Credit Apple for Giving Credit

In case you missed it, Jobs sparked fury among Apple fans on Wednesday when he suddenly slashed the price of the iPhone by $200. The dramatic move outraged all those who had rushed the buy the product for $599 when it was launched barely two months ago.

"iHosed, iScrewed, iBetrayed!" screamed the message from one bitter customer on Apple's Web site yesterday. "I honestly still can't believe this. ... I have never felt so violated by a company," wrote another.

Around the Web, the blogs and chat rooms that normally buzz with Apple triumphalism are instead buzzing with outrage. "Apple has made me look like a fool..." "I was taken for $200..." "I feel totally cheated..." "Apple has knowingly dumped all over the very people who helped spread the word on this thing..."

And the ultimate insult to Jobs: "You're acting like Microsoft!(MSFT Quote)"

The blunder wasn't typical of Jobs, who has built a cult following and carefully crafted Apple's anti-corporate, customer-friendly image.

He compounded the error by appearing dismissive in an interview that appeared in USA Today Thursday morning, after the price cut was announced.

"What do you say to customers who just bought a new iPhone for $599?" he was asked, "Sorry?"

"That's technology," Jobs responded. "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."

It's not what you expect a billionaire to say to his customers when they feel cheated.

Jobs' subsequent rebate offer is likely to calm the storm. The company may even come out of the snafu ahead in terms of publicity, though it will presumably have to take a charge against quarterly earnings for the customer credits.

One final thought: The real mark of a genius isn't that they don't make mistakes -- it's how they recover when they do.