iPhone Nano To Be Launched By Christmas?
According to some rumors, Apple plans to release a mini version of the iPhone called iPhone nano. The source says should be available by Christmas at a price of $300 sans contract.
The idea that Apple (AAPL) might eventually introduce a family of iPhones of different sizes that sell at different prices is hardly new. A rumor that an iPhone nano would be launched before Christmas 2007 was making the rounds just over a year ago (see, for example, MacRumor here).
But the timing was wrong last summer and, according to Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster, this summer’s rumor is also a bit off.
“Just as the company slowly diversified the iPod lineup and entered lower price points with every new version,” wrote Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster in May, “we expect Apple to launch new models of the iPhone at lower price points in calendar year 2009.”
“This rumour still doesn’t make any sense to me for this year,” wrote a British investor who calls himself sleepygeek. “Taking features out of the current iPhone loses $10 or more of revenue for every $1 saved in build costs. iPhone Nano would have to outsell iPhone by a large factor (5 -10 times the sales) to make sense.”
The Daily Mail item suggests that the new phone will be available in British shops by Christmas for 150 pounds (just under $300). It doesn’t offer any supporting evidence beyond an unnamed “industry source” who is quoted saying that “a cut down version [of the original iPhone], with the candy bar shape of iPod nano music players, would be a huge hit as a Christmas gift.”
The idea is that the Nanoesque iPhone would end up in Christmas stockings, as an alternative to the popular, recently launched 8GB and 16GB devices.
There are a couple of things still unclear, such as the specs or even why Apple and O2 would make this move. The Mail Online's source says that the iPhone 3G is "too expensive to be a realistic proposition in the pay-as-you-go market", with the implication that the new device would fill that gap. But O2 says on its site that an iPhone 3G for Pay & Go will be available later this year". And why wouldn't Apple wait for the initial 3G hullaballoo to die down fully before putting out a new version?
