Yesterday Apple announced that Steve Jobs will be delivering the keynote address at WWDC, Apple's
developer conference, on Monday, June 7 at 10am Pacific. I fully expect for Jobs to announce the next iPhone at that conference. Hours later, as reported on numerous sites such as Engadget, Walmart announced that it is selling the 16GB iPhone 3GS — which normally sells for $199 — for only $97 starting today.
Less than $100 for an iPhone 3GS is an amazing price. The 3GS is a fantastic phone, for all of the reasons that I discussed last year. Having said that, I discourage anyone from getting this $97 iPhone 3GS right now.
Last year when Apple came out with the iPhone 3GS, it reduced the price of the prior year's model, the iPhone 3G, to $99. Apple got a ton of new iPhone users at that very attractive price, and surely Apple will continue to sell some phone at $99 even after it announces the next version of the iPhone. It seems most likely that Apple will discontinue the iPhone 3G, start to sell the iPhone 3GS at $99, and sell the next version of the iPhone for $199. If this is how it unfolds, Walmart's brand new pricing won't be that special; everyone will sell a $99 iPhone 3GS in a few weeks. Thus, you don't gain that much by taking advantage of Walmart's offer today. But if you buy a $97 iPhone 3GS from Walmart today, before we know all of the details of the next iPhone, it is impossible to make an informed decision on what you are giving up by not spending an extra $100 for the new 2010 model iPhone.
Thus, if you or any of your friends are tempted to get the $97 iPhone 3GS from Walmart, my advice is to wait just two more weeks. On June 7, I'm sure that we will learn all about the next version of the iPhone, which I still suspect will be called the iPhone HD (even though someone at Apple apparently called it the "iPhone 4G" in connection with the criminal proceedings arising out of the "lost" iPhone a few weeks ago). After the upcoming Steve Jobs keynote, anyone buying an iPhone can make an informed decision on how good of a deal $99 is for an iPhone 3GS.
