At least for me, it's the principle, not the money. Us early iPhone buyers knew that the price would eventually be lowered, though I don't think anyone expected it to go down $200 in just two months. And Apple, being the smart company they are, I think realized that if they do a significant price cut quickly after a product is released, the next time something major comes out for them, a hugeeeee percentage of willing buyers will wait a few months to buy assuming this trend in price cuts will happen again. And that's bad for Apple.

Since Amex does offer this service, there's no reason we're not entitled to our money. Think of it this way...Amex offers a concierge service to order flowers, for example. Every one of us is totally capable of calling a florist and ordering flowers, but we choose to let American Express handle it. Why? Because we pay them money for a service, and like getting our moneys worth. Same goes for the Price Protection (which I personally don't know much about of if its even applicable to this situation), we pay an annual fee for the card and are entitled to this service, thus we are entitled to our money. Even though I'd be perfectly content with the price I paid for my iPhone if Amex or Apple were to offer no compensation, the fact that the option is there entitles us to take advantage of it. I will say, on an unrelated topic, that I think the iPhone is possibly the best purhcase I've ever made, technology wise. I hear so many people arguing about how it's simply an iPod with a phone or that it's a useless device since it lacks 3G or GPS...but iPhone owners do you agree how brilliant, convenient, and fun to use it is?