Friday, September 7, 2007

Google Rises, Apple Falls: Poor iPhone Marketing Strategies

In previous blog posts here and elsewhere, I've described the iPhone as one of Apple's greatest marketing mistakes. Apple's recent price changes on the 8GB iPhone is causing massive disaffection among Apple iPhone purchasers who paid $200 more only a few months ago.

Steve Job's announcement of a $100 credit at Apple Stores and AT&T today caused additional concern among existing and potential new iPhone buyers who will wait for further price reductions. eBay sellers and buyers are in a quandary due to the price drop, which will cause massive bid retractions on auctions and seller re-listings to bring pricing in line with Apple's latest pricing. Meanwhile, Apple is attempting to meet its sales goal of 1M iPhones by December. Both domestic and international distribution is compromised by Apple's latest waffling on the price reduction. Google, however, moves forward with its gPhone and other mobile planning. (See BusinessWeek.) Apple entered the mobile telephony market without any experience and now suffers the consequences of mistaken pricing strategies, resulting in consumer disaffection. Time will only tell if Apple can repair the damage it's caused.