Steve Jobs is Not a Meanie: Giving Back $100 to iPhone Buyers

The definition of early adopter just got shorter:   It’s not officially 2 months.

Apple just slashed their pricing on the iPhone a whopping $200 to get more people into the “iPhone tent” as Steve Jobs likes to say.  It didn’t matter to him that somewhere from 1/4 to 1/2 Million people just paid $599 for the same thing.  At first, he basically said “tough luck” in an interview with USAToday.com to the people who paid $599, the full price for the iPhone from launch June 29th to now — he just abandoned them and said it was an “early adopter” risk to buy from him at the sky-high prices upfront.

But it looks like he’s eating his words right now . . . 

In an open letter posted on the Apple.com website today, Steve Job eat his words and tried to make amends with the first iPhone buyers that paid through the nose for one.

This is a tricky offer, because Apple has to figure out who paid full price without any rebates or “any other consideration” for the iPhone — and then offer them a $100 store credit.  Jobs promised details next week so there’s obviously some people at Apple headquarters & AT&T wireless that are scrambling as we speak.

That’s a lot of store credit becuase over a quarter million people already have an iPhone in their pocket right now — times $100 each.

Tune in next week . . .