So amongst the hullabaloo of yesterday’s big iPod releases comes a glaring chink in the famous Steve Jobs Reality Distortion field. That chink (maybe a growing crack?) came during another one of Jobs’ famous “one more thing…” segments of his presentation, when he announced that after only two months of being in the market, he was dropping the price of the 8GB iPhone by a whopping $200. The noise you just heard was the groan of thousands of people who now feel totally shafted for standing in line for hours upon hours to purchase an 8GB iPhone on launch day for almost $600 and now, only two months after launch, 25% cheaper.
First of all, you have to agree with Jobs, who in a USA Today interview, unapologetically stated that “that’s what happens in technology,” because he’s right. You have to be cutthroat to stay ahead of your competitors. Sure the iPhone is popular, but you’re never going to move past the Apple Fanboy early adapter leagues by keeping the thing so expensive. Such is the way of life.
The thing that’s interesting to me is that this really proves how deep the reality distortion field goes. People are seemingly shocked, shocked I say, that Jobs and Apple could put the screws to them like this. If this was Microsoft doing it, the Apple heads would not have blinked. Welcome to life outside of the Reality Distortion Field, my Apple brethren, and smell the real life.
Update: In the time since I started writing this, Jobs backtracked and said he will give out a $100 rebate to all iPhone owners. Guess even he isn’t immune from the forces of market capitalism.
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