The iPhone (or Jesus Phone according to some media outlets) has been a real success to Apple, but the latest price cuts on the desirable phone has led to much wailing and gnashing of teeth from fanboys and early adopters, so those of you who have the phone, be prepared to get $100 of cash back (of sorts!)

Earlier in the week, we reported that Apple shaved $200 off the price of the iPhone and discontinued the 4GB version (don't worry guys - rumour has it that a 16GB version is on the cards). Well Steve Jobs has tried to regruntle disgruntled iPhone users with the offer of $100, the only catch is it is a $100 credit note to buy more Apple kit (let's face it you WILL buy more kit).

In an open letter to fanboys and gentiles, Jobs said sorry about the situation and promised to do the right thing by customers.

"We apologise for disappointing some of you, and we are doing our best to live up to your high expectations of Apple," said Jobs.

He said he took the action after reading all the emails from users complaining that the phone that they no doubt queued up for (or paid someone to queue up for) had now dropped in price.

"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," he said.

Jobs added that the technology road is bumpy (much like the road outside our office - the council hasn't relaid the tarmac in years).

"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," he said.

"Even though we are making the right decision to lower the price of iPhone, and even though the technology road is bumpy, 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."

He said details of how the credit notes will work are still being worked out and further information will be posted on the Apple website next week. Of course, those outside the US haven't got an iPhone so no-one else really cares at the moment.

You can read the open letter here.