Telstra has revealed the addition of almost one million new mobile services in the six months to December 2011, but Sensis revenues plummeted 24 percent in 12 months.
Let's face it, the price you pay for a mobile phone with a contract is only marginally related to the actual cost. Carriers are more concerned with the total profit they'll make over the life of the contract.
Furthermore, the number of commuters I see on the train using both an iPod and a non-Apple mobile phone (recent models in both cases) is anything to go by, suggests an unmet demand for a cheaper iPhone.
And it's not completely unthinkable that Apple could sacrifice margin for volume.
The question is this: is an iPhone more like an iPod or a handheld computer?
Apple has found it very profitable to stay out of the low end when it comes to computers, preferring to see higher-end models at higher than average prices.
Yet while it has stayed out of the absolute bargain basement in the music player world, it does offer iPods at a fairly wide range of prices, including the iPod shuffle which has become almost a stocking filler for some families.
The way the economy is going, Apple may well find that bringing a $US99 iPhone to market is essential.
David Bass
| For the fourth year in a row, IDC has placed content security provider Websense (NASDAQ: WBSN) at the top of the IDC Worldwide Web Security 2011 –…
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