Dropping the entry price for the iPhone to $99 will, no doubt, put added pressure on Palm, RIM and others looking to enter the smart phone market. While total cost of ownership of the Pre may be lower, I think most users rarely consider that and by dropping the entry price, they will make the iPhone more attainable for many users.
According to GigaOM, users of the existing iPhone 3G phones (like me) won't see the new data speeds being touted for the new phones.
That news will hardly ingratiate iPhone users to AT&T, a love-hate relationship that's got very little love in it. Most iPhone users tolerate AT&T only because it's the sole carrier unless you want to hack your phone. Despite AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson's beliefs, I don't think there are any iPhone users who really like AT&T.
In fact, I think the one move that Apple could make to dramatically increase iPhone market share would be to kill the exclusivity provision with A&T and strike a deal with Verizon later this year. Today, the two carriers' networks are incompatible, so Apple would have to manufacture two versions of the phones. But that may be a modest cost to pay in order to dramatically increase sales. The key question is likely to be how aggressively AT&T will continue to subsidize the cost of the phones in order to keep exclusivity. But, with Palm, RIM and even Nokia stepping up their game, the time may be right for Apple to reach out to Verizon.
