Morgan Stanley Analyst Predicts Cheaper iPhone in June

If you’ve been wanting an iPhone but still haven’t picked one up, what is the single biggest barrier between you and the gadget of your dreams? Katy Huberty, an analyst at Morgan Stanley, seems to think that it is the cost of hardware and the service plan. Perhaps she’s stating the obvious, but it does make a good point. How can Apple get the iPhone into more hands? Lowering the cost is a good start, and Huberty is predicting the company will do just that this summer.

Over the past three years, Apple has introduced a new iPhone every summer; so, there is no reason we should expect anything different this year. The iPhone also has a history of having lower prices each year: the original 8GB iPhone initially sold for $599, which promptly fell to $399, the 8GB iPhone 3G sold for $199 fully subsidized, and the following year it dropped to just $99 when the iPhone 3GS became available.

If total cost of ownership, hardware costs and upfront payment have been keeping buyers from the iPhone, maybe predictions about all those costs dropping this summer aren’t so far off. Apple has every incentive to do so in order to steal a greater share of the market, and AT&T may drop price plans to keep the iPhone on its network and to avoid losing customers to carriers whose smartphone offerings are getting better every month.

via AppleInsider