Will there be an iPhone uproar?

In all the hoopla of Steve Jobs introducing many new faces to the iPod lineup at Apple’s “The Beat Goes On” event, he also did something very interesting. He apparently kicked the 4 Gig iPhone to the curb and dropped the price on the 8 Gig from $599 to $399. This was met with much applause. But as the day is now over, it may begin to sink in for these Apple loyalists that got the iPhone early (probably many in attendance at this event) what this means.

It was just over two months ago (June 29th) that many die-hards camped out for their iPhone. Many were met with setup and activation headaches. The Apple brand being strong as it is, it was able to work through these kinks. But here are my questions:

Will this satisfaction of being an early adopter be enough to satisfy these loyalists or is the $200 price drop too early? Will these very Apple loyalists demand something back from Apple? Or is this a non-issue? What do you think?

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UPDATE: Appearently there was an uproar of many iPhone users who complained. In an open letter from Steve Jobs, he said they “apologize for disappointing some of [the iPhone owners]” and is offering a $100 in-store credit that can be used at AT&T or the Apple Store. For those iPhone owners, does this work for you?
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The iPhone and AT&T?

Today in a PR release, AT&T announced that beginning Monday of next week it will start to transition “the Cingular brand to AT&T in advertising and customer communications, throughout Web sites and nationwide retail stores, and on company buildings and vehicles.” This re-branding effort should take place over the next several months.

This begs the question. Now that Steve Jobs has showcased the new Apple iPhone and announced that Cingular will provide the cell phone service, how will the “debranding” of Cingular and the emergence of AT&T affect the relationship with the iPhone? Will the AT&T brand be able to keep pace with the iPhone? I think the most telling part of this story may come from the AT&T PR release itself:

AT&T, the standard bearer of communications excellence for more than a century, is getting younger on Monday, when the company folds the six year-old Cingular wireless name into the iconic AT&T brand.

So in other words, the iPhone is a sexy, sleek phone that is well ahead of it’s time and it will be coupled with a tired, century old brand instead of the younger, hipper brand. I don’t think the century old brand image of AT&T meshes with the sexy brand image of Apple. I mean, even my grandma dressed in sexy black dress is still my grandma!

What are your thoughts?