Apple uses $100 credit to stem backlash from iPhone price cut

In a letter posted on the company’s Web site, Apple’s Steve Jobs offered essentially a $100 apology to the hundreds of thousands of users who purchased Apple’s iPhone during the two months before the company slashed the price of the device.
The letter is notable both in its candidness and its attempt to stanch a potential public-relations backlash against the iPhone maker.
“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,” wrote Apple’s Jobs in the letter. “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.”
The letter comes just a day after Apple announced it would drop the price of its 8 GB iPhone from $600 to $400 for the upcoming holiday season. The company also said it would discontinue its 4 GB iPhone.
Apple released the iPhone in June, and said it is on track to sell one million iPhones by the end of this month.
“iPhone is a breakthrough product, and we have the chance to ‘go for it’ this holiday season,” Jobs wrote. “iPhone is so far ahead of the competition, and now it will be affordable by even more customers. It benefits both Apple and every iPhone user to get as many new customers as possible in the iPhone ‘tent’. We strongly believe the $399 price will help us do just that this holiday season.”
The financial implications of Apple’s move is unclear. The company’s stock was up slightly in after-hours trading.