Apple could be readying a $350, no-contract iPhone, according to a blog report. That rumor comes just as the company gears up for its July 19 earnings report.
Rumors
of a low-cost, contract-free iPhone are emerging ahead of the company
announcing its fiscal-year 2011 third-quarter results July 19.
Apple
launched the iPad 2 in the first half of the year, and the thin tablet proved a
bestseller. Based on the strength of that and other devices in its portfolio,
most analysts expect Apple will post a solid set of earnings for the quarter.
At the same time, they're already turning their attention to the second half of
the year, when the company is expected to release a host of new
software-including the Mac OS X "Lion" and iOS 5 operating
systems-along with a new iPhone.
"The
concern on [Wall Street] seems to be more about the outlook for the third
quarter, ongoing supply constraints for the iPad and the timing of the iPhone
introduction," Tony Ursillo, an analyst with Loomis Sayles & Co,
told
Reuters July 15.
For
many, questions (and buzz) are growing around the nature of that iPhone
rollout. The blog Boy Genius Report, citing "new information from an
incredibly solid source," posted July 18 that Apple is planning to launch
a no-contract iPhone priced at $350. "It's entirely possible that the
low-cost iPhone will in fact be the iPhone 3GS,"
that
posting added. "We are told that Apple will continue to sell the
current iPhone 4 as well, finally giving the company a full range of devices in
the lower, mid, and high-end price segments."
To
be fair, Boy Genius Report has made wrong predictions in the past. What's
indisputable, though, is that Apple faces a serious threat from manufacturers
of Google Android smartphones, which are swallowing up share at both the high
and low ends of the market. Apple's ability to blunt that spread could not only
help determine its ultimate placement within the increasingly competitive
smartphone market, but also have a serious effect on its bottom line.
For
the moment, at least, most of the blogosphere's attention is focused on Apple's
next-generation iPhone, popularly dubbed "iPhone 5." Boy Genius
Report previously cited August as a possible start date for that device's
launch. "According to our source, Apple may hold an event in the beginning
or middle of August to announce the new iPhone, with availability to follow in
the last week of August," read a June 21 posting, which predicted that
Apple will utilize a "radical new case design" for the smartphone.
Morgan
Stanley analyst Katy Huberty recently stated in a note to investors that the
next iPhone "will begin production in mid to late August and ramp
aggressively." Her information apparently came from talks with unnamed
sources in Taiwan.
Bloomberg
also reported June 21 that the next iPhone will debut in September and
include the company's faster A5 processor, along with an 8-megapixel camera and
the recently introduced iOS 5 mobile operating system. In addition, that report
claimed Apple is developing a smaller, cheaper iPhone that utilizes "chips
and displays of similar quality to today's iPhone 4." The latter device
will apparently embrace the iPhone 4's design aesthetic.
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