Them doing this signals to me that the RAM pricing isn't going to go back to normal for quite a while. They've been riding this out, likely through long-term contracts. They also don't seem to be the sort of company to lower prices (unless demand REALLY falls off a cliff with the new prices, maybe not even then).
Chances are that these prices indicate a ~18mo contract at the new prices, though we don't know for sure.
But it sure sounds like this is just the new normal for at least the next 18mo.
Apple should be required to make RAM including notebooks customer-upgradeable/swappable including LPCAMM2.