Philip Elmer-DeWitt reports for Fortune, “Peter Burrows, a tech writer who knows his stuff, reports in Bloomberg Businessweek that Apple is putting the finishing touches on two key technologies: An iPhone one-third smaller than today’s model that could be sold for about $200 without a contract; New software built around a dual-mode chipset and a universal SIM that would allow users to change carriers on the fly.”
“Why is this a big deal?,” P.E.D. asks. “Because as long as customers buy subsidized cellphones on the cheap — say a $49 iPhone 3GS from AT&T on a 2-year contract — they are slaves to their carrier for the life of that contract (or until they pay an early termination fee).”
P.E.D. writes, “If the carriers won’t sell a carrier-independent iPhone, Apple has a few hundred heavily-trafficked stores that will. Moreover, there are huge overseas markets — India being the biggest — where most users buy unsubsidized phones and pay for their minutes as they use them. ‘Instead of targeting 25 percent of the global mobile-phone market,’ Needham’s Charlie Wolf told Bloomberg Businessweek, ‘Apple would be going after 100 percent.'”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Dan K.” for the heads up.]
Related article:
RUMOR: Apple working on smaller, contract-free iPhone model – February 10, 2011
