News - Rumours mini iPhone in the pipeline

[HEXUS]

Apple rumoured to be creating cheaper iPhone.

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[hermano pequeño]

I cannot claim to have any sources but would be very very surprised if they were to release another update to the iPad only months after the iPad2 is launched. It would have to be a slightly different product, with a non-competing price-point, surely?

[Spud1]

I doubt that this will happen whilst Steve Jobs is still at the helm (and he is still involved in the iPhone/iPad, despite his medical leave). It's against everything that he goes for, the idea that an apple product is a "premium" product..a cheaper iPhone may make sense on a purely business/competition standpoint, but it's not something that Apple does.

I'd be very surprised if it happens - if anything this "mini" iphone is likely to replace the current one with the iPad taking a bigger share of the market (its just a big iPhone without the phone part anyway..), possibly with a smaller iPad that has been rumoured for a long time taking its place.

One of Apples overriding advantages in the mobile sector is that they have a very narrow range of handsets, making it very easy to develop for. You don't have to worry about how many people can run your app - this is not the case in the android market for example, where the range is huge. I'm not sure that Apple will want to start moving towards that sort of complexity, even at a low level.

edit: In any case, they already have a "cheaper" iPhone for that market - currently the iPhone 3G...their previous generation phones come down drastically in price and service that market. When I bought the iPhone2G, I paid £160 for it on pay as you go..brand new from the carphone warehouse.

[TooNice]

^Then again, they have a MacBookPro and a MacBookAir don't they. I also picked up the 2G iPhone for cheap, but I don't think we'll be picking up another a non-used iPhone for £160 in the future.

[riviera76]

I think Spuds right. Part of the Apple branding is the cost, the other is the look. Spec for spec, all Apple products are overpriced but it's the whole experince that you are paying for. If they do release a smaller / cheaper iphone it will need to have a slower processor (to make it cheaper) which will make it feel slow and sluggish thus ruining the "Apple" experience.