This forum is not representative of the general public (in terms of the amount people are willing to spend on a phone, music player, etc.) It is true that Apple could price skim, and capture higher revenues from the early adopters, before capturing the other segments--- but Apple already tried this with 1.0 and got burned.
The bottom line is that Apple must offer lower priced and/or subsidized models to make inroads in the 1 billion unit phone sector.
Look at the iPod. It didn't really take off until the lower priced Mini was introduced. The Mini/Nano is the best selling model.
The first iPod was $399 ($476.08 in 2007 dollars). Now the iPod range starts at $49 ($41.07 in 2001 dollars). At one time Apple sold a $600 iPod model. Now the iPod range tops out at $500.