Apple Reveals New 3G iPhone for $199

Apple surprises 3G iPhone fans with a new low price.

Apple Inc. is the proud parent of a brand new bouncing baby 3G iPhone selling for only $199 while AT&T is still the other proud parent of this relationship, handling the U.S. service contract and is facing estimated profits of the new iPhone of about $600 million.

Steve Jobs made the announcement on Monday to a gathering of Apple developers on Monday. The new 3G phone has been long anticipated along with the steep price cut. This new iPhone version is slightly thinner than past iPhone models and contains global positioning technology. This phone is set to sell in approximately seventy countries over the next several months.

Reports are that AT&T has also confirmed that it is subsidizing the new 3G iPhone allowing the new gadget to sell for just $199. This would make sense considering the revenue that the mobile carrier is expected to earn from the device.

Additional features of the new iPhone include 8GB of memory, double the amount of the $299 version. As a matter of fact, the price of the older phones is based on the amount of memory in the phone. Most retailers are selling out of the older supplies first though the Apple online store is no longer selling the older iPhone versions.

With the 3G iPhone selling at $199, it should be much easier to compete with the RIM BlackBerry. This is the area where Apple has been having a difficult time competing in the past, but with the iPhone advances and the AT&T cost subsidies, Apple should have a much easier time taking market share away from Research In Motion Ltd. It should also compete more effectively with the number one handset maker in the world, Nokia. Many market analysts believe that it will be much easier for Apple to meet its market projections and earnings expectations for its fiscal year 2008.