Although it is no less than 3 years since it was launched, the iPhone 3GS could remain on the market even after the launch of the iPhone 5 terminal, according to an American analyst. The analyst says that Apple would have signed a contract with an electronics distributor that would sell the device in developing countries at prices between $200 and $250, but only with prepaid cards. At the moment, the iPhone 3GS can be picked up for free upon signing a 2-year contract in the US, but in Europe it has almost disappeared from the offers of mobile operators.
In a research note published Sunday night, Jefferies analyst Peter Misek asserts that Apple has signed an agreement "with a major global distributor" which will look for ways to penetrate the prepaid and developing markets. He thinks the phone will be repriced (at the wholesale level) from $375 down to the $200 to $250 range. Misek also contends that sell side estimates for June quarter iPhone build plans are too low as a major South American production plan is not included in their calculations.
The iPhone 3GS is the oldest iPhone in production and the interesting part is that Apple still offers the latest version of iOS for it, something you cannot find on a 3-year-old Android terminal. Apple took care to offer a cheap iPhone that has the latest version of iOS, and that helped it to sell even more terminals to willing customers. I think that the iPhone 3GS will be discontinued this year and iOS 6 will not be available for it because we are talking about an old terminal, outdated in all respects.
