The iPhone price drop
For some reason, many people who’ve bought iPhones early on are complaining now that Apple issued a $200 price cut. These people may sound like whiners, but really, it’s because what they’re buying is not just a phone they really like, but the prestige of being able to shell out $600 for a phone. It’s the brand, the exclusivity, the signaling, that they’re buying. Sure, the iPhone is more functional and much better made than most other phones, but several hundred dollars worth? It’s hard to say; individual preferences and weights strongly come into play there. For most people, I’d say it isn’t worth it, in the same way that the “hand-made quality” and “attention to detail” in an Aston Martin just isn’t worth the cost to most people.
So, that’s why consumers are complaining. The theory doesn’t make them any less whiney and pathetic, but it does explain why there’s so much backlash, and Apple does need to realize that it’s not just competing as a technology company, but as a fashion company, one in which price plays a large role in social prestige and branding.
