Monday, March 31, 2008 -- 11:40 a.m. -- on my couch
No matter my general feeling about analysts and their predictions, today's information from Gene Munster at Piper Jaffray brings up a very good point.
He's reporting that Apple will soon have more than one model of iPhone. 2 or 3. One possibly even low-cost and that this would boost total sales exponentially in 2009.
He's right about one very important thing ... Apple is NOT a one-model company. Not really in anything they sell. It makes sense that there's one basic iPhone and iPod touch -- except for the memory -- because both products are new.
But look at where the iPod was in the beginning. There was one. And now there are ... well, there are a lot. And there have to be. Because people willing pay several hundred dollars should get big storage and people who only want to spend $49 should be able to enjoy an iPod too.
Now I'm not saying we'll have a $49 iPhone anytime soon, but I am saying that the days of 1 iPhone will quickly come to an end. Whether we have 3 iPhones that look identical with different insides (3G, no 3G, etc.), or we have an iPhone nano, soon there will be a line to choose from.
And then ... oh boy are we going to have to make a choice. For a while, I had every model of iPod. I don't now. I stopped a few years ago when I realized I didn't need that many. But right now ... the thought of there being an iPhone model out there that I don't own makes me stomach hurt.
Obviously, your individual needs and financial aspirations will be your driving factor. But what do you see? Do you see yourself with just one iPhone? Do you see yourself with a collection of iPhones? You can't use more than one at a time -- at least not now -- more on that down the road -- but maybe you still want to own a piece of everything.
Exciting. Very exciting to think about.
Thanks for calling.
4 Comments
greg s. said:
very interesting. But if this happens, the bosses will have to give you that intern right?
SCOTT'S REPLY: Yes, Greg ... I WOULD expect my bosses to at least strongly consider getting me that intern. If any of my bosses are reading this comment, caller Greg is 100 percent right.
Michael Moon said:
I think I could get used to several different iPhones in different models as long as I could use the same phone number with all of them. When I work out, the iPhone is a tad bulky but I still like having my phone with me. So, in this case I would bring along my iPhone Nano. Those times that I need to get some writing done on the go, I'd bring along my iPhone Air. And all other times I'd have my iPhone iPhone (3G, of course).
SCOTT'S REPLY: That's exactly what I was alluding to in my last post -- that I'm going to write about the importance of Apple allowing folks to switch between phones by allowing them to switch out the SIM card. There's no reason why we can't use all of our phones and that one has to be replaced with another!!
Christopher said:
Well, I do think it is good to have a line of iPhones to choose from. HOWEVER, I do believe that everyone only needs one PHONE. Just the rest can be different touches. Plus, dont they already, I mean in a way, have two different iPhones. Just one doesn't have a phone.
P.S. My dad wont let me have any more than i do now :3
SCOTT'S REPLY: LOL
klc said:
There will be many international travelers who need more than one phone> I carry two phones when I travel, one with my home base number and one with a local sim card, no matter where I go.
That way all my local communications stays local, no international charge for people calling me and no roaming charge for me.
So 2 iphones are not too much, till Apple comes out with a dual card iphone.
SCOTT'S REPLY: A dual card iPhone. Very interesting for international use. Very intriguing idea, although I'm not sure if the cell carriers would be on board with a way for customers to avoid roaming charges. Even though roaming charges go to international carriers, all carriers make something from that type of use so if you can modify your phone depending on where you are, I'm not sure how that would fly. But from a consumer standpoint, I'm intrigued by that idea.
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