An iPhone owner recently sued Apple Inc. for $1 million, claiming that the recent price cut violated price discrimination laws. Apple reduced the price of the Apple iPhone by almost 1/3 when it reduced the price of the 8 GB iPhone from $599 to $399 two months after the phone debuted.

On Apple’s part, they refunded the price difference for those who had purchased the phone within the previous 14 days, and offered $100 Apple Store vouchers to everyone else who had purchased the iPhone.

Still that was no enough for Dongmei Li of Queens, New York.

According to the lawsuit, “the price reduction injured early purchasers like herself because they cannot resell the product for the same profit as those who bought the cell phone following the price cut.”

Wow! Only in America can you sue a company because you can’t make a profit on an item you purchased from them. Based on her lawsuit, every cell phone manufacturer or company that produces any electronic goods should immediately change the way their products are priced.

I don’t think so. I think this lawsuit should be thrown out before it ever reaches trial.

Slashing the prices of electronics soon after they are released is the most common business practice in the electronics industry. How many people have spent thousands of dollars on a computer or entertainment system that could be bought for a fraction of the cost today? What about the first people who bought DVD players, only to see the price of the same model drop by 75% in the first year? The same goes for DVD burners, external hard drives, and just about every other mainstream electronics item. Prices start high, then as newer technology or more competition comes out, prices are reduced. It has been this way for many years, and the iPhone is no different.

Cell phone companies offer $200+ phones for free when you sign a new cell phone contract. Every cell phone provider offers steep discounts for signing a new contract, extending a contract, adding a line, or for being a loyal customer for a couple years. It’s part of the business model.

Computers and electronics are constantly improving and the older models get discounted as the newer products arrive. In fact, when Apple Inc. cut the price of the iPhone, they also stopped production on the 4 GB iPhone model. I would bet that a newer model is already in work, and no one will want the old 4 GB version.

The woman suing Apple Inc. bought the 4 GB iPhone, which will no longer be produced or sold. I guess she is pretty upset that if she had waited a couple months, she could have bought a better phone for less that she paid for her phone. But, as mentioned earlier, this is the same pricing model most new electronics go through. I guess she has not bought many electronic items before, or she is just looking for some attention.

I think this lawsuit is ridiculous.

Source: CNN

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