I feel like a lot of people missed a pretty important point... Why does the $499 seem inexpensive to the people who DID NOT WATCH THE SJ presentation? There is

I feel like a lot of people missed a pretty important point... Why does the $499 seem inexpensive to the people who DID NOT WATCH THE SJ presentation? There is no text on the apple website that says "pundits said it was going to cost $999, but we made it for $499"?