The original reported price of $3,000 is not unrealistic. If this BOM is real, a $3,000 price point would be roughly similar to the profit margins of their other hardware products. The past few months have probably seen a lot of closed-door headset demos, and I wouldn't be surprised if the price was a major point of feedback for many people.
I doubt Apple discusses pricing with the people it gives demos too or even partners creating content. The only people who know the price are finance, marketing, and C-level.
To the contrary, I'd wager the price is the first thing every Apple shareholder would care about after demoing a VR product. Many of these people are not stupid investors and know the market is hot. Even if Apple doesn't explicitly tell them the price, these people know that price is a constraining factor. Especially if they're handed a piece of hardware with a battery dangling off the side like it's a 2012 Oculus demokit.
