Apple Drops iPhone 4S Price To $99, Will Give Away The iPhone 4 For Free

Romain Dillet

Romain Dillet is a writer at TechCrunch. Originally from France, Romain attended EMLYON Business School, a leading French business school specialized in entrepreneurship. He covers many things from mobile apps with great designs to complex tech achievements. He is a pop culture devotee. He now lives in Lyon and likes to cover New York startups as he used to live there. → Learn More

Wednesday, September 12th, 2012
iphone_4s

At the Apple live event, Tim Cook announced that the iPhone 4S will still be available and the price will drop to $99.

Apple is perpetuating the same strategy by keeping the previous generation iPhone in its lineup to attract customers concerned by the price. The iPhone 4 will stay in the lineup as well and Apple will give it away if you sign a two-year contract in the U.S. A similar offering should show up around the world at the launch of the iPhone 5.

With the iPhone 4S, the company is competing directly with entry-level smartphones, such as the Motorola Razr M.

Producing a cheaper phone is important as well for emerging markets, such as China, Brazil or Russia. It will allow users to switch from a feature phone to a smartphone. The platform and ecosystem lock-in is key to understanding that price point. After buying apps on the App Store and accessories specifically made for the iPhone, you will tend to keep buying iPhone products.

The question is whether users will buy a 3.5-inch 3G smartphone when nearly every smartphone now has a bigger screen and LTE connectivity.

Full Coverage - 2012 Apple Event


Company: Apple
Website: apple.com
Launch Date: April 1, 1976
IPO: NASDAQ:AAPL

Started by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, Apple has expanded from computers to consumer electronics over the last 30 years, officially changing their name from Apple Computer, Inc. to Apple, Inc. in January 2007. Among the key offerings from Apple’s product line are: Pro line laptops (MacBook Pro) and desktops (Mac Pro), consumer line laptops (MacBook Air) and desktops (iMac), servers (Xserve), Apple TV, the Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server operating systems, the iPod, the...

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