Apple Plans Cheaper Nano-Based iPhone 343
bigkahunafish writes "It seems Apple is planning a cheaper version of the iPhone possibly based on the iPod Nano. This phone would be priced below $300 making it more affordable than the $500-600 iPhone. This should bring Apple phone technology into the hands of more users, though this cheaper phone could have more limited functionality. From the article: 'Sales of the [original] iPhone are expected to be limited to a small percentage of the market due to its high price tag, particularly in the United States where 85 percent of consumers tend to spend $100 or less on cell phones. But analysts forecast that a cheaper phone from Apple, which leads the digital music player market, could pose a much bigger threat to long-established phone makers such as Nokia, Motorola Inc, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Sony Ericsson, owned by Sony Corp and Ericsson.' I just hope they don't make a phone based on the iPod Shuffle."
Buy now... (Score:1, Interesting)
@cyg
How more limited can you get? (Score:5, Interesting)
I expect Apple to fill those holes pretty quickly. But, it's going to take V2 HW to fix some things I'd want like external storage and bigger internal storage.
Expanding (Score:4, Interesting)
It makes sense for Apple to expand its phone product range, since it is now a phone manufacturer.
What if they succeed and sell tens of millions of units?
Then a computer company would be one of the world's largest phone manufacturers.
That would make the telecommunications industry a lot more interesting. Currently, it is dominated by phone type companies.
Re:How more limited can you get? (Score:2, Interesting)
The article is wild speculation (Score:5, Interesting)
Those kinds of details could help reduce the screen area needed to support a full-featured phone and perhaps get it dow to a nano-sized thing. Too small to be a real internet broswer device but large enough to pan through a contact list.
anyhow those design patents have been out there for a long time. SO some ones discovering them does not make it news or mean there's a new product.
On the other hand apple needs a response to the two sided phone/music players from samsung. those are ipod-nano killers since even though they are larger than a nano, you could argue that the music player is actually smaller as long as you planned to have a cell phone in your pocket anyhow. A nano sized phone would kill that.
Re:changing the normal pricing model (Score:3, Interesting)
Keep in mind however that services like www.iresq.com are popping up that WILL replace your iPhone batteries for you. So in the future it may be cheaper to buy a used iPhone and then send it off to get its battery replaced. I also fully expect that a company like NewerTech will at some point offer increased capacity batteries that surpass the performance of the original OEM batteries.
Re:changing the normal pricing model (Score:1, Interesting)
The rumours for Vodafone seem stronger, especially now that the firmware has been decrypted and shown to contain operator logos for Cingular, AT&T, T-Mobile and Vodafone and no other operators.
Re:I'm waiting for the iPhone Shuffle (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:How more limited can you get? (Score:3, Interesting)
And it only cost $225 after rebate.
Re:How more limited can you get? (Score:3, Interesting)
Bullshit. Show me a $50 cellphone that can do almost any of that, except possibly custom ringtones. A $300+ Blackberry or $400+ Treo would be more accurate, but the current versions still lack many of the features of the iPhone. And even Apple has stated that custom ring tones will be part of a future software update. A lot of that shit by Brian Lam is pointless bitching, without acknowledging the other 1000 fantastic features of the iPhone or acknowledging that Apple will update the software on a regular basis, from someone who simples wants to appease the Slashdot-type crowd.
I used to have both a Blackberry and a Palm Treo (work and home). Good riddance to them both. I now use an iPhone for work and home and couldn't be happier.