Apple recently cut the price of the iPhone by $200 so that it will sell better during the holiday season. Steve Jobs apologized [1] for, "disappointing some of you." I guess the "you" would be the iPhone fanatics that paid $600 for their hardware and expected the price to remain prohibitively high for some time. As a show of good faith, Jobs is offering a $100 Apple store credit to anyone that purchased the iPhone at the full retail price of $599. What Jobs isn't saying is that Apple has a pricing policy that allows customers to get a full refund on the difference of any price cuts within 10 calendar days of the purchase date. If you bought the iPhone in the past week at full retail, take advantage of the following policy [2]:
Should Apple reduce its price on any shipped product within 10 calendar days of shipment, you may contact Apple Sales Support at 1-800-676-2775 to request a refund or credit of the difference between the price you were charged and the current selling price. To receive the refund or credit you must contact Apple within 14 business days of shipment.