iPhone

Apple's surprising misstep on iPhone pricing could have come about because the company's executives took too many economics classes, and not enough psychology courses.

Earlier this summer it seemed Apple could do no wrong on the marketing and public relations front, but the company clearly did not foresee how its early adopters would react to the $200 drop in the price of the iPhone announced by CEO Steve Jobs last Wednesday. Steven Levitt, the man behind the book Freakonomics and currently writing a blog of the same name at The New York Times, has an interesting post today … Read more

Well, that was quick.

Just days after Apple kicked up a huge iPhone cloud of dust by announcing a $200 price cut, then apologized for its actions with a $100 store credit, the company announced that it has sold the 1 millionth iPhone. Apple reached that goal in 74 days, and it had allotted itself until the end of September to reach that mark.

That doesn't necessarily mean that there are 1 million iPhones in the wild. An Apple representative confirmed that the iPhone numbers are "sell-in," which means they reflect the number of iPhones that Apple … Read more

Apple is considering bidding on the government's upcoming wireless spectrum auction in January, according to a Business Week story.

The story, which cites two unnamed sources, said that "Steve Jobs & Co. have studied the implications of joining the auction, which will be held Jan. 16." But at this point at least one of Business Week's sources says that Apple is leaning away from participating in the auction, the story said.

The spectrum auction scheduled to take place in January 2008 will allocate wireless licenses for spectrum in the 700MHz band that is being vacated as a result of the switch to digital TV. … Read more

It seems like only yesterday that Apple had sold its first 270,000 iPhones--not a bad tally for just a little bit more than the first day on the market.

Monday morning, a little more than two months after the much-lusted-after gadget went on sale, Apple said in a brief press release that it had sold its 1 millionth iPhone.

"One million iPhones in 74 days," Apple CEO Steve Jobs exulted in a press release. "It took almost two years to achieve this milestone with iPod."

Last week, Jobs unveiled the new iPod Touch, which mimics … Read more

At the Office 2.0 conference, as you probably know, every attendee got an iPhone with their paid admission. There was a very useful iPhone-friendly Web site set up, and several companies were showing off shiny new iPhone business applications.

But is the iPhone a business-class product? I talked to the developers making applications for this platform, and to attendees at the conference, and came up with a disheartening answer: It is not. From the two-handed interface to capricious keyboard to the slow Edge network to the lack of a real developer's interface to the phone, it's just … Read more

Apple has signed a patent-licensing agreement with a company called InterDigital for what appeared to be $20 million, plus ongoing royalties, that covers the current iPhone and hints at a 3G successor.

Interdigital broke the news in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission Thursday, amid all the hubbub related to the iPhone pricing flap. The company said it has signed a seven-year licensing agreement with Apple retroactive to iPhone Day that covers the technology used in the iPhone.

Interdigital develops technology that gets mobile phones onto cellular networks. The company's products and designs are used for older … Read more

Here's some exciting news for those of you who have an iPhone and want to have the Star Wars Imperial March play every time your mother-in-law asks you for help installing the latest sudoku game: with a bit of file-extension tweaking and judicious use of the new iTunes 7.4 for Windows or Mac, you can now customize your ringtones without having to donate another 99 cents to Steve Jobs' favorite retirement fund.

… Read more

Oh, gray lady, what depths have you sunk to that you feel you must quote Rob Enderle?

Rob Enderle, president of the Enderle Group, a market research firm in San Jose, Calif., was skeptical of the store credit.

No.

Way.

"A $100 credit could be perceived as adding insult to injury," said Mr. Enderle, noting that store credits are seldom well received.

Compared to what? Nothing? The Macalope's not sure you're completely familiar with the term "adding insult to injury", Rob. And again with the passive tense? Passive/aggressive much?

"It's a … Read more

And, in case you hadn't heard, in a letter posted on Apple's site, Steve Jobs claims to have read "hundreds" of irate emails regarding the iPhone price drop and is therefore issuing $100 worth of Apple credits to us early adopters. Did he really read all of those emails? Hrmmmm.

While Apple is not under any obligation to do so, it was still nice of them. Now, I know some people will be like why not $200, or why not cash-money. May I repeat, not any obligation to do so. Besides, only us geeky types who … Read more