Apple may look, sound, and act like the biggest dog on the smartphone block, but Android is a big enough player in the neighborhood that Apple can - and should - respond when appropriate to Andriod's business and marketing strategies. On Monday, in fact, the Huffington Post teed-up a big question poised to confront Apple in 2011: exactly how will Cupertino react to Android's apparent "how low can you go" price cutting efforts? It's a hot discussion that was sparked last week by Fortune magazine:
Tran says that phones made from the BCM2157 chipset will retail for under $100 and may dip as low as $75. Those devices should debut in just 3-6 months (and we might hear about them next month at CES).
Realistically, the Android slash would most likely affect Apple's low-end strategy, which - until now - has been to serve up the previous year's model at a price point of $99 (with a two year contract, of course). But the total cost of this "package" still drastically outpaces the deal offered by Android. As a result, Apple may have to cook up a new pricing strategy to mitigate the impact of the $100 (or less) Android.
The Huffington Post
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