IF GRAPEVINE NEWS about Apple's plans to include a SIM in the iPhone 5 is correct, Steve Jobs could be set to step on a landmine. That's the conclusion Andrew Parker reaches in the Financial Times today. [1] "Some of Europe's leading mobile operators are ... privately saying they could refuse to subsidise the iPhone if Apple inserts an embedded SIM." By offering a SIM with the phone, Apple could activate iPhones from its own website after consumers bought the new phone for $600. That price point would relegate the iPhone to a Financial Times "How to spend it" audience, shaving up to 12% from Apple's global sales, according to Robin Bienenstock, analyst at Alliance Bernstein.
1. Andrew Parker -- "Apple warned over plan for in-built SIM" in the Financial Times, 19 November 2010.
2. Stacy Higginbotham -- "Is Apple about to cut out the carriers" on Gigaom, 27 Ocober 2010.
