“Apple Inc. may be developing lower-cost flavours of its iPhone smartphone in order to attract attention of the mass market, an analyst said in a note to clients. If this is truth, then even large makers of cell phones may need to start to worry, as if the iPhone faces similar success like the iPod, the numbers could exceed several hundreds of million units,” Anton Shilov reports for X-bit labs.
“‘Apple needs to round out its iPhone product line at lower price points (similar to iPod) if it expects to replicate the success of its iPod with sales of 100 million units,’ said American Technology Research analyst Shaw Wu in a research note, reports TechWhack web-site. The market observer also said that he had received information about ‘lower cost iPhone prototypes for release at unspecified future dates,'” Shilov reports.
Full article here.
No sh-t.
I wonder how much blood the iPhone is going to get on its virtual keyboard?
I want ALL the bells and whistles
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I’m waiting for the iPhone Shuffle which just dials numbers in my Address Book at random.
Just bought more AAPL stock.
Remember the line in Forest Gump, “It was some kind of fruit company…..”
Let’s practice a few phrases, just to be ready to use them in a few years:
“Beleaguered Nokia”
“Beleaguered Samsung”
“Beleaguered Sony Ericsson”
“Beleagured Motoroloa!”
I’ve been practicing this one for a long time: “I hate my Razr.”
I will be really surprised if that happens. What are they going to butcher out? Do they make Tiger-light…I don’t think so. I do think they will lower the price of the existing unit and keep the same current price point on new models with hardware and/or space upgrades, but not software upgrades. The iPhone is quite a longer term investment as it can be pumped with software upgrades periodically and 3rd party GPS type accessories can plug in. I expect about 500 of the current 3000 widgets to be converted to run on the iPhone. After 3G and GPS built-in, what upgrades would be next? XM? Space will be the most desired feature, I believe. I like my 30gigger and would like my iPhone purchase to be the same, with movies, etc.
“Apple Inc. may be developing lower-cost flavours of its iPhone smartphone in order to attract attention of the mass market, an analyst said in a note to clients. “
He said MAY be. It’s not fact.
Please……. Just another analysis who knows nothing but spouting the same old BS.
I want a Vulvo priced like a moto scooter. I am sure it will happen.
Yep, it may, in 5-10 years or so. If you want a cheap phone to make phone calls on, get one. There are plenty around.
—-Actually not really. All phones seem to cost $300 with out a plan. I cannot figure out why the cheap ones seem to cost as much as the expensive ones, I guess its just the telcos stealing our money.
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en
MDN word white as in “Its the White Houses fault. ” LOL funny but true.
Chris. Right there with ya on the RAZR sentiment.
I don’t think so. Apple has preferred to add features and keep price (and profit) points.
Tommy Boy – I LOVE IT.
Even though his Steven-ness eluded to this in the keynote (3G etc.)
I feel like a huge load has been taken off of my shoulders.
I’LL NEVER HAVE TO BUY A POS SAMSUNG, MOTO, OR NOKIA AGAIN.
FREEDOM!!!!!
In other news, dawn is working on a highly-touted successor called ‘dusk’.
Bah… this model will lower in price in a couple years and a newer, more robust model will be released at the same price points as the current line. They won’t come up with a “lite” version of the iPhone. Instead, you’ll see future copies with 32 gb of flash memory and more….
EVERYONE LISTEN CAREFULLY….as apple introduced the iPod it started with the high end model with a coresponding high end price point. Over time, apple introduced models at lower price points by scaling back capacity and other features. All apple has to do is remove the iPod from the iPhone and you will have a lower price point. Apple is not complicated. Steve makes the same moves every time. He is just a master of deception.
Doubtful. They’re not going to be able to keep these on the shelves at the current price points, why make anything cheaper. Should sales be disappointing, which I don’t see happening, then maybe.
This new product, “Dusk”, would it be a “Dawn Killer?!?!?!?”
Well, it would make sense. It would be rather stupid to do a Motorola. IE: Come out with a RAZR then sit on it……
You’re missing the big picture:
Five more stories and MDN hits 14,000. Hopefully, the stars won’t go out one by one.
And doesn’t the Mac co-star in a 2 hour long movie with Bruce Willis debuting June 27th?
@AG Pennypacker
“Dawn Killer”
I love it . . .
“an analyst said” always dismiss unidentifed sources.
This could absolutely happen. Scale down the screen size, don’t have web surfing, photo storage, movie playback, etc. Think iPod nano v. iPod – you’re trading small size and light weight for features.
I can’t play most games or movies on my nano. If I want to do that, I buy an iPod video. If I just want to make phone calls, keep an address book, calendar, maybe even e-mail, I buy iPhone nano. Think of it more as an iPod nano that can make phone calls, not a scaled down iPhone.
iFlip
You heard it hear first.
Guys, this is the first device in a new platform, so yeah, there will definitely be more phones at lower price points. Look at the iPod and how that evolved from just one to three main models that suit different users/uses. Perhaps eventually Apple has only two models of phones, but I would expect them to get down into the $200-300 range sooner than you think to drive mass adpotion.
You will understand why when the business model is fully disclosed – i.e. how much AT&T pays Apple each month per subscriber to have access to iPhone services (exactly like RIM for blackberry service). Apple will be more than willing to give up margin in the hardware to lock in that VERY high margin recurring “service” revenue stream from users. Believe it.
All they are trying to do is get people to wait on a lower cost iPhone so that it looks like Apple can’t sell that many – Another damn Fear article.
Apple could make iPhones at any price point — $1 to $1,000 and it won’t matter because Microsoft is coming out with a Zune Phone. With that in mind I don’t imagine anyone wanting an iPhone.
Your potential. Our passion.
The iPhone Shuffle – no keypad or display, so it calls phone numbers randomly or sequentially. Either way, eventually you’ll talk to someone you wnat to.
A vulva priced like a moto scooter?
oh.. you meant a Volvo! (My bad)
iTalk
You saw it here first: http://www.metacafe.com/watch/415731/italk_vs_iphone.
the “iMplant”
you know you’ll want it.
I see the current model getting cheaper and adding features to fill the high end price point. They could come out with a 32 GB model with GPS for the high end, and lower the price on the 8 GB phone to fill a spot at, say, $299. We’ll see.
Aaah… Zune Tang… I luurve you!
Actually they could call a Zune Phone the ZeePee, and feature a little phone peeing into the dahlias; how sweet!
iPhone – phone = i-Want one!
I’ve been waiting (and waiting) for the next-gen iPod. My future plans mean I can’t be tied down to a long term contract, and I don’t really need a phone and the expected high monthly fees. I do like everything else about the iPhone.
But I’ve been waiting some two years already for Apple to release the “missing mac” (the pro-sumer Mac Midi), so I won’t hold my breath for this one.
The real Zune Tang hasn’t posted here in months.
He saw Zune’s sales figures for January and did the honourable thing.
It’s a shame falling on your sword has fallen out of fashion.
I love those ‘Vulvos’
Is that a news? It’s logical. I really dont need video. phone, sms, e-mail and music that’s all I need.
I agree w/ iMac 800 Mhz. I still have and regularly use my 20GB 2G iPod. Back then it cost, what, around $300-$400. I don’t remember exactly, but the point is, iPods were VERY expensive for what you got and eventually, Apple offered models with small storage capacities at a lower price (remember the iPod mini?) When I went to Macworld Expo this past January, I attended a round table discussion about the iPhone. Adam Engst of TidBITS.com commented that the advantage of the iPhone is that it is a “soft” device, meaning that it can be “morphed”, for the want of a better word, into almost anything that Apple feels will sell to the public. How about an iPhone w/ an iPod w/ larger storage than the about to be released model and iTunes? No? Okay, how about an iPhone w/ GPS, Address Book, Safari and Tiger (or the soon to be released Leopard) More than what you want? Oh, okay. How about….. and on and on and on. The comments by Mr. Shilov are, IMHO, rather obvious. The only question is NOT if Apple will release a cheaper model iPhone. That is virtually assured. The real question is: what will this scaled down model feature?
The key is if AT&T allows one number to reach your multiple Apple phones… your iPhone, your iPhone Nano etc. I’d love to have a companion, “mini” phone – the size of a shuffle for certain occassions. Is it possible? Everyone could buy several Apple phones…
Of course there will be lower cost iPhone models. These “analysts” are brilliant. Even before the new models, the current iPhone models will become lower-priced models after the initial sales boom.
HEADLINE
APPLE STILL WORKING ON NEW PRODUCTS
INDUSTRY AMAZED
APPLE STILL IMPROVING PRODUCTS
INDUSTRY CONFUSED
You can already get one number to dial all your phones. Go to Grandcentral.com.
As for the dawn jokes, I used to sleep at the “crack” of Dawn, in college. Actually, not much sleeping.
Will the zune phone squirt calls? Will you just be able to call other zune phones?
Sounds like another M$ ‘social’ disease to me.
@iMac 800 mhz
You are saying that by cutting out the iPod, Apple is going to take away all music and video capabilities, when that currently is the driving force in this new cell phone era.
I do think it is possible that they might just come out with an iPod, but not a phone with the “smart” taken out of it.
How about the iPhone shuffle? All it can do is call people randomly
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“Analyst: Apple working on more affordable iPhone models”. Capt. Obvious, thank you oh so very much!
Apple has revamped the iPhone web pages (or am I imagining things?). Also, the new pictures show a black plastic-looking area on the lower part of the back. I thought I remember the prototypes had an all metal back. Could this be a removable panel for swapping out the battery?
@Tommy Boy
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“I’m waiting for the iPhone Shuffle which just dials numbers in my Address Book at random.”
So they’re going to make their smart-phones dumber. Hey, maybe that could be the two next models: Dumb and Dumber.
Come on, give me a break. What Apple needs to be working on is a completely revamped iPod, as in video iPod with fully funcitonal PDA running OS X, and it needs to cost between $300 and $400.
Next…
I’m not sure you’ll see a less expensive iPhone. You might see a “better” iPhone for the same price points and perhaps Apple will move the technology down for the older iPhones.
The trick is that I can’t see much to cut. To use the iPod analogy, the nano and the shuffle use smaller and no screens, so that saves some money. They use Flash-based storage instead of a hard-drive, but I’m not sure how much money they save on that.
I mean, yeah, I can see the next version of the iPod being an iPhone sans connectivity (no phone, no Internet). So you’d lose the hardware for making a phone call and the Wifi chipset. But if I had to make a guess, I’d say those aren’t the expensive parts of the iPhone. The expensive part is the big touch-screen, I’d guess. And I’m not sure an iPod with a 2.5 or 3-inch touch screen is really going to work all that well.
So, short of component price drops, I’m not sure I see a way to make the iPhone cheaper. And Apple’s history generally means that you’ll just see “better” iPhones for the same price (8GB and 16GB, for example, taking over the 4GB and 8GB price point).
I’m going to collect them all.
I feel so free after flushing my Zune. I love Apple.
Gartner is FUDing the phone now:
“The analyst firm Gartner will tell IT executives to keep Apple’s iPhone away from their networks, in a research report to be released within a week.
They’re saying it has no firewall – don’t know how they claim to know – and … wait for it doesn’t support *cough* dear Bill’s Exchange.
Gartner anal-yst: “This is basically a cellular iPod with some other capabilities and it’s important that it be recognized as such.”
http://www.macworld.com/news/2007/06/21/gartnerit/index.php
At the current price point they’d BETTER make lower cost versions or the iphone won’t do gangbuster business.
At some point, these first two iPhones (the 4 & 8GB models) WILL BE the lower-priced iPhones. Apple will introduce 16- & 32GB models with 3G at some point, and then set the price for these babies at $299 and $399, or perhaps even lower…
@ Geo
Deja Vu…
They will absolutely be building a lower cost version.. Most likely with just basic phone and music features.. The data portions (web, email, maps and widgets) will be cut for people who do not want to pay the monthly data fees..
Drop the phone from it and add a slot for an EVDO card and I’ll be first in line to get one.
This isn’t such a sure deal. You can reduce the size and complexity of a music player without interfering with it’s core function but it’s a bit harder when something has three core functions, one of which requires a big screen.
It depends how Apple is thinking. If they think of it as a phone and iPod, they can shrink it. If they think of it as an all-in-one communicator and personal media player… Not so much.
all that talk about the virtual keyboard 🙁
i have been using a windows mobile phone with virtual keyboard, it’s not new, it’s not bad, it’s not great (but that’s because it’s too small, and has no predictive correction algorythm like the iPhone has)
and Balmer dares to criticise the iPhone keyboard ? when many of “his” phones have a virtual one too (at 660 euros)
I “may be developing” a low cost flying motorcycle built for eleven. “If this is true”, ten of my friends and I “may” be flying around pretending to be a UFO.
Then again I “may not be developing” a low cost flying motorcycle built of eleven. “If This is true”, then ten of my friends and I ” may not” be flying around pretending to be a UFO.
Cool. I’m an analyst.
I want a lower cost iPhone so I can have one to shove up my ass.
Interesting article but poorly written. Examples include:
“If this is truth” justice, or the American way? (Taken from Superman) How about “If this is true…”
“Nevertheless, looking at the 100 million of iPod players sold, it can be expected that the company does have ambitions to sell a huge amount of various iPhone models eventually.”
Perhaps we should place the word eventually to read “… the company does have plans to eventually sell…”
However, the success of Apple’s iPod media players was primarily conditioned by availability of inexpensive iPod mini. Conditioned hmm I guess they use in the same breath as “impacted”.
“Apple has sold about 100 million iPod players in approximately six years time.” This sentence mixes tenses, Ouch!
“Considering that music-oriented mobile phones outsell digital media players by the factor of three…” How about “by a factor of three to one. Otherwise this mathematically-challenged puppy reads this as meaning that for every 100 mp3 players there are 103 mobile phones sold. Hmmm!
The term fisting may sound like it’s done fast and hard, but actually fisting is an act that requires patience, arousal and lots of lubrication. Here’s how it’s done.
Difficulty: Hard
Time Required: At least a half hour
Here’s How:
1. In order for the vaginal walls to open wide enough for your had to fit in, she must be highly aroused. Spend lots of time doing what ever it takes to turn her on.
2. In order to receive a hand into her vagina, a woman must be very relaxed. Fisting can be very intense, so make sure if the woman on the receiving end needs to stop, that you do. She should be the one in charge of this situation.
3. Plan to use lots of lubricant and wear a latex glove for protection from sexually transmitted diseases.
4. Insert one or two fingers at a time. She may enjoy clitoral stimulation as you do this.
5. The idea is to try and get your hand as small as possible. Cup your four fingers around your thumb so your hand is a skinny as it can get.
6. With your knuckles facing the posterior (bottom) of her vagina, slowly rotate your hand, while gently pushing in.
7. Getting your knuckles through is the most difficult part. Add more lube if needed. She should be breathing deep breaths and trying to relax. Again, if it is too much for her, stop.
8. A slight rotation of the wrist should be all you need to get past her pubic bone and inside her vagina.
9. Your hand will naturally curl up once inside. Once you are inside you can hold still, gently move in and out, or gently rotate your wrist.
10. Fisting can be intense and make you partner feel vulnerable. Remember it is her pleasure you are after. Respect her wishes.
Tips:
1. Not all women will be able to tolerate fisting. If she can’t handle it, stop!
2. Lube! Lube! Lube! And more Lube!
3. Communication is essential in an intense act like fisting. Make sure you and your partner understand each other.
4. If you are acting out a scene has a “safe word” that means stop.
What You Need:
* A latex glove
* Lots of water based lubricant
i don’t you about you fellas, but i want an iphone without the phone. up the hd by a factor of 10 and ditch the phone capability. in other words, it would be a mac in your pocket! just think – you could call it… an iPod.
Good one macca! Your pseudonym sounds like you come from the land of Oz?
@@Davis Machead
The only intelligent and crazy response that actually might make sense.
1. Use mainstream iPhone for work and regular use.
2. Use Nano iPhone for places you only want to make phone calls.
Look at the iPhone. The SIM card just pops out by pressing. Move to smaller phone when needed.
I think Apple just is going to screw us all by just changing how the SIM card is used. Forget about all the damn features that tha iPhone has, The SIM card use is the the biggest invotation,How many phones make it that easy ? 0
– Now they can sell a iPhone companion for 299 and trust me all U mothafathers will buy it
I have gone crazy thingking about this. So lets just imagine this scenerio:
1. Buy iPhone in June for 499
2. Come Dec we have 3G iPhone, not big enough incentive to upgrade..for most individuals at least.
3, Jan comes and we have iPod Node with Keypad and no Video or Net for $199 for 2gig and $249 for 4 gig. Smaller and keypad and no touchscreen. Wow, what is going to keep you away from that ? The nano becomes a accessory to the iPhone !! Fucking brilliant !!!
Predicting the obvious isn’t much of an achievement. Who pays these low life analysts for such “insight” (or lack thereof) ?
Of course lower priced iPhones will come out eventually. That’s not a big revelation. When? is another matter. I don’t see why Apple would have any reason to lower the price if every phone they produce just flies off the shelves in a few hours.
Yes they will create a lower priced iPhone eventually like they did for the iPod, but just as for the iPod not until they have a good business reason to do so and on their own schedule.
They didn’t lower the iPod’s price to sell overstocks, they actually kept the price the same (more or less) and created a lower priced category (with fewer features/capacity) to attack a new market segment while adding value to the device that remained at the original price point.
That new category introduction came to be when Apple was ready to deliver it. Not as a reaction to decreasing sales of the original. So all these “Apple needs to do this and that” analysts should stick to predicting that the sun will rise tomorrow and forget about pretending to understand anything Apple does.
@ Tommy Boy: LOL
Apple should have put MORE flash memory in the iPhone IMO. If I could have 32 or 64 GB flash memory, I would buy an iPhone in a flash. I will wait for the 2nd generation ones…
I predict that within 100 years, iPhones will be twice as powerful, 10,000 times larger, and so expensive that only the five richest kings of Europe will own them.
“I’m waiting for the iPhone Shuffle which just dials numbers in my Address Book at random.”
LOL! That was great!
M.X.N.T.4.1:
Nice Professor Frink quote!
Based on general trends in tech products, the price for the iPhone will surely start coming down as demand grows, even if Apple doesn’t put out different models (which of course it will).
As for producing lower-priced models, there are many ways of doing that. It need not necessarily be the iPod way of doing things.
For instance, Apple could start offering a “pick-your-own-features” style of pricing/models. Some people may not be too keen on watching videos on their iPhone; others may have no use for surfing the Net on the iPhone. Provided it is technically possible, you could choose the features you want, and pay the price accordingly.
The only thing that is certain is that the iPhone has only just begun. I’m really keen to see where this new computing platform – for that is what it is – will be in a couple of years’ time. The possibilities are endlessly exciting.