“Apple’s biggest unveiling at its annual conference for software developers was a new model of the iPhone, the 3G S. It looks the same but sports a faster processor, longer battery life, an internal compass, a video camera and a photo camera with better resolution and auto-focus,” Jordan Robertson and Jessica Mintz report for The Associated Press. “A 16-gigabyte version of the 3G S will cost $199 and a 32-gigabyte version will be $299.”
MacDailyNews Take: When and if Jessica has a baby, she should definitely name him “Junior.” (We’re sure she’s heard that one a million times already, but we’re feeling a bit giddy today.)
Robertson and Mintz continue, “The 8-gigabyte iPhone 3G, which came out last year, now costs $99, instead of $199.”
“Industry analyst Michael Gartenberg, with the Interpret market-research firm, said the new iPhone pricing breaks through an important barrier for consumers. It will likely cause other smart phone makers to offer something similar, he said,” Robertson and Mintz report.
MacDailyNews Take: At great detriment to them as most of them are one-trick ponies that, unlike Apple, do not have other viable businesses. RIM and Palm cannot afford to sell their iPhone wannabes at such prices; they simply cannot compete.
The fact is that Palm simply does not have the resources with which to effectively compete with Apple, much less create another mobile platform (especially one that is superfluous) or even effectively bring their Prevarication to market. – MacDailyNews Take, January 28, 2009
Robertson and Mintz continue, “‘Every $100 you move down in consumer electronics brings in a lot more customers,’ Gartenberg said. ‘Ninety-nine dollars is a psychological price point, so that’s a real barrier to move through. It becomes something people can afford — it becomes an affordable luxury.'”
Full article here.
