Comments on: Apple gearing up for $99 iPhone?

Company is expected to unveil a $99 iPhone this summer, as well as an updated iPhone 3G, according to a report by an RBC Capital Markets analyst.

[Voice_Of_Logic]

Just lower the data plans. The purchase is a one-time expense. These data plans are ongoing, and could be lowered so that more people would buy in.

[abundantsnotbob]

Sure hope they don't add $10 a month to make up for it being half the price. I don't think the iPhone is overpriced, but the service is. I know that other plans cost the same or more, but I can't afford $70 a month for a phone. Cutting the price of the service plan in half would be more exciting than the device.

[mortiz10]

Honestly, This should not happen, Apple doesnt needs to introduce an entry level, What they should do is:
1. Release the Upraded Iphone 3g with MMS, Video, Copy & Paste, and a Real GPS .
2. Make Iphone available for Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, & At&t (duh!!) , This would boost the sells no doubt. Cause we know that everybody wants an Iphone, no matter the Price.
3. Release the 16 GB and 32 GB (199/299) and make both colors available on both 16gb & 32GB.
4. Make At&t install more 3G signal Towers, cause honestly its a pain having all these DEAD SPOTS. ( if it wasn't cause of the iphone, i would've change to a better company with better signal.)

They do all that, and Apple would, Ruin & Destroy every smartphone in the Market.

[cbaisa]

vegaman and applerocks need to meet up in real life and duke it out because I'm tired of reading their little comment wars on every article on cnet. the two of you make comment threads worthless with your bickering. seriously, go outside.

[ikramerica--2008]

The only way a $99 iPhone happens is if the CURRENT iPhone 3G is sold for $99 while the IMPROVED iPhone 3G is then sold for $199 and $299. This is the way apple works, has worked, and will work.

They will just sell 8GB current gen iphones with the current slower chips as the $99 model, while faster (using the touch chips or even faster) 16GB and 32GB iPhones with an improved form factor, higher res camera with video, etc. will replace the current line. Any degradation of the current product will lead to complaints about the interface, and that means bad press similar to most other smart phone iphone "clones" out there that have long delays. That's the last thing Apple needs. They can't do much about the ATT 3G speed, but they can control the speed of the rest of the device.

There will also be no "light" data plan or EDGE only internet. Despite what some people say, there is a barrier to entry at $199 for some people.

[Diehardfanofapple]

This is terrible! It is not fair at all, how can they treat the old guards so badly, buying at few hundred dollars and now selling below 100, they should refund us the balance!!!! Or should apple give us discount back to us ???

[rteichman]

I love all the Apple does not do cheap comments. What about the shuffle?

[sludog]

For me the most important feature of a smart phone is the PHONE. As long as at&t is the exclusive iphone carrier, i'll pass no matter what the price. i don't know if it's the phone, the carrier service, of just my area, but call quality is terrible on any iphone. If there is a $99 iphone that will skimp on features, that sounds like a recipe for disaster. If apple really wants to make a profit, then they will give in to Verizon's evil ways and sell the iphone to potentially 80 million plus customers that Verizon has which is now the nations largest cell carrier.

[Fantastipotamus]

People don't buy smartphones because they make phonecalls, people buy smartphones because they do myriad other things at the same time. Any cellphone can make calls.

Also, you fail to realize that, yes, while Verizon is now the largest US carrier, the rest of the world uses GSM, which is, intelligently, the way Apple decided to go. Number of Verizon customers < number of GSM customers worldwide.

[Beruda]

People keep saying that a $99 iPhone would be an inferior product. But for people who can't or won't pay a lot for a phone and who can make calls with a cheaper data plan it would be fine. As long as the phone worked as advertised it would be fine. I'm not interested in 3G or GPS or any of the crap that makes these smart phones so expensive and I think there are a lot of people who feel the same way.

Personally I don't think Apple will offer a phone this cheap because whether people want to admit it or not there is an elitist thing going on and it would also **** off the customers who've paid a lot more money even if they are getting more features. I wouldn't buy one for any price, if I had the money I would rather have a Blackberry :)

[jscott418]

Apple is not known for bargains. I don't know where these rumors come from. Must be wishful thinking on the part of Apple fans. We heard similar rumors when Wal mart was going to sell iPhone's. They ended up about $3 cheaper??? Not hardly the $100 people had thought. I don't think ATT is going to cough up any more money?

[slartybartfarst]

I have been waiting, hoping, for an iphone nano for over a year since catching some rumours. I read various apple rss feeds each day looking for the latest sign. I thought that all I wanted was a sleek looking phone and the syncing with my macs. Last weekend I bought one for myself and the wife. I now know that they are absolutely fantastic. Much better than I imagined. A small, watered down, low res version would be pretty poor and I hope it never happens. This must be how the landed gentry regard the proletariat. It's great.

[wwalla]

It seems that http://www.layoffsthisyear.com is trying to keep up with this escalating number of layoffs with the iphone being at 99 this might make it easier to purchase a phone...

[denversel]

I find it funny that most of you complain about the "outrageous" plan charges. A majority of these same people then complain about the "outrageous" usage charges because you opted out of paying for the money-saving packages. Let's see: If I don't have a data plan and use, say, 50,000 KB of data, I would pay $500. Now, would you rather pay $500 or $30 for unlimited usage?

[envisionrj]

This should be the last update of the iPhone. I think the $99 is a good idea, but they will eventually be like the flip phone. Basically, if all these competitive updates do not stop, the day will come when the iPhone will be able to drive for you and take out your groceries and a phone call will be the last thing talked about. Its amazing how the emphasis on telephone quality, sound quality, dropped calls, and special phone call features are rarely mentioned. It's all about the latest graphic (which is cool), but I truly think more emphasis should be placed on receiving and getting phone calls and maybe they will create "an app for that".