Megan McArdle reports that:
Remember the kerfuffle over the original iPhone? Apple charged luxe prices for the first few months, and then after it had wrung every possible dollar out of the early adopters, dropped the cost to capture more price-sensitive users. Many of those who had bought early reacted with the righteous fury of a wronged spouse.
This time around, they can't say they weren't warned: Apple has apparently already said that if sales of the iPad aren't brisk enough, it will drop the price. I expect it will have to, if the company is to have any hope of hitting the 1-5 million sales analysts are projecting in the first year. $500 is pretty steep for a netbook without a keyboard.
The question before us thus is simple: How much of a premium are you willing to pay to be an early adopter? Personally, I could live with 20%.
