Apple and iPology

[pioneer]

Apple Computer has developed and introduced an entirely new marketing innovation called the iPology that turns customer complaints into free publicity.

Late Thursday Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the iPology in a letter to early purchasers of the company's iPhone who paid $600 for the devices just weeks before the company dropped the price by $200. See related story.

The letter apologized for disappointing some of them, but noted that price cuts on technology products are common in Silicon Valley.

"There is always someone who bought a product before a particular cutoff date and misses the new price or the new operating system or the new whatever," Jobs wrote. "This is life in the technology lane."

Apple said it would give everybody who was still mad $100 to spend anywhere they want ... inside an Apple store.

Cynical observes suggested that the company won't suffer from issuing the "gift" certificates, noting that if they are used to buy iPods, for instance, the company will likely make up the "cost" through increased sales at its iTunes store.

source: marketwatch.com