Apple offers $100 credit to disgruntled early iPhone fans

Apple is doing its best to appease angry iPhone owners who rushed to buy the device when it first launched in the US, only for the computing giant to slash the price tag by $200 just a couple of months later.

In an open letter to customers posted on the company's website, Steve Jobs, Apple's chief executive apologised to disgruntled users by offering an olive branch in the form of an $100 credit. The company plans to post more information on its website next week detailing how users can cash in on this discount.

By bringing down the price of the iPhone, Apple hopes it will appeal to an even wider audience.

Before announcing the plans to hand out money off voucher users will be able to spend against another Apple product, Jobs stood by the decision to drop the 8GB iPhone price from $599 to $399. "Being in technology for 30+ years I can attest to the fact that the technology road is bumpy," he said.

"There is always change and improvement, and there is always someone who bought a product before a particular cutoff date and misses the new price or the new operating system or the new whatever. This is life in the technology lane. If you always wait for the next price cut or to buy the new improved model, you'll never buy any technology product because there is always something better and less expensive on the horizon..."

But, despite standing by the decision, he admitted that the company needs to do a better job of giving something back to the hardcore Apple fans that so eagerly awaited the device's arrival and snapped it up as early customers.

"Our early customers trusted us, and we must live up to that trust with our actions in moments like these," he said.

"We want to do the right thing for our valued iPhone customers. We apologise for disappointing some of you, and we are doing our best to live up to your high expectations of Apple."

Maggie Holland

Maggie has been a journalist since 1999, starting her career as an editorial assistant on then-weekly magazine Computing, before working her way up to senior reporter level. In 2006, just weeks before ITPro was launched, Maggie joined Dennis Publishing as a reporter. Having worked her way up to editor of ITPro, she was appointed group editor of CloudPro and ITPro in April 2012. She became the editorial director and took responsibility for ChannelPro, in 2016.

Her areas of particular interest, aside from cloud, include management and C-level issues, the business value of technology, green and environmental issues and careers to name but a few.