Cheaper Than Cheap iPhone!

When can you call the iPhone "a deal," huh? At $199? Considering the current subscription plans available, not quite. What about a $120 cheap iPhone you can use on any network you want, just like the one pictured below? Well, that's one of the (probably) thousands "iPhone inspired" phones and media players that are flooding the market as we speak, and since Apple's original thing is doin' so well, it seems the Cupertino-based company may (finally!) slash the prices once again!



In a investment note from Needham Research made public yesterday, Charlie Wolf reiterates his belief that the doubled revenue Apple had in the past year leaves them ""considerable flexibility" in dropping the prices of the already cheap iPhone(at least to some - if you don't take the subscription plan pricing into account).

Going one step further, Wolf estimates a selling price of $666 in average(ehem...but isn't that a bit strange? exactly "the number of the beast?" come on!), giving about 50 percent more than the current cost of manufacturing and selling one unit. Considering this, if Apple decides to cut the price to only $99, the margin goes down to an extremely comfortable 42.3 percent.

To close this cheap iPhone predictions chapter with the most interesting part, Needham Research went as far as claiming that, if such a price drop happens, "the iPhone... could figuratively take over the smartphone market leaving only niche players like BlackBerry."

If only would AT&T come up with some low-end plans, and those international iPhone carriers who still offer insanely expensive plans would follow their example, then we could really see the cheap iPhone conquering the smartphone market, but until then, the battle is still undecided.