The price drop was due to finally getting the phone subsidized by major networks.<p>If you bought it unlocked (or if you still do) it was the same price. It sucked a little for Early Adopters (like me) but it was completely predictable and wasn&#x27;t honestly a huge surprise to anyone paying attention.<p>By the time the price drop happened they had sold over 25% of the smartphones that were bought in the previous quarter. They&#x27;d already met their goal of 1 million smartphones by the end of September at that point.<p>I swear... the rubbish I see over this: the iPhone was a <i>wild</i> success considering that Apple had zero involvement in that business before. It was the kind of success that many companies <i>dream</i> about for new hardware.