Stephen Withers
Wednesday, 11 February 2009 04:23
Opinion and Analysis
Page 2 of 3
Firstly, does the removal of 3G and GPS along with the other cost-reduction changes do enough to halve the true price (before subsidy) of the iPhone? That's a little hard to swallow.
Further, Abramsky suggests the $US99 model will be sold with a restricted data plan at around $US15 per month, reducing carriers' ongoing revenue.
Secondly, the enormous growth in iPhone sales during 2008 was largely in countries where there is an expectation of 3G support. Would Apple and its partners be able to shift enough EDGE units to make it worthwhile?
But my main objection is that the $US99 iPhone as described by Abramsky is clearly a downgrade of the current model. I can't think of a previous occasion when Apple has done something like that.
Sure, the iPod mini was less capable than the original iPod, but it was a very different form factor.
And remember Apple COO Tim Cook said the company's goal is "to build the best phone." Going backwards doesn't seem the way to achieve that.
What might make more sense would be the arrival of a new model at the same price as the iPhone 3G, accompanied by a price cut on what is nominally the current handset but perhaps with some cost-reduction engineering that doesn't affect the feature set. And remember that the total parts cost has almost certainly fallen since Apple introduced the iPhone 3G.
Anyway, what's Abramsky predicting we'll see in the new 'full price' iPhone 3G? See
page 3.
