To Steve Jobs: $200 just cost you over $2,500

Yesterday’s $200 price drop of the Apple iPhone only 2 months after its release is an insult to Apple loyal customers. Many of us stood in line for countless hours to buy the 8GB iPhone for $599. Many of us also went through the pains of activating our iPhones with AT&T for periods as long as 3-10 days. We provided valuable feedback that has aided Apple in releasing 2 firmware upgrades in as many months.

So what do we get for all of this. We get insulted by Apple and mocked by our friends and family. If Apple can afford to reduce the price by 33% in only 2 months, why the heck was it so expensive to begin with? To prove that they could get people to pay $600 for a phone? I feel used.

This is reminiscent of the recent release of the Apple TV. Early adopters pre-ordered their 40GB Apple TV’s only to have their brand new toy be outdated in a few months when Apple released an Apple TV with a 160GB hard drive for only $100 more. While I was not pleased to hear that Apple wasn’t offering an upgrade, at least they didn’t insult me by lowering the price of the 40GB Apple TV.

What does this mean to Apple? Time will tell. But from my standpoint, the $2,500 that I was going to spend on 2 MacBooks this Christmas season may be spent elsewhere. I’m not sure my wife would let me spend that kind of money on a company that has neglected me as an early adopter twice in less than 12 months.