Cashing in on Regret: Your Loss is Apple’s Gain

(I’ve been away from the blog for quite some time now! That’s what 3 midterms on the same week + Assignment Mountain does to you. Now back to your regularly-scheduled programming.)

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At the rate Apple is releasing products, I might never buy another iPhone/iPod/iPad/iThing.

I’ve owned at some point in time an iPod Mini (when I was a wee tyke), an old 1G iPod Shuffle that was handed down to me, an 3G iPod Touch which I got for Christmas two years ago (only to be rendered obsolete by the 4G version) and as of today I am the proud owner of a hand-me-down: my dad’s ancient (if you consider 2008 old) 2nd-gen iPhone. There was always a point in time when I regretted my buying decisions and I vowed never to buy an Apple product (obviously I broke that vow so now I’m not too keen on keeping promises I can’t keep). Buyers’ remorse always hits, but quickly dissipates as the next model makes the rounds on the internet (rumors), TV (like those snazzy Apple ads) and in-store ads (don’t you just love those store displays?).

Yes, I actually owned one of these.

There must be a reason why droves of Macheads still go to the Church of Steve (Jobs) and hang on to his every word – why, when the iPhone 4 came out, they were quick to line up even though the iPhone 3G was released just a few months ago. The residents of 1 Infinite Loop know what makes people tick. The desire to be on the forefront of things is often a driver for many “early adopters” but at what price? Do we the consumer constantly have to pick up the tab? Certainly consistently rolling out new models is done at the risk of annoying the few who buy the product in its dying phase (the “laggards” and even the “late majority” are guilty here), but does Apple really care?

Probably not. It’s up to the consumer to decide on the right time to buy items with a relatively high turnover, monitoring rumors and keeping abreast with all the news coming out. We can’t really blame Apple for coming out with something new every 6 months, as that is the nature of innovation – to always be one step ahead, constantly improving oneself in order to maintain that advantage. This is the business strategy they’ve chosen – us Macheads just have to live with it. Or buy a Vaio.