Normally when a new version of a wireless phone is introduced, the original version is retired. However, AT&T has continued to sell the 3GS version of Apple's iPhone even after the iPhone 4 was launched in June 2010. You can go ahead and get the iPhone 3GS for $50 from the wireless carrier right now. But what if you could get an iPhone 3GS for the low price of absolutely nothing at all? According to a story at Boy Genius Report, a financial analyst says that day is coming soon.
The article states that RBC Capital Markets General Manager Mike Abramsky stated today that Apple will offer the iPhone 3GS for free with a new two year contract soon after the launch of Apple's fifth generation version of the iPhone. Abramsky believes that making the iPhone 3GS into a free phone could double the number of iPhones sold to from the current 64 million units to 150 million units. That should also help Apple to combat the rise of smartphones with Google's Android operating system.
The iPhone 3GS is only available here in the US via AT&T because of the phone's wireless standards which means that if the phone does go down from $50 to free it leaves the iPhone's other US carrier, Verizon, without a free iPhone to sell. The article also points out AT&T's $15 data plan which is cheaper than Verizon's current all-you-can-eat $30 unlimited data plan. Verizon is expected to change its data plans for new customers to a tied system with data caps on July 7.
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