Apple announced that it will drop the price of its 8GB iPhone by $200 while discontinuing the 4GB version of the device. The 8GB model will now retail for $399, down from the $599 price tag attached at its late June commercial debut; the 4GB model previously sold for $499. The iPhone pricing news was one of a series of announcements at a special event last week--Apple CEO Steve Jobs also introduced the new iPod Classic (featuring 80GB or 160GB of storage for $249 and $349, respectively), a video-enabled iPod Nano and the new iPod Touch, which features the multi-touch user interface first introduced via the iPhone.
One day after announcing the iPhone price cut, Apple said it will bow to consumer frustration and offer a $100 store credit to consumers who purchased the device at full MSRP. In an open letter published on the Apple website, CEO Steve Jobs writes "I have received hundreds of emails from iPhone customers who are upset about Apple dropping the price of iPhone by $200 two months after it went on sale… Therefore, we have decided to offer every iPhone customer who purchased an iPhone from either Apple or AT&T, and who is not receiving a rebate or any other consideration, a $100 store credit towards the purchase of any product at an Apple Retail Store or the Apple Online Store… We want to do the right thing for our valued iPhone customers. We apologize for disappointing some of you."
For more on the Apple announcements:
- read this release about Apple selling 1 million iPhones
- check out this release on the new $399 iPhone pricetag
- read this release about the new iPod Nano
- check out this one on the new iPod Classic
- read about the new Apple and Starbucks iTunes partnership
- finally, here's the release on Apple's WiFi iTunes music store