That's Technology Folks
" ... the technology road is bumpy... This is life in the technology lane"
And it is full of pot holes. No, that wasn't in Steve Jobs open letter to early adopters of Apple's iPhone, but it was at least implied.
Mr. Jobs had to issue the apology after thoroughly irritating customers who shelled out $599 a few months ago for their new iPhone only to learn that Apple was cutting its price by $200 to try to gain a strategic if not insurmountable market share during upcoming Christmas season.
Jobs appears to be following former HP Chairman and CEO Lewis Platt's old dictum, “We have to be willing to cannibalize what we’re doing today in order to ensure our leadership in the future. It’s counter to human nature, but you have to kill your business while it is still working.”
Investors didn't take to kindly to Jobs announcement, as they viewed it as Apple cannibalizing its earnings too soon and therefore their investments. Apple also didn't help matter much by announcing a new iPod which appears a lot like an iPhone without the calling features. Apple's stock dropped about 5% in all this week.
Probably more of an issue is that many folks who bought iPhones now think they were not only out $200, but went from being cool to being uncool. Even my local small town newspaper has an article about how much coolness that $200 bought.
