Apple has been remarkably disciplined in limiting the number of iPhone models it sells while competitors target different market segments with many more smartphones choices. But is that about to change?
A report by Bloomberg indicates that Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) has built a prototype of a lower cost version of the iPhone that wouldn’t require the standard two-year contract with a carrier. The new iPhone could be introduced by mid-year or scrapped altogether. Quoting sources it said had seen prototypes, Bloomberg said the new iPhone is about a third smaller than the current iPhone 4 and had no “home” button.
Apple is also reportedly working on a universal SIM which would let iPhone users pick from a variety of GSM networks without having to switch the SIM cards that associate a phone with a specific network. A built-in, universal SIM capability would cut the cost of distributing and managing millions of SIM cards.
“Enterprises have always had a desire to separate the acquisition of the service from the acquisition of the device, but the carriers like having that stickiness,” Mort Rosenthal, CEO of mobile services company Enterprise Mobile, told InternetNews.com.
Enterprise Mobile Today has the skinny on might be coming next from Apple.
