No iPhone Nano
by Eric Norwood
January 22, 2009
A lot of us followed the iPhone Nano rumors, and we even saw pictures of Asian knockoffs. Today in Apple's quarterly conference call - where record setting profits were reported - Tim Cook squashed any hope of a Nano version of the world's best phone. He told shareholders, "we're not going to play in the low-end voice phone business. That's not who we are. That's not why we're here. We'll let somebody do that, our goal is not to be the unit share leader in the phone industry. It is to build the best phone." When asked about the iPhones pricetag, Cook said:
"We are now in over 70 countries with the iPhone and you're correct, some of them are non-subsidized markets. Examples are, the largest is in terms of size of the market, our sales are clearly materially less in those markets than they are in the subsidized markets with contracts. We are constantly evaluating the best way to play in these markets. We know there's a huge opportunity here, and we will make adjustments in the future there to play in a better way."It sounds like the Nano cases were clearly a publicity stunt, but it also sounds like Apple will be lowering its prices where the iPhone is extra pricey. Maybe iPhone Nano in Asian markets only makes a little more sense now. I still don't buy it.