My opinion on the iPhone

Everyone else is weighing in--and some quite unhappily--on the issue of Apple cutting the price of its iPhone by 1/3, so I'll give my opinion also.

I've been an Apple customer for 25 years. I am not an early adopter. I've wanted an iPhone and read on it and studied on it and decided that it would be a very handy little device to have, especially when one is not at one's computer. I piddled around and finally made the plunge and bought one Tuesday.

Yep, that's right, 24 hours before they lowered the price. Timing is obviously not my strong suit.

I hadn't opened it yet when I read the price reduction notice. I've talked with the store and I'm going to trudge back down the 90 minute drive and get my credit due. Worse case: I'll return it for a full credit and re-buy. But that won't happen. (If it does, you'll hear about it.)

But I should have known something was up. When I went in, they were offering a free one month subscription to One-to-One, the Apple lessons on their products. Having a problem or want to know how to make a movie, schedule a private lesson. I already have One-to-One, but this month offer was just for the iPhone. Okay. THEN, to put icing on the cake, if you wanted them to help you activate it, they'd do it.

Immediately, I had an answer to all this largesse: slow sales. I think the early-adopters, i.e., the geeks, among us bought first and then the rest of us, those slow-adopters who need a push and a little help, have held back. Hence, the free One-to-One and now the price reduction.

I expected the price reduction, but not so quickly, probably at Thanksgiving to gear up for the Christmas season. By that time, I would have been a 3-month user and all would have been okay.

Really, given all the unhappy people, they should have waited.