Meanwhile …

Just 10 weeks ago, the company unveiled with great fanfare its new iPhone. At $599 a pop, technofiles lined up overnight outside electronics stores to be among the first to purchase the device upon its June 29 release.

That was then, this is now.

On Wednesday, Apple announced it was cutting the price of its 8-gigabyte model by $200, supposedly to spur demand for the holidays.

In response to concerns that some people who bought the iPhone at the higher price might be miffed, Apple CEO Steve Jobs noted, “If they bought it a month ago, well, that’s what happens in technology.”

A day later, though, Mr. Jobs did an about-face. The company announced Thursday that it was offering $100 credits to those who had purchased the product at its debut price.

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,” Mr. Jobs said. “Our early customers trusted us, and we must live up to that trust with our actions in moments like these.”

Christopher Kercher, a New York attorney who paid full price for his new Apple toy, lauded the company’s decision. “I think this is absolutely the right move,” he told The Wall Street Journal. “They needed to reach out and make a peace offering.”

Whatever happened to caveat emptor?

Does all this indicate that the iPhone hasn’t done as well as hoped and that Apple is now rushing to assuage its loyal customer base? Perhaps. Apple stock fell $1.75 to $135.01 on Thursday.

In the meantime, there’s apparently no truth to the rumor that Sony is now offering rebates to those who rushed out to purchase $1,000 VCRs in the mid-1970s.