RealitySells

Open Letter from Apple

60 days ago Apple released it’s much awaited, highly sought after dazzling-screen i-phone.  Customers lined up to be the first to have the latest revolutionary technology.  The phone was cool, the reviews good.  At $599.00 the i-phone was priced at the high end of the high-end phones. 

Evidently the phones didn’t sell quite as well as Apple hoped, or maybe they just made a mistake in positioning the phone. Either way Apple decided to increase demand by making the phone available to more consumers by lowering it’s price.

By a whopping $200.

A third of it’s original selling price.

I imagine that Apple will indeed increase the demand of their new techonphone, as it is now priced very attractively compared to fancy phones that still have buttons.

But there is a problem.  All the people who bought the phone in the last few weeks.  Ouch.  Ouch-Ouch.  200 little nipping ouches.  They love the phone but didn’t want to overpay this much for it, just to be the first to have it. 

Apple listened and responded with an open letter explaining its decision and announcing a credit of $100 to the early adopters to use at the Apple store.  The letter is a great example of transparency.  It is pretty honest, offers an apology, and a plan to make it right for the early adopters.  It doesn’t mask the fact that it wants to sell more phones, and that the early adopters will have paid more for the phone. 

In business, sometimes you have to do things that won’t make everybody happy.  A price decrease, or increase, or perhaps a change in product lines.  The reality is that you have to make decisions that are in the best interest of the future outlook of the company.  Being transparent and appreciative of your customers while making the change can go along way.

P.S. Apple just announced it sold the 1,000,000th i-Phone a full month ahead of schedule.  I suspect brisk sales last week pushed them over the top.

Read the letter at: http://www.apple.com/hotnews/openiphoneletter/