Rumored photos of the upcoming 3G iPhone (photo: iPhoneclub.nl, via Engadget)
There’s been a lot of debate on what technical features will be included in the new iPhone, as well as a lot of speculation over what the new phone will look like (I’m betting on these alleged spy shots).
But I haven’t seem much talk of what the price tag on the iPhone 2 should be.
Remember, the original iPhone launched at $599 (8 gigs) and $499 (4 gigs), and there was (and still is) no subsidy from AT&T. You paid full price for the phone, and then added on your monthly plan.
Now, there was that one report/rumor from Fortune that AT&T will be offering $200 subsidies on the iPhone 2 if you buy the phone from AT&T rather than from Apple.
And the phones will come in at $499 (16-gig) and $399 (8-gig), Fortune reported, before the AT&T subsidy.
How exactly is Apple going to add more memory, a 3G radio, GPS tracking and a presumably bigger battery and cut $100 off the price of the original?
Well, the iPhone (as with most Apple products) has a huge profit margin, so a $100 price drop could still leave plenty of cash for Apple, even with the new hardware.
Of course, if we were talking about any other phone, a $200 or $300 price tag (after subsidy) would seem egregious, particularly with the legion of news reports you read nowadays about people struggling just to keep up with the cost of gas.
But I have a feeling that anyone interested in buying the iPhone 2 will consider a $200 or $300 price a bargain.
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