On selling iPhones 5,6,7….all the way to 12 (to people who do not need it)

The one thing that Apple can teach us (for better or, as I think, for worse) is to do the above: sell a product to someone who has an earlier version of it that is working perfectly fine. 

The formula (tried, tested, worked, repeated):

Price the new phone way more than required and do some ‘Bata-adjusting’ (please credit me when you use this phrase next

(Homo sapiens bias: Rs 79900 is way way lesser than Rs 80000!  At least, Apple did not charge that much, that would be overpriced by a mile). 

Tie-up with a bank to offer you a humungous cashback (which itself is the price of a not-so-cool smartphone)

(H-sapiens bias: 6k of cashback means that the folks at the bank want me to have this phone.  It is ordained in the Universe.  A larger force at work.  All for me.)

 

Then EMI the whole business to reduce it all to a couple of thousand a month

(H-s bias : it is the cost of just three biriyanis (which I shall never never give up, of course, but still, let me promise to try).  The iPhone 12 for 3 b’s a month, how cool is that?

 

Exchange value: 9k! 

(H-sapien: someone is paying me 9k for this piece of junk?)

A damp squib (i.e, me) interjects the thoughts:  "…er, but what about the 60k that you paid for this phone three years ago?"

(Homosapien: Only you can bring such logic in to ruin my day, but still, I must answer that question.  The 60k? That is a sunk cost.  It is history, sunk, incurred, gone.  And I have used my phone like, well, like I use my lungs.  So there.)

 

Exchange Bonus: the icing on the cake (dark choc and cream)

(H-s bias: can you believe this?!  All because I owned an iPhone earlier?  Wow, Apple loves me.  This is unreal!) 

ps: the small print says that you give in your 128 GB iPhone 7 and pay a fortune to get half of that storage capacity. But no one – not humans certainly – cares a fig leaf and its mother-in-law for small print.

 

Exchange effective price:

(Homosapien conclusion: now affordable at only 61900, whew!  I did feel guilty about this exchange but Apple saves the day. I promise to pay alimony if I ever buy another phone.)

So, go fly a kit, you damp behavioural squib.

I will trade-in and feel guilt-less.
And I will buy again.

No, not an Apple a day – even humans haven’t reached there yet.