The price drop announced yesterday during the new iPod announcement caused quite a storm of protest from people who had rushed out (even lined up for a week) to get their hands on the iPhone when it came out. The price drop had certainly not been expected (at least not only 9 weeks after its release) and the magnitude of it (about 33 percent) certainly was a bombshell.
In an open letter today to iPhone customers, Steve Jobs conceded that we need to do a better job taking care of our early iPhone customers as we aggressively go after new ones with a lower price. Our early customers trusted us, and we must live up to that trust with our actions in moments like these. He goes on to offer a US$100 Apple Retail Store or the Apple Online Store credit to all those who purchased their iPhone for either US$599 for the 8GB or US$499 for the 4GB version.
Details of how customers can get their credit will be posted on the Apple web site next week.
Kudos to Apple! Not only should the complaints die down a bit but now everyone will be flocking back into the Apple stores to spend their new found wealth (and probably ending up spending a bit more).