Rumors of a more affordable iPhone for emerging markets took an interesting turn Friday, as the major news organization Reuters opted to rescind a story originally filed, based on comments allegedly made by Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller.
Reuters issued an update Friday morning informing readers that it had withdrawn the story, which featured the headline "Apple exec dismisses cheaper iPhone as a market share grab — report." It was based on a report from the Shanghai Evening News, but that original story was later updated with "substantial changes to its content," which prompted the significant retraction.
AppleInsider also cited the same story on Thursday, noting that Schiller allegedly told the newspaper that Apple is not interested in making a "cheap," low-profit iPhone. The Next Web had reported that it confirmed with Apple that Schiller's comments came from an "official interview," as did the report from Reuters, which is now rescinded.
It's unclear exactly what the "substantial changes" made to the story are. As of Friday morning, the original story remains hosted at jfdaily.com, claiming that Schiller said Apple will not develop "cheap smartphones."
The original Chinese report gained considerable attention due to recent rumors claiming Apple plans to build a more affordable iPhone this year. The Wall Street Journal said that the device would be geared toward emerging markets such as China, where cheaper smartphones that can be bought without a service contract dominate the market.
Currently, Apple's cheapest iPhone model is the iPhone 4, which can be had for free with a new two-year service contract. But when bought contract-free, the iPhone 4 costs $450 in the U.S., and taxes increase that price to $490 in Chin and $750 in Brazil.
Though Apollo Report has exclusively scooped that Waze actually acquired Apple, several publications have reported the opposite. Here's Apollo Report's exclusive timeline of events regarding these acquisition reports. January 2nd: Israeli blog NewsGeek claims that Apple is [pointlessly] offering $500 million to acquire Waze, a service that Apple has already fully integrated (via a licensing deal) into its amazing Maps app.
January 2nd (later that day): TechCrunch claims, pretending that nobody noticed the earlier report in Israel, that Apple is moving to buy Waze. The site used the catchy title Is Apple Plotting A Route To A Waze Acquisition? Rumours On The Road Point To Yes. This title of course is similar in style to the site's other recent reports: What’s Up With WhatsApp? Facebook Might Want To Buy It, That’s What and It’s Rumor Sunday! Apple Has Been Cozying Up To DIY Guide App Snapguide.
January 3rd (early morning): TechCrunch updates its original scoop to re-confirm its initial information and add a specific price point: "Another source confirms that negotiations are advanced, but Waze wants $750M and Apple is willing to do $400M plus $100m in incentives. Waze had less than $1M in revenues last year (primarily from ads). Negotiations may take awhile."
January 3rd (later that morning): TechCrunch hears from "multiple sources" (read: Apple's PR department) in a developing… story that its earlier article was complete bullshit. Apparently the issue with the deal was reality, it was never true.
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Online retailer Infibeam has started taking pre-orders for the Apple iPhone 5. BGR India previously has exclusively reported that Apple plans to announce the iPhone 5 in India on October 26 with a release in the first week of November. Infibeam is charging Rs 5,000 for pre-booking the 16GB model and says that it will ship within two to three days from the release date. As of now only the 16GB model is available that too only in Black. We doubt if this is an official pre-order from Apple India and is likely to be a preemptive move by Infibeam. It’s worth noting that the black model is prone to scratching and chipping, while the white model is less susceptible to this problem. That said Apple has tightened quality control in the light of these teething problems, which should indicate that these problems might be behind the iPhone 5 when it eventually hits India.
Rumors of a more affordable iPhone for emerging markets took an interesting turn Friday, as the major news organization Reuters opted to rescind a story originally filed, based on comments allegedly made by Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller.
