Apple takes a bit out of Loyalists

A business's best profit can come from its loyal fan base, as long as the company treats them as loyalists instead of suckers. The way that Apple has treated its loyalist is a scary approach that more companies may start to treat their loyal fan base.
With the release of the highly anticipated iPhone, there was much skepticism if it was worth the insanely high prices that Apple was charging. With much of the market afraid to test it out, the fans most loyal to Apple were the ones who showed up at midnight at Best Buy's across the nation to be the first to have the iPhone. Within days reviews of the product were all over the Internet, with some negative but enough positive to convince those who are interested in the iPhone that it was worth it. Thus the loyal fans were even convincing non-loyal users to try out the iPhone, so instead of giving the loyal fans the satisfaction of being the pioneers of the new age of technology, Apple instead made them look like fools to all the new users of the iPhone.
By lowering the price to a reasonable amount just months after the release, Apple made the extremist who stayed in lines for hours look like idiots for their dedication to their brand. So as the fans grew upset with the companies decision to lower the prices to increase their product sales, Apple never jumped on a way to satisfy them. Finally a decision to give out a rebate was one, too late and two, a cheap excuse to only buy more Apple products. Only $100 dollars for Apple products, was only half of the what the price drop was and it gave the customers no options and thus no satisfaction, like the Rolling Stones.
If more companies treat their loyal customers this way, it may become more common for customers to not wait for highly anticipated releases. Imagine everyone showing up at Blockbuster to rent the Halo 3 instead of waiting at Best Buy to buy it. What if people wait til 2009 to buy the 2008 models of vehicles so the price will go down. Or better yet, imagine people waiting for a band to start giving away their tickets instead of being the first ones to buy tickets for KISS farewell tour part XL.
The point is the reason customers and fans are loyal is because they are rewarded for it 9 out of 10 times by either being the first to have the product or by getting a little extra for making the effort and sacrifice, Apple basically showed that they do not care about their loyal fans, but if it hurts them or not will depend on the next highly anticipated Apple release. If the iBaby is a flop then they turned their fans away, but if they still buy even though they might get screwed well then ... They're Loyalists