Apple Plans Cheaper Nano-Based iPhone

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."

Nothing for you to see here. Please move along.

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow, it's THAT small?

I'm waiting for the iPhone Shuffle

[UnknowingFool]

It's got only one button. Press it and it dials one of your contacts at random.

iPhone Shuffle

[Deinhard]

I just hope they don't make a phone based on the iPod Shuffle.

Why not? Don't you want your phone to randomly call people in your Contact list? At least if you get someone you don't like you can "skip to next."

Re:iPhone Shuffle

[Cygfrydd]

Thank you for making my drudge of a job a little bit more bearable. That made me literally laugh out loud. "Hello? Who did I just call? Mom? No, I don't want to talk to you. *click* Hello? Who..."

@yg

Re:I'm waiting for the iPhone Shuffle

[The13thSin]

So... that's kinda like when I'm drunk then?

Re:iPhone Shuffle

[UnknowingFool]

At least it will encourage people to clean up their contact list.

Fellow Senator, take a look at my new iPhone Shuffle. Watch me dial someone:

Mom [skip]
Brian Smith[skip]
DC Madam [skip! skip! Where the hell is the delete button?!]

So now that the iPhone is out...

[doombringerltx]

...they need to have another iPhone that isn't out yet we can have at least one post a day about.

Re:It's not the price tag, or the carrier...

[mwvdlee]

Punctuation isn't just for making smileys.

Circular touchpad?

[hcdejong]

So it's a rotary-dial phone, then?

Re:I'm waiting for the iPhone Shuffle

[Crazy Man on Fire]

So... that's kinda like when I'm drunk then?

No, the iPhone Shuffle is no more likely to call your ex-girlfriend than it is to call any other contact.

Re:iPhone Shuffle

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, gee. I was hoping they would release it in the shape of a Star Trek insignia and install some kind of magical "Me to Someone else" voice activation. :-)

Re:Buy now...

[Zonk (troll)]

How exactly did you get burned?

Perhaps he burned his penis? [theregister.co.uk]

Re:Buy now...

[Anonymous Coward]

I bought a new Toyota once, but then, within a few weeks the manufacturer released a newer, better-looking model with some improved features and at the same price! Oh boy, was I pissed off. The manufacturer wouldn't upgrade my car, or give me any money back.

So for my most recent car purchase I bought a new Chevy. They're updated like once every 20 years, and the updates usually make them a bit lousier. Now I know I made a good decision!

Re:How more limited can you get?

[Anonymous Coward]

Parent modded "redundant"

Apple criticism not tolerated on Slashdot.

iPhone IS perfect.

News at 11.

Re:Buy now...

[tehcyder]

I buy probably a dozen or more Dells a year.

What, they only last for less than two months on average? Jeez.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:I'm waiting for the iPhone Shuffle

[steveo777]

That could be quite awkward when doing the drunken dial and Grandma picks up the phone...

Here it is. iPhone Shuffle...

[douglips]

Introducing iPhone shuffle. Life is random. [mac-essentials.de]

Oblig.

[TranscendentalAnarch]

That's what she said.

Re:The article is wild speculation

[exultavit]

Read the article. The features they describe are ones we read about here on slashdot (apple design patents). Ones for rotary gestures and such. This does not mean it's an iphone or a nano. I'll note that if you have watched the multi-touch demos from that guy whose famous for them (what's his name?) and who consults for apple, his MENUs are not bars but sectored circles and you call them up with a spiral gesture.

Dialing a phone with a rotary gesture? What a ridiculous idea.

Re:I'm waiting for the iPhone Shuffle

[phozz bare]

I know the MD5 algorithm, and I can execute the GetTimeInMillis() call, and I know the range and rate of change.

Is that what you do while listening to your music? I air-drum, and I thought I was weird.

Re:How more limited can you get?

[tf23]

[...] travel to Asia and take a walk around the markets[...]

hmm. one flight to, let's say, Shanghai, China from Ohio: $1707

I think it'd be cheaper to drive to the local Apple store and just buy an iPhone ;)