Apple Inc's Chief Operating Officer Timothy Cook told financial market analysts this past Monday (October 22, '07) that (a) they have sold about 1.4 million iPhones so far in the U.S. (yeow!) and (b) that of those 1.4 million iPhones, according to Apple's own estimate, as many as 250,000 may have been bought by users with the intention of unlocking them, or modifying the device to work on a network other than AT&T Inc.'s.
That is over 17%! Seventeen percent!
Consider this, Apple shareholders; if Apple itself is saying that over 17% of the buying market is actively willing to void their warranties, break their licenses, possibly break the law and, in every case, thumb their noses at the heretofore sacrosanct Great Apple then, really, what is the real size of this market?
Any basic market formulations will tell you that the market for unlocked phones &/or iPhones that work with other networks is at least as large as what you're tapping now and probably even larger. There are many nifty metaphors that fit here, but most apt is that you are leaving a huge pile of money on the table.
But instead of taking advantage of this windfall market and nurturing it with the products that it wants, Apple is threatening to wreck their phones!
Yes; it's true. Apple says that, "to quash unauthorized use" it has released an iPhone software "update" that will render some unlocked iPhones inoperable. Apple customers describe this as turning the gadget into a "brick." Hackers (plural), in return, have responded with software that bypasses Apple's update and allows "bricked" phones to work again.
This is a spiral that Apple can only lose. History bears this out. So now, Apple shareholders; Apple is not only blowing off a gigantic market for $300 devices, and not only is it is actively trying to alienate customers and not only is it actively working to damage the reputation of the brand within the loyal customer base, it is also using company resources -- your resources -- to make software whose sole purpose is to damage Apple hardware and make it unusable.
This is goofy. This is nuts. This is, to put it lightly, bad, bad management.
What really needs to happen is that Apple's shareholders sue the hell out of Apple Inc. and it's CEO for locking them into an exclusive deal with ATT that -- not 'essentially' but in fact -- prevents them from being able to actively pursue this obviously gigantic market.
Apple is actively losing you money! ATT is holding you back and preventing you from legitimate profits. Wake up Apple shareholders.
And while you're at it, you might as well give Mr. Jobs, et all, a good shaking about the profits being lost by not selling OS-X to the PC market.
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