The year was 1995. Steve Jobs had returned to Apple two years ago after his hiatus. In a TV interview he was asked, “Why do you think Apple found itself struggling in the early to mid-1990s?”
Jobs looked down and paused for a second, before replying in a solemn voice, “Apple had gotten very greedy.”
He went on to explain his position. The issue, he said, was that Apple started going after profits instead of gaining customer loyalty and market.
“They made outlandish profits for about four years … What that cost them was their future. What they should have been doing is making rational profits and going for market share.”
More than two decades later, history seems to be repeating itself. That observation, quite possibly made in spite for all we know, looks frighteningly close to the pricing strategies of Apple even today.
Take the iPhone 6s for example.
Its base model is still a 16GB one. With the super high quality media we use everyday, 16GB is just not enough. The phone fills up in a matter of months, and from then on it’s a struggle to stay afloat and make the most of whatever pathetic amount of storage you’re left with.
In fact, the model is so frustrating to use that we had to write an entire article persuading our readers NOT to buy the 16GB iPhone 6s!
What Apple should be doing this instead – make the 64GB phone the base model and reduce its price so that it falls in a lower price bracket. In the process, Apple will sacrifice no more than $20-25 on each phone. But, in return, it will pacify a whole bunch of unsatisfied customers like us and we will be less inclined to smash our iPhones against the wall in sheer frustration.
Of course, Apple loyalists will say, “If you don’t like the price, don’t buy it.”
Yeah, well, that’s true, too. We always have the option of not paying for a service we don’t like. However, as critics, it is our duty to point out a flaw that can easily be fixed.
And it is a major flaw. A lot of our readers have said they opted for a different phone just because they thought 16GB was just not enough.
Look, we love the iPhone. We only wish it was a bit more utilitarian and less of a pain in the ass when it comes to storage. Besides, by making a few million less, Apple can potentially gain a lot of new customers and keep the existing ones happy and satisfied. In the words of Steve Jobs, Apple should be making rational profits while trying to improve market share.
And let’s not forget – the iPhone is no longer the best smartphone in the market. For the same spec sheet, there are a lot of other phones available for a lower price! So Apple needs to put a lid on their greed and think about what’s best for us.
Apple did learn the lesson the hard way in India, when it had to repeatedly revise its pricing to just to keep the 5s afloat in the market. They did finally manage to find a good marketing strategy, but that was just for one product over one-Quarter.
We need to see more changes like these across the board. Apple has to make an effort to keep us happy and satisfied. It cannot take our loyalty for granted like this!
Uff! That got too serious too fast. So here’s something fun to lighten the mood:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpQDhVgbXes&w=560&h=315]