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Steve Jobs and company today decided to make nice with those who purchased the iPhone before yesterday's 33 percent price cut. In an open letter to all iPhone owners published on the Apple Web site, Jobs announced that the company would give these people a $100 credit, to be used at any Apple Retail Store or the Apple Online Store.

You see, Apple reduced the price of the 8GB iPhone by $200 to $399, while discontinuing the far less popular 4GB model. This left a sour taste in the mouths of many early adopters who shelled out $599 for the iPhone over the last couple of months.

Sure, they expected the price to drop. But to see Apple lower it by so much so soon, a mere couple of months after launched, was too much to take.

At first Jobs seemed to brush off these complaints.

When questioned about the negative feelings of those who bought the iPhone for $599 in a USA Today interview, the Apple CEO said, "That's technology. If they bought it this morning, they should go back to where they bought it and talk to them. If they bought it a month ago, well, that's what happens in technology."

No exactly music to early adopter's ears.

After reading hundreds of e-mails from irate customers, however, Jobs apparently had a change of heart, deciding to extend the $100 olive branch to all iPhone owners who bought the smartphone for $599, as long as they haven't yet received some sort of compensation (e.g. a rebate, credit).

Job's still stands by the decision to lower the price of the iPhone by $200 so quickly, "to get as many new customers as possible in the iPhone 'tent'," and insists that accepting these types of price cuts is part of "life in the technology lane" though.

Nonetheless, he concludes his open letter in with the conciliatory "we want to do the right thing for our valued iPhone customers. We apologize for disappointing some of you, and we are doing our best to live up to your high expectations of Apple."

Apple is still working out the details on how the $100 will be dispersed to customers. Job’s said the company would post this information on its Web site next week.