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how is 4gb ridiculously light storage when a lot of smartphones don't even have internal storage?

Jun 02, 09 - 10:40 am Comment from: Predrag

..."when a lot of smartphones don't even have internal storage"...

Make that "vast majority of smartphones".

How about 4GB for $0, 8GB for $100 (current refurb price), 16GB for $200 and 32GB for $300? After all, we can't really expect for them to keep selling us 8GB for the same $200 as last year.

Jun 02, 09 - 10:43 am Comment from: Macintosher

How much will it cost on O2 PAYG in the UK, I wonder? I hope it's less than £150; if it is I'll be first in my O2 store queue for it!

Jun 02, 09 - 10:51 am Comment from: KingMel

True, Ralph. The memory on many of the competing phones is measured in MB, not GB, although that will soon change.

If you do not store video on your iPhone and pare down the music library that you carry with you, then 4GB should be plenty of room for quite a few apps as well as email, contacts, etc.

I am not sure why Apple focuses solely on built-in memory and chooses not to employ a slot for SD or microSD cards. But you must think ahead when purchasing an iPhone (or an iPod, for that matter).

Jun 02, 09 - 11:02 am Comment from: KingMel

I would not have thought that memory capacity would play such a large role in the price of the iPhone. Memory is relatively inexpensive. If the speculation regarding $100 pricing tiers is valid, then Apple will receive much lower margins on the 4GB units than on the 32GB units unless the 4GB unit also includes a carrier subsidy.

In my opinion, Apple would be far better served by avoiding segmenting the iPhone much beyond the current two tiers of memory. You risk marginalizing the purchasers of the low-end units, and the cost of handling the extra lines of inventory probably outweighs the cost of inserting the extra memory associated with stepping up to 16GB and 32GB designs. I suppose that there might be merit in retaining a "lower cost" 8GB iPhone as part of a global marketing plan, but the merits of a 4GB iPhone are not clear to me unless other aspects of that design are also stripped down to achieve a lower price point.

I recently met a lady who had never synced her iPhone to a computer and never used any of the iPod functionality, either. So the person who could use a 4GB iPhone exists (even though I think they're weird).

4 gig is doubtful, unless cheaper and without video. Apple has never muddied up their product line and I don't expect them to do so now, unless it is a new product with a new product category and a new price point.
Beware of the rumor of video call iChat, that could be a scam to get everybody's hopes up and then create a stock drop upon announcement disappointment. A fake rumor buildup.
Be happy if it comes about, but don't get your expectations too high.

Jun 02, 09 - 11:15 am Comment from: disposableidentity

I've had a 16GB iPhone from the first week they came out. It's still only got about 1.5GB on it. SOmetimes I'll throw a couple of movies on it for a long flight, but I don't thing I've ever gotten above 6 or so GB.

Jun 02, 09 - 11:16 am Comment from: Steve516

my original 4gb iPhone worked fine for a year and a half... I just swapped out playlists more often as I added more apps. the current 16gb 3G doesn't require as much fiddling for my uses.

Jun 02, 09 - 11:17 am Comment from: disposableidentity

I should add that I use it mostly for Apps, browsing the web, and well, posting commments. As you can see by my typing.

Jun 02, 09 - 11:20 am Comment from: 84 Mac Guy

An 4 GB iPhone priced at $99 or $0 would bring Apple's smartphone market share up to the level the iPod enjoys in music-player market share.

Steve Jobs learned a valuable lesson when he lost the personal computer market share battle with IBM and Microsoft in the 80s. He is not going to let it happen again when he has the superior product. Witness the iPod market share--that is where the iPhone market share is going.

For the vast bulk of people, 4gb is more than enough.

You don't need to carry your entire music and film collection...

But, Apple sets the standards, then when it fails to raise them in line with them, it gets criticised. This is a common theme. Just look at the Palm Pre and the pathetic web-apps. Apple was pilloried for them, Pam is praised.

Double standards at work.

A nice problem for Apple to have.

If true, perhaps the 4 GB phone would be aimed solely at lower end business customers.

Cost being one factor, but I'm sure there are more than a few supervisors/managers out there who are concerned about deploying iPhones to their staff, thinking they may just fritter away their time listening to music and watching movies.

Jun 02, 09 - 11:34 am Comment from: Zune Tang®

Big surprise. It's all about low cost and copying Microsoft with MAC. You might spend a little more for a Windows Mobile phone or a Zune but you get all the innovation, quality, security and rich user experience you expect from Microsoft. I don't know why you MAC fangirls bother.

Truth is MAC has been outmaneuvered by Microsoft again and their last gasp is to compete for market share by offering near zero-margin 'me too' phones. Ho long can that last before MAC has to shut down?

Your potential. Our passion.™

Jun 02, 09 - 11:36 am Comment from: Gregg Thurman

If, and only if, Apple introduces four models as described, I'm projecting pricing scheme as $99, $149, $199 and $299. All pricing to include two year contract.

Jun 02, 09 - 11:41 am Comment from: Tommy Boy

My wife never uses her iPod even though I've made sure she has music. She only syncs her phone in order to upload pictures to our iPhoto library. She could getaway with a 4gb model (but is using an 8gb). I OTOH and desperate for a 32gb model (hell I'd like a 64gb model) because I tire of having to take hours before a trip to decide what videos, songs, podcasts, and audiobooks I'd like to listen to on a long-drive or cross-country flight.

I can't help wondering if the 4Gb model will feature a slot-in SD Card rather than have on-board flash memory (like other mobile phones).

My mom doesn't use apps or iPod functionality on her 1st Gen iPhone. She only uses what I have always believed to be the core of the iPhone's strength: that it is the best thought out communication device available. She looks at her calendar and email, makes and manages her calls and contacts, but hardly even uses the browser!

I, OToH, have at least tried about 70 apps, and use my 3G iPhone for everything. I miss my old 80G iPod Classic, and I also miss the day when that could hold all my music.

When Mom upgrades there's no reason for her to get anythign more than the 4G. I'll be hopping on the 32G the minute I can afford it... and on the 60G the minute I can afford that, and the 120G the minute I can afford that...

Magic word "Beyond", as in "iPhone love beyond reason."

Jun 02, 09 - 12:02 pm Comment from: disposableidentity

I think an SD card would be more trouble than it's worth. It immediately introduces a file management issue that just isn't there with internal storage.

Once you add SD cards there's no way to keep it elegant. You could prevent apps from being stored on a card and that would help. You could limit the card to music and video only, but why? What if I want to keep data from a game, or photos on it? Complication. Even on the desktop some apps don't play very well with removable media (iTunes?).

Once day our mobile devices will be more sophisticated. One day when the iPhone has a "Finder" that's when I can see removable media happening.

If true, the new top, 32GB iPhone spec is inadequate for graphics, photographic and video professionals. Photographers who want to carry their still and video portfolios as well as iPhone camera files (still and video) and the larger iTunes Plus files that now are prevalent need a 64GB iPhone.

Apple: are you listening?

Apple wont ever have a memory slot on the iPhone - not part of the design thinking.
Flash memory is cheap, and a 4GB card is dirt cheap to Apple, who buy it by the trainload.

Whats wrong with a Nano 4gb iPhone? It will sell in the millions, allowing those with less cash to enjoy the Apple iPhone.

Not everyone has 60 gigs of music on their computer - for many, music on the computer is still a new thing.

If you are a windows user, you may not have realised that you can have your entire music collection digitised on your machine, plus photos, etc.

There arent any programs that come with a windows box that do this. (Hint: get iTunes for windows)

Apple has plenty of growing to do yet in sales - the iPhone is the Trojan Horse that will sell many more Macs.

Jun 02, 09 - 12:18 pm Comment from: DreamTheEndless

@Predrag -

I was going to say the exact same thing.
4gb - Free (with two year contract and carrier subsidy)
8gb - $99 (with two year contract and carrier subsidy)
16gb - $199 (with two year contract and carrier subsidy)
32gb - $299 (with two year contract and carrier subsidy)

@KingMel - within any one product line with their computers, they try to market to a limited price range. To the computer market as a whole, they have much broader price ranges. They don't try to market mac minis to power users and they don't try to market mac pros to the budget market, but both models exist.

Selling all 4 models would:
allow them to market to the entire cell phone market
add subscribers to AT&T;add users of the app store

There are so many people out there who only get free phones. These people will NEVER buy a $300 phone. If Apple releases a 4gb free model, market share will soar while not cannibalizing sales of high capacity iPhones.

This would be win-win-win for everyone. (Apple-ATT-Consumer)

2009 Zune Tang:

You just are not the creative wordsmith that the old Zune Tang shill proved to be, even he (or she) was hopelessly misguided. What a way to earn a living.

Once again, MAC is short for Media Access Control. It's a communications address—typically made up of numbers and letters—that is assigned to your hardware so that it can be used to access a computer network. A unique MAC address is used to identify each and every device on the network. Mac (lower case) is short for Macintosh.

When you can't even get the basic terms correct, how do you expect to establish any credibility to shill lies at minimum wage for Microsoft's PR firm?

Jun 02, 09 - 12:26 pm Comment from: Olmecmystic

@Gregg Thurman:

You and I are on exactly the same page.

$99 = 4GB; $149 = 8GB; $199 = 16GB; $299 = 32GB

Put the squeeze on the Palm Pre from above and below price-wise and capacity-wise.

Peace.
Olmecmystic

This would seem to jive with: "The new iPhone will likely be available in 4GB, 8GB, 16GB, and 32GB varieties, with the 4GB possibly retailing for $99. The 4GB (and possibly 8GB) may be partially based on the current 3G model and may not have all the features of the 16GB and 32GB model." from the article a few months ago posted here - and reposted here:
http://www.derekunderwood.com/general-computer/details-regarding-new-iphone-and-ipod-touch/

Jun 02, 09 - 12:46 pm Comment from: jonahan

@HD Boy seems you've been around long enough, but, it seems you miss the point of Zune Tang. He/She is satirical in nature. It's supposed to be funny pulling from all the silly misconceptions of the Mac.

4gb iPhone is for China


That is all.

@disposableidentity: an SD card slot does not have to complicate storage and demand a Finder. Newton managed just fine with a PCMCIA slot for memory cards - storage management was transparent to the user, with no Finder in sight. You'd just pick which storage an application would live on, and you could move things around too if you wanted to. It was all quite simple.

@HD Boy

MAC MAC MAC MAC MAC MAC

(why do you always fall for this one)

I can't fit my entire collection on my 16GB iPhone, I can barely get all my 5 star rated songs, as it is I just have a playlist that rotates songs in and out based on when and how much they're played. 4GB wouldn't be impossible, especially since I plug mine in every day.

Jun 02, 09 - 01:31 pm Comment from: HotinPlaya

I use my 1st gen 4GB iPhone as a hand held computer and cell phone, I haven't used the iPod portion in years, think I have 200 songs in there

Jun 02, 09 - 01:55 pm Comment from: Brau

Unlike all the very vocal audiophiles and technogeeks, most people don't carry anywhere near 4 GB of music or data on their iPods or iPhones. A low price will definitely appeal to a broad segment of the market.

Jun 02, 09 - 02:01 pm Comment from: critic

"4gb iPhone is for China"

If that were true they wouldn't bother with PCS certification. That is strictly for the western carriers.

> ...A low price will definitely appeal to a broad segment of the market.

Well then they should pay! customers to buy an iPhone.


And kill 'em with the plans.

Jun 02, 09 - 02:46 pm Comment from: Zune Tang®

@HD Boy

Thanks for the follow on Twitter!

Your potential. Our passion.™

Jun 02, 09 - 03:16 pm Comment from: TheConfuzed1

Heh... Bigger bathtub indeed. Good one.

I would claim that if the 4 GB is $99 and the 8 GB is $149 and the 16 GB $199, then NO ONE will buy the 8 GB version. Sure, some people might take the cheapo 4 GB just to get the $99 price, but I just can't see any market position for an 8 GB iPhone for $149. So I would tend to believe 4 GB as an AT&T;giveaway model, then $99 for 8 GB, $199 for 16 GB, etc. But I don't see Apple willing to do giveaway models, so I'm just not believing the 4 GB rumor, at least for the U.S. market.

Prediction (hope):
4GB = Free w/contract
8GB = $99 w/contract
16GB = $199 w/contract
32GB = $299 w/contract
Now, THAT would be a bloodbath!!

Of course that the 4 Gb will be free!!! It will be the perfect Trojan Horse! In these times of 'crisis' particularly...

You that want it to be $99 are pretentious and arrogant: you don't want to share your privileges with the masses.
Though I paid the first model at his top price when I'm very happy that anybody can get AN iPhone for $00!!!!
It's good for Apple (and what is good for Apple is good for us...

Agreed,

4gb - $00 (with two year contract and carrier subsidy)
8gb - $99 (with two year contract and carrier subsidy)
16gb - $199 (with two year contract and carrier subsidy)
32gb - $299 (with two year contract and carrier subsidy)

Certainly for Fido and Rogers in Canada, which have 3yr iPhone contracts. All their other handsets have two year contracts, or pricing without contracts. This stinks, and is total B.S!

BTW, I'd get a 4GB — to use as a cellphone, complimented with a dozen apps. And I'd use my 32GB iPod touch for music, and games.


I'd immediately give up my boycott of Rogers/Fido, to get a 4GB w/2yr contract!

MDN-MW: second. How long it would take me to drive to a Fido centre.

Really great blog with a lot of good information!! Keep up the good work. I use my 1st gen 4GB iPhone as a hand held computer and cell phone, I haven't used the stock market today iPod portion in years, think I have 200 songs in there. Thanks for sharing this information with us.

Really great blog with a lot of good information!! Keep up the good work. I use my 1st gen 4GB iPhone as a hand held computer and cell phone, I haven't used the stock market today iPod portion in years, think I have 200 songs in there. Thanks for sharing this information with us.