SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Apple Inc. slashed the price of the IPhone by $200 yesterday — a rare move for the company that typically discounts only older products. It also updated its IPod media players, introducing a model that incorporates a touch-screen and other IPhone features.
The 8-gigabyte IPhone will be $399 — $200 cheaper than the same model when it went on sale in June. The 4-gigabyte IPhone, which sold for $399, will be phased out. By comparison, the new touch-screen IPods will start at $299.
Analysts said the price drop would definitely boost sales, possibly allowing Apple to achieve its self-proclaimed goal of selling 1 million IPhones by the end of September.
But they also questioned the move, which is not consistent with Apple’s standard marketing practice of lowering prices during a product’s second or third update. Apple also typically keeps the price the same but adds new features and storage when a product is upgraded.
Meanwhile, Microsoft Corp. yesterday slashed $50 from the price of its Zune digital media player, just before Apple Inc. announced its IPhone price cut. The 30-gigabyte Zune now costs $199, the Redmond, Wash.-based software maker said on its Zune Insider blog.
Apple’s move “will absolutely help sales — but at what cost?” asked Tim Beyers, an analyst at the Motley Fool research and investment group. “People who bought the IPhone weeks or months ago must really be annoyed, and with good reason. They might think twice about being the first to buy future Apple products. This smacks a little of desperation, and it’s very unlike Apple.”
Also yesterday, Chief Executive Steve Jobs unveiled a new version of the popular IPod media player that has a touch-sensitive screen, wireless Internet access and a Web browser but no cellular phone capability.
The IPod Touch allows users to download songs wirelessly and eventually will let people sample and buy digital tunes from any Starbucks in the United States that offers Wi-Fi Internet access.
The IPod Touch is less than a third of an inch thick and can be used for storing photos, music, videos and other digital data. It features the same 3.5-inch touch-screen display as the IPhone, on which light finger touches allow the user to scroll through menus and two fingers are used to resize pictures.
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