Free I-Pod.......again

superrgirll · Post by **superrgirll** » 1/17/2005, 10:26 pm

brad.

Henrietta · Post by **Henrietta** » 1/17/2005, 10:26 pm

How do you know they check IP's?

gravity · Post by **gravity** » 1/17/2005, 10:27 pm

read the TOS

Henrietta · Post by **Henrietta** » 1/17/2005, 10:28 pm

Crap, I might be screwed. My roommate used two different emails cause she forgot to click on my link instead of going directly to the site.

gravity · Post by **gravity** » 1/17/2005, 10:31 pm

you wont be....but they check addresses too...you have to jump through a bunch of hoops to get this....remember youre getting a $400 item for signing up for this thing.....they will freeze her account probably

Henrietta · Post by **Henrietta** » 1/17/2005, 10:35 pm

But she didn't buy anything with the other one, she's not really trying to do anything.

Another problem though: Me and my Dad used the same billing address. Boo.

gravity · Post by **gravity** » 1/17/2005, 10:37 pm

yep, so thats two down....damn, didnt you read the TOS? i did, cuz im like "theyre giving me an ipod?"

Henrietta · Post by **Henrietta** » 1/18/2005, 9:48 am

Well, me and my Dad like...live together. It seemed logical that that may happen. So if I just do another offer and use a different billing address it will fix this?

BAH, that's not cool because I have roommates and family members. This is really pissing me off.

Axtech · Post by **Axtech** » 1/18/2005, 10:32 am

Because this clearly isn't a rediculously shady offer.

Let's think about this logically.

How could a company afford to give away free iPods? Clearly there has to be money coming in to them, correct? So, they must be selling something in order to have the money to buy iPods (likely in bulk) to send out. But what could they sell? It has to be something related to the submissions they get requesting iPods - otherwise they'd spend way too much on the ever-higher demand for iPods.

But what could they sell?

Ahh, that's right. They sell your information! Of course! It's so simple. Get millions of teenaged not-so-internet-savvy sheep who want the latest and greatest gadget to simply GIVE you their information, then turn around and sell that information to companies who want to send out their marketing to a wider customer base.

Then, of course, there's the question of the iPod.

Everyone knows at least a handful of people who have signed up for this.

But where are the iPods? How many people do you know who have gotten a free iPod?

Sure, you've read about people who've gotten them.

"I just got a free iPod!"

There. I just said it.

Does that mean I actually got a free iPod? No.

Let's go for the optimistic approach and assume that they actually are buying iPods and shipping them to you in exchange for your information. The unfortunate thing here is that they've set up their rules and guidlines with so much fine print and red tape that it's nearly impossible to follow it perfectly - resulting in the lack of a free iPod.

Then there's the select few who actually do qualify for a free iPod, according to their guidlines.

Here's the genius part, though.

Bobby doesn't get his free iPod.

He's pissed.

But what can he do?

Take them to court?

For what?

His money back?

Frankly, a week and half later, he's forgotten about the whole thing, and just doesn't give a damn. He hasn't lost anything, so it doesn't matter.

Maybe he decides to try again.

In which case he's applied twice, which is against the guidlines, so he doesn't "qualify" anymore anyways.

That is, of course, assuming the best.

But, without actually purchasing and shipping out these "free" iPods, this company is making pure profit. Why bother? Again, there's really no consequences for it. They've got an awesome set up. My guess is that they actually have shipped out a few, just to keep the hype up on the web. But in the end, they're a company making something from nothing.

And for that, I salute them.

Henrietta · Post by **Henrietta** » 1/18/2005, 1:41 pm

Thank you Rob. I'm definitely too stupid to realize this. I'm just too lazy to NOT be pissed even though my puny brain manages to realize this.

happening fish · Post by **happening fish** » 1/18/2005, 2:02 pm

I kinda agree with the whole sketchiness of this set up
there's no such thing as a free lunch

Axtech · Post by **Axtech** » 1/18/2005, 2:42 pm

Exactly. Try to imagine the business plan there.

Employee: So you see sir, we buy the product from Apple, then ship them out to the people who want them.

Boss: And you charge them double the price, right? Classic!

Employee: No no no. We give them away for free. Everyone will want an iPod from us! Think of the sheer volume!

Boss: All I see is sheer stupidity, Johnson. Your plan will make us bankrupt in a months time.

Employee: And how!

happening fish · Post by **happening fish** » 1/18/2005, 2:43 pm

Thank you, Dilbert :lol:

Dr. Hobo · Post by **Dr. Hobo** » 1/18/2005, 4:55 pm

actually the company doing this recieves its money from the subscribers based on a. how many subscriptions and b. volume of people going to their respective sites.

wired had a really good article bout its legitimacy (i think it was wired)
anyways
the money they get per referral is close to what they pay per ipod (apple gets good advertising and a whole lot more potential subscribers for i-tunes so a discount of a large nature would be wise on their part which the article hinted at).

http://www.wired.com/news/mac/0,2125,64614,00.html <--- the original article i read

http://www.wired.com/news/mac/0,2125,65042,00.html <---- a newer article about the whole thing and about the associated problems

xoNoDoubt69 · Post by **xoNoDoubt69** » 1/18/2005, 5:03 pm

happeningfish wrote:Thank you, Dilbert

i have a Dilbert calendar!!

Axtech · Post by **Axtech** » 1/18/2005, 5:15 pm

How is giving your product away for free good advertising?

"Have an iPod! And don't forget to tell your friends to buy one!"

gravity · Post by **gravity** » 1/18/2005, 5:17 pm

Dr. Hobo wrote:actually the company doing this recieves its money from the subscribers based on a. how many subscriptions and b. volume of people going to their respective sites.

wired had a really good article bout its legitimacy (i think it was wired)
anyways
the money they get per referral is close to what they pay per ipod (apple gets good advertising and a whole lot more potential subscribers for i-tunes so a discount of a large nature would be wise on their part which the article hinted at).

http://www.wired.com/news/mac/0,2125,64614,00.html <--- the original article i read

http://www.wired.com/news/mac/0,2125,65042,00.html <---- a newer article about the whole thing and about the associated problems

thank you for posting what i was going to post! plus this has been on various news shows, where they got their iPods...

Random Name · Post by **Random Name** » 1/18/2005, 5:19 pm

ipods are incredibly trendy and cool though, so the more people that have them, the more people are going to want to buy them.

gravity · Post by **gravity** » 1/18/2005, 5:22 pm

when i worked for sprint, within bestbuy, they used to get a HUGE kickback for every sprint phone sold....so Bestbuy would offer a bigger discount than some stores did, simply because they could....same thing...you get five people to sign up, say they get 75 dollars from each sign up, you just made them $375. each ipod they probably get for $250ish. PROFIT....Apple gets free advertising from this, they dont care HOW they make the money...they just look at how many units theyre moving....

Dr. Hobo · Post by **Dr. Hobo** » 1/18/2005, 5:46 pm

Axtech wrote:How is giving your product away for free good advertising?

"Have an iPod! And don't forget to tell your friends to buy one!"

brad and sarah made very vaild points
plus apple isnt giving them away
the company thats doing this (gratis) is giving them away.
they are in the "customer acquisition" business.. in other words, theyre an advertising firm of sorts that has to do whats necessary to make people get AOL or join columbia house, etc etc.
and as brad said apple is looking at their total unit sales
given that apple makes a good bit of cash on i-tunes, this gives them a chance to increase their i-tunes sales
furthermore, the apple computers have more potential customers because people may think "hey apple sure made a good ipod.. i wonder what the computers are like.. maybe i'll buy one" .. the more units apple sells the more they make the more potential they can make with i-tunes and the computers.