Apple Whiners, Part II

I like Apple. They are masters at interface design and know how to make something look good and keep it functional at the same time. You don’t find a lot of junk hardware in the Apple line — even after enduring a severe car crash, my MacBook Pro still works like a champ. The iPods are very durable, and after the initial screen scratching issue with the iPhone, I haven’t heard many complains about them. The thing that annoys me about Apple are its users. They have such a broad range of users, from clueless noobs who can’t operate a toaster, to technogeeks who can disassemble a MacBook in 30 seconds. Many of them, noobs or geeks, have a sense of entitlement that puts them above my annoyance threshold.

The latest gripe is about the upgrade pricing on the new iPhone 3GS. Before I get into specifics, let’s go over how cell phones are priced in general. As a new customer for nearly any cell phone provider, you get two choices: pay full retail price for the phone, or sign a 1-2 year contract and get a discount. The discounts are normally significant, so you can get a $400+ phone for $99 or less if you go with the contract. Up until recently, if you were a current customer and wanted a new phone, you would have to pay full retail price, but a lot of companies have introduced programs where you can extend your contract and get the new customer discount. This was more out of necessity than kindness, because with number portability it became easier and cheaper for customers to switch providers in order to get a new phone.

So along comes the iPhone, a very slick device with a full touch screen and nifty applications. The problem is it is still a cell phone, sold by a cell phone provider, and this time there is no option to go without a contract and pay “full price”. People run out to buy the first version, knowing that there will probably be another version in a few months with tons of bug fixes and possibly new features. Or you would think. Are there so many naive Apple users out there who thought this wouldn’t happen? Sure enough, a few months later Apple releases new hardware with more storage at a far cheaper price. There was an uproar, and Apple graciously refunded the price difference to those who purchased the first generation iPhone. Maybe this was a mistake, because now people expect Apple to pick up the tab for their hasty judgment.

Now we get to the 3G iPhones and the same thing happens. iPhone 3G is released, thousands of people flock out to the stores to snatch them up .. and a few months later iPhone 3GS is released. C’mon, you know when WWDC hapens, and Apple always releases something new. This time the prices are similar, but now the people are upset because they can’t upgrade to the new 3GS and get the new customer price because they are already in a contract. I’m sorry, what makes you so special? I can’t go to any other cell provider and buy any other cell phone, then come in 3 months later and demand the new customer price because I want the shiny new version.

Maybe I just have more experience than the average user, having been in software development for several years and doing hardware QA in the past. Here is a bit of advice: never buy version 1.0 of anything. It will be expensive, there will be bugs. Version 2.0 will be faster, cheaper, and more refined. Yes, there will always be early adopters, but don’t jump out there to be one if you don’t understand the risks and can’t afford to lose the time/money involved in being one.

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