Apple plans to introduce a cheaper version of its popular iPhone as soon as Monday, reports the Financial Times.
Analysts said that the company wanted to show off either a $149 phone or a $99 phone, down from the current low end of $199 and still subsidized in exchange for an AT&T communications service contract. “It’s either a $50 or a $100 cut,” said Morgan Stanley analyst Kathryn Huberty.
Citing a firm survey of consumers, she said that a $50 price cut could increase demand by 50 per cent and a $100 cut by 100 per cent.
Apple sells about 11 per cent of the world’s smart phones, trailing Nokia’s 41 per cent volume and Research in Motion’s 20 per cent, according to Gartner figures from the first quarter. Palm’s Pre is expected to go on sale tomorrow (June 6th).
The new iPhone will have a magnetometer and camera autofocus, according to the screenshots that show these components in action. The new version looks similar to the model rolled out last year but will likely have more processing power and the ability to record and edit video.
The new iPhone will be announced on Monday, at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, June 8-12, in San Francisco.
Competitors are catching up with the iPhone, notes the NY Times. Palm, Google, Microsoft, Nokia and Research in Motion, maker of the BlackBerry have iPhone-like devices and software apps stores.
The iPhone App Store, Android Market, Blackberry App World, Windows Mobile Marketplace, Palm App Catalog and Nokia Ovi Store are opening new frontiers. Applications like ShoZu, that upload pictures and videos, will be available at Apple’s iTunes Store, as well as Nokia’s Ovi Store and Blackberry’s App World. Apple’s App Store is the one to beat, of course. It currently offers 40,000 apps and has recorded over 1 billion downloads.
