Is $100 cheap enough to get you to buy an iPhone?

iphone100

The red hot rumor going around this hour—there will be a new rumor before lunchtime, such is our attention span—is that Apple will launch a $99 iPhone at WWDC next week. One of those highly paid analyst types said such a move, that is, a $100 price cut for the lowest end model, would increase demand by 100 percent. It’s not clear how dumbed down this cheap-o iPhone would be, if it’s even real, so it’s hard to say whether or not it’d still be “iPhone” enough to make it worth your while. But let’s assume, for the purposes of this post, that it is, indeed, “iPhone” enough, even at the low, low price of $100. Is that cheap enough to get you to buy one?

I’ll just get my own opinion out there right now: no, probably not. I’ve heard too stories of just how garbage AT&T service really is, and I’m one of those crazy people who still like to be able to talk on this thing called a cellphone; reading Yelp at the bus station isn’t worth a monthly contract. Plus, the iPhone isn’t exactly shiny and new anymore, so any sort of “wow, neat” feeling dissipated some time ago. But that’s just me.

If demand is expected to jump by 100 percent, then surely some of you would find yourself standing in line for the phone. Stand up and be counted!

That said, I guess I question the very premise to begin with. If you’re prepared to spend $80 a month on an AT&T contract, what difference does it make if you buy an iPhone for $200 vs. $100? People with no interest in paying that much for a phone, no matter how fancy it is, aren’t magically going to be interested in committing to handing over AT&T all that money because you’ve knocked $100 off the price.