I think the backlash reflects what, to me, is an abnormal mindset of people who follow the computer industry. Nothing exemplifies this better than Dell. Dell, as a company, succeeded by repackaging and configuring stock computer parts at a very low cost. They essentially turned Wintel boxes into commodity products.

Thus, for the last ten years or so, PC analysts and followers have treated the industry the same as any commodity market. This mindset leaves them unable to understand Apple or its products. The iPhone in particular throws them for a loop -- "how is it that Apple can charge $600 for an iPhone when its component parts cost only $248 (or whatever) according to iSuppli?" The obviousness of the answer -- it's the design, stupid, and it has value -- not only does not occur to them, but they seem incapable of imagining that a device can be worth more than the sum of its parts.

It's obvious to anyone that early adopters are the ones who have paid a premium for the design. A sad problem is that quite a few don't recognize that, and now that the iPhone's price is closer (but still much higher than) the sum of its parts, they complain about being ripped off.

For my part, the iPhone was worth more than $600 to me from the day it was released, which is why I bought one. Nothing in the last two months has made me think otherwise. So now I'm especially happy to get an unexpected hundred from Apple.