iPhone price slashed

Stephen Withers
Thursday, 06 September 2007 01:29

Your IT - Mobility

Apple has sliced a full $US200 from the price of the iPhone.

Effective immediately, the 8G iPhone will sell for $US399.

"The surveys are in and iPhone customer satisfaction scores are higher than we've ever seen for any Apple product," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "We've clearly got a breakthrough product and we want to make it affordable for even more customers as we enter this holiday season."

The three main criticisms of the iPhone were its price, the AT&T exclusivity, and the battery not being easily removable. None of these stopped it becoming the top selling smartphone. Apple has largely solved the first; several groups believe they have the answer to the second; but there is not much that can be done about the third short of a redesign.

Reducing the price of the iPhone provides some space for the later introduction of a new high-end model, possibly with greater storage or 3G capability. Some commentators maintain that the model to be introduced in Europe later this year will be a 3G version.

The iPhone with 4G of storage, which previously sold for $US499, has been discontinued.