Great moments in marketing

I've always figured there was a reason why Steve Jobs has a closet as big as my house filled with black turtlenecks while my wardrobe consists mostly of promotional tee-shirts picked up at MacWorld Expo and Durham Bulls games. It certainly wasn't the G4 Cube that's differentiated us.

Today i got my lesson.

Here's the background.

Earlier this year, Apple released the iPhone. Lots of reviewers talked about some of its inadequacies as a phone, and its $600 price tag raised a few eyebrows.

But it was an iPhone, and for many people with more money than brains having this cool as shit toy was worth paying 2 or 3 times what other comparable devices cost.

So that's good marketing move number one from Steve.

But he did himself one better this week.

Yesterday, Steve announced, among other things, that iPhones were coming down in price by $200. If you bought your iPhone within the last two weeks, you'll get that discount reimbursed. But early adopters, who for the most part made the conscious decision that having an iPhone before anyone else was worth paying whatever obscene price Steve asked for, were not happy.

And here's where Steve's genius becomes apparent.

This is life in the technology lane. If you always wait for the next price cut or to buy the new improved model, you'll never buy any technology product because there is always something better and less expensive on the horizon. The good news is that if you buy products from companies that support them well, like Apple tries to do, you will receive years of useful and satisfying service from them even as newer models are introduced.

Third, even though we are making the right decision to lower the price of iPhone, and even though the technology road is bumpy, we need to do a better job taking care of our early iPhone customers as we aggressively go after new ones with a lower price. Our early customers trusted us, and we must live up to that trust with our actions in moments like these.

Therefore, we have decided to offer every iPhone customer who purchased an iPhone from either Apple or AT&T, and who is not receiving a rebate or any other consideration, a $100 store credit towards the purchase of any product at an Apple Retail Store or the Apple Online Store. Details are still being worked out and will be posted on Apple's website next week. Stay tuned.

That's right - your reward for buying an overpriced iPhone is getting a coupon worth a hundred bucks off your next overpriced purchase of another piece of Apple hardware.

Brilliant!

Oh, and by the way, i write as someone who has made a living using Macs since 1988, and has owned nothing but Macs since 1990.