iPhone nano – the iPhone for everyone?
Ah the Apple rumor mill, the unending source of much frenzied speculation from the multitude of nerdy bloggers out there (including myself of course).
The latest bit of speculation out there that for one reason or another won’t die is that of an upcoming iPhone nano.
While I wouldn’t be surprised that Apple is indeed working on a smaller form factor iPhone, I don’t see a near future release happening simply because I find it hard to believe that Apple would so quickly cannibalize it’s early sales of iPhone 3g. But that absolutely doesn’t mean it’s not coming. In fact, I’d bet on it.
So let’s speculate about the device itself, Shall we?. I’d assume it would be similar in proportions to the current iPhone, just reduced in size by lets say 30%? I doubt Apple would ruin its work setting up it’s platform of touch computing put in place by the original iPhone, so it will absolutely feature a multitouch screen, and similar controls to the current iPhone.
I’d expect it to start out at 2 and 4 gigs of storage, and feature a higher resolution screen than the current iphone so that it will be able to display current iPhone apps without any issues.
So what WON’T it have? GPS, 3g, exchange support. In other words the expensive pieces of hardware from the iPhone 3g. Chances are it will be very similar in capabilities to the original iPhone, just in a much smaller package. It will definetly still feature the App Store, and the iTunes wifi music store, simply because both of those are revenue generators Apple wouldn’t want to give up.
So that brings us to the question, why? Why would Apple even want to bother making an iPhone nano? Simple. To get the platform in the hands of as many people as humanly possible. It’s the iPod effect all over again. Apple wants to rule the market for small convergence devices, and it looks like they might just get their way.
So what would it cost? Well that’s up to Apple and AT&T, but I can’t imagine that with the iPhone 3g selling at $199, they would be able to get away with anything much higher than $50. But there is a more intriguing possibility..
Imagine if you will, if Apple was able to negotiate with AT&T to have them offer the iPhone nano free with any 2 year contract. Would you pass up a “free” iPhone nano, and pick up a cheapy Nokia flip phone instead? I doubt it.
All of a sudden, the iPhone becomes the next RAZR, everyone and their mom will be using one, buying apps, downloading music, and slowly but surely, putting every other phone maker out of business.
While companies like Samsung, Nokia, and HTC are trying their best to build smartphones that compete with the original iPhone, is it possible that Apple is getting ready to blow out and dominate the entire low end phone market while those companies are distracted with the original iPhone?
Seems like something Apple would do, doesnt it?