Rumor Has It, Apple CEO Says 'No' To A Cheaper IPhone

According to a recent report published on the extremely popular IDG News Service website, Apple’s chief executive officer, Tim Cook, said the company will not make a less expensive iPhone simply to offer a cheaper alternative for emerging markets.

Mr. Cook went on to say the company’s focus has always been to create superior consumer electronic products and it will not make an iPhone which doesn’t pass quality tests.

Apple is reaching out to price sensitive consumers

Tim Cook spoke during a webcast, which was broadcast during the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet conference , being held in California. "There are other companies that do that, that's not who we are," Cook said. Apple is currently discussing options to lower prices on its remaining stock of iPhone models.

Consumer demand for the iPhone 4 was more than the company had in stock in December of 2012 so a drop in prices will only increase demand throughout 2013 and beyond. Cook said the company’s high level executives are surprised at the demand for iPhone products and lowering the prices on current models is one way of reaching ‘price sensitive’ consumers.

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Not going to create an inferior product

Apple’s CEO has to make a lot of difficult decisions during the first two quarters of 2013, simply because it is not easy to create quality products at a reasonable price to tap into new markets. Cook also exclaimed, “That’s when innovation comes into play and new products can be developed to meet consumer demand.”

Apple’s goal is to solve the issue of reaching price-sensitive consumers in different ways rather than creating a cheaper iPhone that can be considered an inferior product. Apple has a history of reducing prices to meet consumer demand. For example, when the first iPod

was released in early 2001, it was priced at $399. Consumers can now purchase an iPod for as little as $49 which is $350 less than the first release more than a decade ago. Apple tried to reduce prices on its Macs to sell them for less than $500, but they couldn’t pull it off without scarifying quality so the company simply released the iPad tablet.

Rumors of a Windows Surface Mini

According to a high level Microsoft executive, it is very possible that Microsoft will soon develop a ‘Mini’ version of the extremely popular Surface tablet. The company launched the Surface in October of 2012 with Windows RT, and although it’s been selling extremely well, Microsoft hasn’t released any sales numbers. The company is going forward with plans to create a Surface Pro version which is rumored to include Windows 8.

During the recent Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference held at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, Microsoft’s CFO Peter Klein said there are a lot of good reasons the company should enter the mini tablet market.

Microsoft’s infrastructure at their manufacturing facility is capable of creating tables of all sizes. In fact, the company can make tablets as small as 4 inches and as big as 27 inches and everything in between.

Microsoft can make any size tablet they want

The company is setup to respond to consumer demand almost instantly. Peter Klein implied the
company can deliver a tablet that’s four-inches, five-inches, seven-inches, 10-inches or even 13-inches.

The current size of Microsoft’s Surface tablet is 10.6 inches and the idea of creating a tablet smaller than that will put Microsoft in direct competition with Amazon's Fire HD and Apple’s iPad Mini.

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The rumor about the new Surface ‘Mini’ came a week after the company released the Surface Pro. The 128GB Surface Pro immediately sold out upon its release, but just like the Surface with Windows RT, the company has not released any sales figures.



The Microsoft Surface with Windows 8 Pro is priced at $899 for the 64GB model and $999 for the 128GB model. You can purchase the Surface Pro directly on Microsoft’s corporate website and personalize it with the most popular add-ons.

Depending on the model you choose depends on the size of files you plan to save on the hard drive. For example, movie files consume a lot more disk space than digital songs so you may want to consider purchasing the 128 GB model if you’re a movie buff.

   Ben Tanner

About the Guest Author:

Written by author Ben Tanner, sharing his interest of mobile accessories and new technology.