I'm not sure how relevant it is that Apple's move in the lower cost market was letting the iPhone 3GS drift down rather than introducing a specific model.
My view on why they've done it this way is that they've retained a clear visual deliniation between the higher end iPhone 4s and the low end 3GS. No-one who has a 4 or a 4S is going to be annoyed that they guy with the cheap iPhone looks like he's got the same thing as they have.
That comes with the downside of making the cheaper model a slightly tougher sell - it's visibly "old" - but that's Apple protecting their key market, the high end stuff.
But it will be interesting to see how the cheap [1] 3GS performs commercially against more modern Android phones in the same price bracket. Will Apple's brand have people going "wow, I can get an iPhone" or will people be saying "I don't want a two / three year old phone regardless of who makes it".
Obviously the attitude will vary from person to person but it will be an interesting test of Apple's name value to see if it can give a boost to older hardware.[2]
[1] I say cheap not free as it's free on a relatively pricey contract.
[2] I'm not running the 3GS down - I have one in my pocket right now, it's my primary phone, just it is older hardware and I think over the next 12 months will begin to show it's age more and more.
No-one who has a 4 or a 4S is going to be annoyed that they guy with the cheap iPhone looks like he's got the same thing as they have.
Why would someone else be annoyed by another persons choice in phone? I guess I could understand if you thought the other person made a bad purchase, but how is it possible to be annoyed that someone else has something you agree is good?
Are iPhones really that big of status accessories for their owners? This explains so much.
I had installed iOS 5 on my 3GS just to do some testing. It ran perfectly fine. Better than iOS 4 actually.
It may be old looking, but aside from processing power, graphics performance and "retina" display, it is a perfectly fine phone for the low end market.
That's my point - this way with the 3GS as the entry level model it's clearly a cheaper phone, leaving the iPhone 4 users happy that they've still got the cache that goes with their more expensive version.
The best case for Apple is indeed great: The old phones will be clearly marked as less desirable, which allows Apple to sell to more price-sensitive customers, while also communicating to the faithful that they really need to ditch the old junk and buy new phones. Perhaps most importantly, they grow the market share of iOS.
But the potential downside is that there will be Apple-branded hardware out there that is seen as cheap and less desirable, and that many people won't understand the distinction. If that happens, the 4/4S guy will now just have an "iPhone" like the rest of the riff-raff, which opens up the high end to competitors.
My view on why they've done it this way is that they've retained a clear visual deliniation between the higher end iPhone 4s and the low end 3GS. No-one who has a 4 or a 4S is going to be annoyed that they guy with the cheap iPhone looks like he's got the same thing as they have.
That comes with the downside of making the cheaper model a slightly tougher sell - it's visibly "old" - but that's Apple protecting their key market, the high end stuff.
But it will be interesting to see how the cheap [1] 3GS performs commercially against more modern Android phones in the same price bracket. Will Apple's brand have people going "wow, I can get an iPhone" or will people be saying "I don't want a two / three year old phone regardless of who makes it".
Obviously the attitude will vary from person to person but it will be an interesting test of Apple's name value to see if it can give a boost to older hardware.[2]
[1] I say cheap not free as it's free on a relatively pricey contract.
[2] I'm not running the 3GS down - I have one in my pocket right now, it's my primary phone, just it is older hardware and I think over the next 12 months will begin to show it's age more and more.