People have to keep in mind that Apple isn't really a reseller in the true sense of the word. They negotiate their prices at the release of a new product, purchase the futures on such product at the negotiated price of the time, add in a mark up to cover product storage, and overhead costs (labor, store front prices, etc).
It is the overhead that causes the markup. For the most part we love Apples model, and the ability to walk into a store and receive full service (all of those services come at a price). If we were to complain about parts pricing, why don't we complain about overall pricing. By this I mean, why is it that the prices of the items never drop over the life of the product. We know the new release is inevitable, but the pricing remains the exact same as it was when the price was released (and will be so until the day the new version is released, even then it will be hard to get an older product at a discounted price. Sometimes you will find a limited few in the stores, but generally they are not sold, advertised, etc and sent back to be unloaded to third party group buyers or the refurb store). Other comparable products prices drop as the product gains age (and usually market share as well) and as the new versions are released, but this is not the case with the fixed pricing Apple has that keeps the prices high.
This is just their marketing scheme and we all like the products so we accept it and pay the price. It would be nice to have the same pricing as other retailers such as Wal-MArt and NewEgg, but it just isn't going to happen.
