$99 iPhone not coming after all?

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Sunday, 07 December 2008 15:10

IT Industry - Market

The BGR report said the iPhone would come at year’s end, which as others have noted is an odd time to be launching a $99 iPhone – you’d think that before Christmas is the best time for volume sales, not after.

MacBlogz says it will be very surprised if this rumour is true, and concedes that BGR said in his report that the rumour didn’t come from his regular trusted sources.

So, while it looks like WalMart will eventually get the iPhone, the 4GB rumour is not for real.

What’s possibly more likely is that the 8GB iPhone will end up as the US $99 model, as Apple launches a 32GB iPhone 3G instead, perhaps at Macworld 2009, or perhaps before Christmas. Clearly at this price the phone is still being subsidised, at it is now, but Apple would presumably be charging AT&T less for the actual unit due to there being less flash storage.

There’s also the question of what iPhone related announcements Steve Jobs will make at Macworld 2009, now less than a month away.

Could there be a 64GB iPhone 3G?

Will there be any word of an iPhone 3.0 OS, with the mythical cut and paste, notes synchronisation, proper Bluetooth support or even turn-by-turn GPS software?

Perhaps the news of sales through WalMart (or Sam’s Club) will come at Macworld, too. We might even get the equally mythical Mac Tablet and/or netbook.

Ah well, it’s all just juicy speculation and rabble-rousing rumour making.

In a world of fierce control from Apple, where Apple decides what’s good for the user, rumours are a fun way to imagine that Apple might well be thinking “different” about things it has long held as unchangeable.

And why not believe? Steve Jobs himself made hell freeze over when iTunes came to the PC, and when the Mac ran with Intel chips and could eventually run Windows through Boot Camp.

When it comes to Apple, anything is possible. Even a future where cut and paste on the iPhone is a standard feature!