The cynic in me is thinking this was an intentional marketing ploy.
- Price too high
- Outlets, outraged by the price talk about the features of the phone in detail, questioning how can this hardware cost cost so much
- Lower the price to your original (but secret) intent.
- Outlets now talk about how much more reasonable that is, how nice of the company to listen!
You get 2 rounds of media attention for the price of one.