iPhone Price Cut Angers Some Apple Customers (1/2)

Consumers usually welcome price breaks, but not when they recently purchased a product, only to see everyone else able to buy the same merchandise" class="hjdict" word="merchandise" target=_blank>merchandise for significantly less. Until Wednesday, Apple's revolutionarycellular telephone, media player and web surfer rolled into one, called the iPhone, sold for $599. Today, it can be purchased for $399.

Apple says the price cut is designed to boost sales as America's holiday shopping season nears. Many iPhone owners are crying foul although people who purchased the gadget within the last two weeks are entitled to a refund of the price difference.

The negative reaction overwhelmed what was supposed to be an upbeat day Wednesday for Apple. Chief executive Steve Jobs announced an overhaul of the California-based company's highly-profitable iPod media players.

"It is going to come in all these great colors, it is super-thin. We think it is one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It is just incredible."

Prices for high technology gear often fall after their introduction, but many analysts say it is unusual for the price to be slashed so drastically and so quickly for a ground-breaking product.