$99 iPhone In The Near Future?

Seattle - On the blog of Boy Genius it was reported that Wal-Mart may begin to sell a 4 GB iPhone for $99 when purchsed with a 2 year contract. However it was also said to customers to not be surprised if this didn’t happen. Wal-Mart has not been upfront with whether or not this is true even though reports have risen of the store making a deal with Apple.

“We have made no official announcement on offering the iPhone at Wal-Mart,” said spokesperson Kelly Cheeseman speaking to betanews.com last week.

Wal-Mart currently is selling the Android based G1 phone for less than actual cell phone companies so it’s very possible that a deal with Apple has been made. It has been suggested that Apple has made so much money for their line of iPhones that they can afford to make this deal with Wal-Mar to sell an iPhone for a lot less than they normally sell for, to reach those who can’t afford the higher price due to the status of our economy today.

It has also been said that the iPhone’s could possibly knock out the competition form the Smart Phone leaving only the Black Berry to contend with.

Analysts say that the $99 iPhone through Wal-Mart is inevitable and even though they are not sure of when this will be made available they are looking to have it out to the public before the end of the year.

“While we are not sure of exact timing, we think a $99 Apple-branded cell phone is inevitable,” says analyst Shaw Wu. “As we mentioned in our initiation report, we believe one of the key things Apple needs to do to drive broader iPhone adoption is to build a more complete product line like it has done with the iPod.”

The cell phone companies offering the iPhone most likely would take the hit in the iPhones selling for much less due to the pricey plans that come with it. A plan for minutes is already a hefty price these days but with an iPhone you also have to have an extra plan that averages between $35 and $40 extra to be able to use the features the iPhone brings with it. This will ultimately make more money for the cell phone carrier companies. The time it would take for the carriers to make back the money they would lose from the sell of the phone would only be 3 or 4 months.

Many employees at different Wal-Mart stores are confirming the rumors of the store picking up the iPhone and of meetings taking place with those who will be selling the items. It is also being said that they were trying to get the phones out before Christmas but that will not be happening because Apple can not get the phone to them in time. The store chain will be the fourth major carrier of the phone.