Recently, there were rumors regarding the plans of Apple to launch low cost versions of the iPhone 4 targeted at the middle level spending group. According to the rumors doing rounds one of the models is actually half of the size of iPhone 4 and weighs much lesser with a full touch screen, a virtual keyboard and voice commands. It is being targeted as a low end version of the Apple iPhone 4.
It does not sound good for a brand built on delivering quality and innovation at a high price, instead of average stuff at low prices. However it could also be an attempt by Apple to actually take a stand against the competition brewing from the mid range smartphone manufacturers that are flooding the market with low priced yet good enough products aimed at low to mid range income groups. Bloomberg has inside information on a version of the iPhone that is supposed to be one third the size of the current version of the iPhone without a home button which is supposedly proposed to be sold at a price of about $200 without any contract. Also Bloomberg claims Apple has also been working on a low cost iPhone capable of working in tandem with either of the two major wireless standards thus allowing users portability to shift between carriers according to their convenience without any contractual obligations and also freeing them for additional financial burdens.
Apple seems to be taking a bigger risk with a lower-end version of the iPhone than it was with the iPod Nano in that a smartphone is a more complicated device than an MP3 Player. An MP3 Player isn’t a vital communication tool for both personal and professional purposes, it doesn’t need to provide reliable voice and mobile computing service, and it doesn’t need to reliably run apps from various developers. Whether these are rumors or not, remains to be seen.
