The iPhone became Apple’s most HYPED product ever, so much that the company’s fate became intertwined with the iPhone.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs is now preparing for the BIG DAY, an important press day. He probably began the day by grabbing his iPod and hitting the treadmill. A nice run in the morning always makes you feel that you can conquer anything. Steve then puts on his blue jeans and black turtle neck and practices his speech like a politician getting ready to WOW the San Francisco crowd of media and employees about Apples NEWEST latest and greatest gadgets.
Steve Jobs began his presentation last week by revealing that APPLE would soon sell iPhone ringtones for 99 cents. This was the appetizer for a main course of iPods. He then introduced 2 new iPods with a new SLICK look – iPod nano and an iPod classic that can store 40,000 songs.
It all went wrong. The story got jumbled. There was probably sweat dripping from his forehead at this point. There was probably a inner voice in Jobs head proclaiming “Don’t say it Steve, Don’t say it”……
Before Apple left the stage Steve Jobs dropped a nuclear bomb – Apple cut the price of the iPhone from $599 to $399. It became the story of the day rather than the new iPods. Critics saw this major price cut as an act of desperation and the one’s who payed top dollar would have felt like suckers.
After thousands of complaints Steve Jobs offered an apology and rewarded customers with a $100 credit.
The day Steve Jobs stepped onto the stage to HYPE the world on the New iPods backfired. The world turned the HYPE back on Jobs making the iphone price cut, angry emails and apologies the HEADLINE of the WEEK.
Next time Steve….Next time……..
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