be toted as the best CEO that has existed because he's trying to keep his customers on his side. It's his job. This should be expected of him.
Keep on loving Apple, just don't forget to cash in on your alloted customer satisfaction.
-dp
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