I'm kind of baffled how a judge who probably doesn't know a 1G Nano from his 40G gavel can be in charge of making this decision, and thus costing Apple $22.5 million in class-action payouts. You're eligible for $15 if your Nano came with a slip cover and $25 if it was an early one that did not.

You can find all the info here, and if you're feeling skeptical, this team of Mac Rumors forum commenters is on the case, investigating if this is real or not (it is). The whole thing will be finalized at a fairness hearing on April 28. [ipodnanosettlement via BGR]

Third, even though we are making the right decision to lower the price of iPhone, and even though the technology road is bumpy, we need to do a better job taking care of our early iPhone customers as we aggressively go after new ones with a lower price. Our early customers trusted us, and we must live up to that trust with our actions in moments like these.

Taken at face value, it's a great gesture to the early adopters, without which the iPhone would have tanked at launch. But if we dig a little deeper, we find out that there's not much loss in the decision.

$100 doesn't go a long way in Apple land. It can get you a keyboard and 3/5 of a mouse. It can you get an iPod shuffle and almost an entire set of spare headphones. It will buy you 5/6 of a Bluetooth headset. And this is just the cheapest items. Most people will use this $100 on something more expensive, like a Mac mini or as more of an incentive to buy a MacBook Pro or an iMac. Either way, the money's going back to Apple.

While we're poking around, what's up with the sudden price drop? What other product have you seen that dropped $200, or 1/3 of its price, only two months after it was launched? Did that product do well? Was it because the product was selling so fantastically that the manufacturer needed to drop the price? Probably not.

We're not complaining about "only" being offered $100 in rebate certificates. No, not at all. We think it's a great offer and a great gesture. But whether they did this because they really care about their customers, or they did this because people complained really, really loudly, is known only to Apple.

And for those of you who bought the iPhone on a credit card with price protection, $200 in cash is better than $100 in store credit. And if you're really sneaky, maybe you can get both. Don't tell them we said anything. [Gizmodo]

To all iPhone customers:

I have received hundreds of emails from iPhone customers who are upset about Apple dropping the price of iPhone by $200 two months after it went on sale. After reading every one of these emails, I have some observations and conclusions.

First, I am sure that we are making the correct decision to lower the price of the 8GB iPhone from $599 to $399, and that now is the right time to do it. iPhone is a breakthrough product, and we have the chance to 'go for it' this holiday season. iPhone is so far ahead of the competition, and now it will be affordable by even more customers. It benefits both Apple and every iPhone user to get as many new customers as possible in the iPhone 'tent'. We strongly believe the $399 price will help us do just that this holiday season.

Second, being in technology for 30+ years I can attest to the fact that the technology road is bumpy. There is always change and improvement, and there is always someone who bought a product before a particular cutoff date and misses the new price or the new operating system or the new whatever. This is life in the technology lane. If you always wait for the next price cut or to buy the new improved model, you'll never buy any technology product because there is always something better and less expensive on the horizon. The good news is that if you buy products from companies that support them well, like Apple tries to do, you will receive years of useful and satisfying service from them even as newer models are introduced.

Third, even though we are making the right decision to lower the price of iPhone, and even though the technology road is bumpy, we need to do a better job taking care of our early iPhone customers as we aggressively go after new ones with a lower price. Our early customers trusted us, and we must live up to that trust with our actions in moments like these.

Therefore, we have decided to offer every iPhone customer who purchased an iPhone from either Apple or AT&T, and who is not receiving a rebate or any other consideration, a $100 store credit towards the purchase of any product at an Apple Retail Store or the Apple Online Store. Details are still being worked out and will be posted on Apple's website next week. Stay tuned.

We want to do the right thing for our valued iPhone customers. We apologize for disappointing some of you, and we are doing our best to live up to your high expectations of Apple.

Steve Jobs
Apple CEO

[Apple]

So far it says Best Buy, Sears, Circuit City and Fry's are participating, but we've heard from the HD DVD folks that Amazon is as well. Amazon's price? Only $299 before rebate. That means you can make out with a $199 player when all's said and done. Score!

Hit the jump for the rebate.

Update: Looks like Amazon sells it for $299 after instant rebate. Elsewhere you'd need to get it for $399 to qualify for the rebate.

– Jason Chen

Rebate [PDF]

Product Page [Amazon]

Fret not, because Cingular has your back, my friends. If you call to complain, Cingular will hook you up with a $2.50 refund. $2.50!!

My guess is that the time it will take on the phone to get such a discount will not reimburse the average Blackberry user for their hourly rate. Let's get this process automated, Cingular/AT&T. And let's just cease to be so damn tacky. – Mark Wilson

Cingular's Blackberry Users Can Request Credit For Service Outage [consumerist]

What's the catch? You have to come up with $110, and then you'll get $70 back (form is linked below) as a rebate, and the offer ends tomorrow. Shipping is free, but if there's an Office Depot in your state, they'll clip you for the sales tax. Still, 200GB hard drive for $40-something? We'll take it. – Charlie White

Maxtor 200GB Internal Hard Drive [Office Depot, via Bargain Jack] Thanks, Jack!

Rebate form