Marketing the iPhone

by on June 25, 2007

Every once so often, there is a marketing phenomena that cannot be ignored. On Friday, June 29, the Apple Store will debut the iPhone.

iPhoneThere are two types of iPhones: $499 for the 4 GB version and $599 for the 8 GB version.

I’ve seen lots of affiliates griping that the Apple affiliate program only pays 1% on sales. According to iSuppli, a research firm, the $499 iPhone costs Apple about $246 to produce, while the $599 model runs Apply about $281 to bring to stores.

Yeah, it would be nice if commissions on iPhones were a bit sweeter, but I think the potential with this offer is still very attractive for affiliates with the right audience. Apple is expected to move millions of iPhones over the next several months.

And consumers will only be able to buy the iPhone at Apple stores, the Apple site, and AT&T company-owned stores. The iPhone might be available in dozens of places online in the future, but this Friday, it’s just at the Apple Store online.

Personally, I won’t be getting one of these phones. don’t get me wrong, it looks really cool and has great features. But it’s missing one thing for me – the ability to sync up with Outlook. That’s a must for me, and the reason why I recently picked up a BlackBerry 8800.

But you can bet I’ll be promoting the iPhone come this Friday. ;-)

{ 4 comments }

Shawn Collins March 8, 2008 at 8:11 am
Oz March 8, 2008 at 7:50 am

Are there currently any affiliate programs available for the sale of the iphone or any iphone accessories?

Shawn Collins June 25, 2007 at 8:12 am

Thanks for the clarification – I’d read a few times that it wouldn’t sync with Outlook, most recently in the New York Post yesterday:

“Doesn’t support Microsoft Exchange or Office.”

fog city dave June 25, 2007 at 2:53 am

I’m sure you’ll enjoy your Blackberry, but unfortunately you’ve been misinformed about the iPhone. It will sync with Outlook fine. It is compatible with all POP3 and IMAP email, including Outlook and will sync with your Outlook accounts and contacts and calendar items just fine. What it won’t do is receive Push email from an Exchange server. It can access Exchange servers if they implement the IMAP option perfectly well, and can also access Exchange mail through Microsoft’s web client. But it has absolutely no problem synching up to Outlook on Windows, and can be set to automatically check for new mail as often as you like. Did you actually mean Exchange and not Outlook?

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