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In yesterdays article I touched upon the fact Apple is in development of a cheaper iPhone and that the share of the global market. With a cheaper iPhone it helps make Apple make deeper inroads in markets such as China and India.

It seems Apple has done something similar to this before. In ’04, the sales of original $299-plus iPod were still rising; the company introduced the $249 iPod Mini. Then in ’05, the Mini was discontinued for a cheaper iPod Nano. Apple is selling an iPhone 3GS for $49 but it would require you to sign a 2 year contract.
With Apple able to get discounts from suppliers due to the massive amount of iPhones being sold and by Apple signing long term contracts this will enable them to make the moves needed to make a cheaper iPhone to penetrate markets globally that may not be able to afford an iPhone with a 2 year agreement. The company has actually executed some long term agreement that total in the area of $3.9 billion in the past few months.

This will now also affect what is seen to be Apple’s biggest competition to date in the mobile phone market, Google. The Android was able to penetrate the market not only by making more affordable phones with a decent operating system but has also had the market covered in versatility as Android phones are available on multiple carriers. Apple understands this and has countered by offering the iPhone on the Verizon Wireless platform. If the iPhone can be cheaper and still keep the allure I think Apple might have something and they can finally penetrate the markets like China and India.

In the midst of the Android gaining ground the iPhone it looks like Apple is working on newer versions of the iPhone. The first version would be cheaper and a bit smaller then the latest iPhone 4. Even with Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple is still involved with making strategic decisions while on medical leave. He would use lower prices to make the iPhone’s appeal to a larger market. This would help keep the iPhone from losing more ground to the Android. This will definitely put pressure on other companies to make to keep competitive with the cheaper versions of their phones.
It now seems that Apple understand that they are not the only powerful phone on the market and knows that there is a bigger share to be had. Charlie Wolf, who is an analyst at Needham & Co. in New York, stated “Instead of targeting 25% of the global mobile phone market, Apple is going after 100%.” This would be a big move for Apple especially after knowing Google’s share of the global Smartphone market as more than tripled to 32.9 % in the fourth quarter. This is passing what seems to be Apple’s meager 16% which is according to Canalys.
The thought process is sell the phone for around $200 but the big deal about that is this phone would sell for that price with no contracts to sign to get the phone down to said price. Currently the latest iPhone sells for $200-300 dollars but that is with signing a contract with mobile phone providers that carry this phone.

It is has been speculated for some time now that there had been a partnership in the works with Nokia and Microsoft. Well that speculation is now put to an end as Microsoft and Nokia have officially announced a partnership.
Now nothing has been put officially into place what there are some steps Microsoft and Nokia are working towards. First Nokia will us the Windows phone as its main Smartphone. With the innovations and ideas on Nokia’s side they plane to contribute heavily to the Windows Smartphone newer hardware designs help bring the Windows Smartphone to more people with a bigger range of prices and market segments and geographies. They will also work together to bring marketing initiatives to help evolve the future of mobile products. As most would have assumed Bing will be the search services used on all the Nokia devices. Nokia maps will be integrated with Bing. With Bing, Microsoft will also have a strong adcenter for an advertising platform that will give a unique local search and advertising experience. These are just a few things this partnership will bring to the table.
With this partnership at hand it finally looks like Microsoft has finally made move they needed to do to be taken seriously in the mobile market. Could Microsoft finally rival the likes of the iPhone and Android with this new partnership? It seems that only time will tell.

Released in May 2008, the Netflix streaming player – developed by Roku, a company specializing in the delivery of digital media – enables subscribers to Netflix’ traditional mail-order service to stream a select number of movies to their television sets.

Initially, the available films were anything but impressive, largely comprised of efforts that just barely rose to b-movie standards. Since then, the catalog of titles has ballooned to an impressive volume, with everything from television shows ( Law and Order, LOST, The Shield,  Heroes, etc.) – to critically acclaimed  independent gems added to its library.

With just a one-time purchase of the $99 player, the streaming is free, the only additional expense being a $9.99 monthly subscription to Netflix. Coupled with their traditional model, this new service positions Netflix as the premier source of home entertainment. As bandwidth increases, there is little doubt that streaming will facilitate a monumental shift in how media is delivered into our homes.

At this time, Netflix streaming is available on:

• PC / Mac
• Roku player
• Xbox 360

However, announced just a day ago, Netflix will begin making their streaming service available on Sony’s PS3 next month — provided users have a Netflix subscription, of course.

If you have questions, or experience any difficulty setting up your Netflix player, we’re here to help.

For more information about Netflix streaming, visit their website here