Apple cut the price of the iPhone by $200 as part of a major announcement of new iPods, a mobile version of iTMS, and a coming iPhone software update. The 8gb iphone is now $399, and the slow selling iPhone is $299 while supplies last.
This is clearly a move to broaden the market for the iPhone, but it also suggests that they are making room for a new iPhone at the $499 price point. The obvious candidate is a 16gb model at $499, especially since they are offering the new iPod Touch in that capacity. I would expect it to be announced a little after the iPhone software update is released later this month for yet another little PR boost.
I’m also guessing that the update will have more to it than support for th mobile iTMS.
Some iPhone users on the Something Awful Forums are claiming to have gotten an update notification from iTunes. Some of the other people on the forums are claiming that they are full of it.
The quoted language is consistent with the language Apple uses for iPod updates. Most of the listed fixes are boring and practical, and the battery meter issue squares with what someone else was supposedly told by an Apple support person. I guess We’ll have to wait and see.
iPhone Megathread v1.0 - The Something Awful Forums
Changes to iPhone since 1.0
· Improves stability for the Safari web browser
· Improved compatibility with IMAP email servers
· Added option to send photos and contacts over Bluetooth
· Improved battery meter
That’s all it says for me.
