Epicenter-iPhone Mania

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This is certainly not the place for this, but I happen to have handled an iPhone last weekend and was mighty impressed. Not enough to even consider signing on to the hefty data charges that come with the ATT service (I don’t really need cellular data), but it sure worked well and felt nice in my hand.

The intro of the iPod Touch changes things. It has web browsing. It has more capacity than my shuffle, and it can help you find your stuff on it because it has a screen. That’s what I’m looking for. It’s an iPhone without the phone and camera, which I didn’t really need to begin with. Count me in.

But then Apple dropped the price on the iPhone, and all hell broke loose. Some people were proud to be early adopters who paid a premium. Some felt that sudden (and early) price drop dissed them.

I have a theory and since I have no other place to post it I’ll do it here. I haven’t seen anyone else come close to this, which is why I claim it as my exclusive tea reading. But I haven’t read everything. So please consider it just a thought.

Apple is trying to negotiate a deal with single carriers in all the international markets, the way they did with AT+T in the US. But cell phone systems abroad don’t work the same way, they resist exclusivity, so Apple is having a problem.

Meanwhile, they have the iPod Touch coming out. It’s an iPhone without the phone. And camera. The beauty of it is that they can sell it all over the world without making deals with the phone companies.

Those phone companies then have to contend with the prospect of losing out on the iPhone business. So maybe they will fall into line. And even if they don’t, Apple is selling pricey iPods all over the world.

All the hubbub looks like more masterful marketing, yet again. Giving out $100 gift certificates will hurt cash flow, but given the push around the world to make the iPhone touch THE xmas gift, that price is chump change.

The deal here is all in the international markets, which is why Apple decided to risk pissing off the early adopters in the US.

It wasn’t because they could. It was because they had to (in order not to surrender to the European cell companies).

If this turns out right, you read it here first.

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