The following are two uncorroborated – yet likely reliable – whispers we’ve heard on the eve of the Apple October 4th iPhone-focused media event.
iPhone 4S pricing:
We’ve got international pricing for the iPhone 4S (N94) that Apple is announcing tomorrow. The conversion to U.S. subsidized equivalents is obviously not clear cut math, but we think we may have figured it out. According to our source, the price of the unlocked 64GB iPhone 4S will replace the price of the current 32GB iPhone 4. In addition, the price of the new 32GB iPhone 4S will replace the price of the current 16GB iPhone 4.
With this knowledge, we think it’s highly likely that the 64GB iPhone 4S will cost $299, the 32GB will cost $199, and the 16GB will drop down to $99 in the United States. The 8GB iPhone 4 (N90A) will most likely cost $49, which will replace the current $49 iPhone 3GS price point. MacRumors reports that Apple will soon begin sales of an unlocked iPhone 3GS. A free iPhone 3GS on contract seems to make sense here.
October 14th launch date, Apple Stores to open at 7AM and some to close at midnight:
We’re now hearing that Apple is preparing their retail stores for an October 14th iPhone launch. This phone will of course be the iPhone 4S with an A5 processor, the breakthrough Assistant feature, an eight megapixel camera, Nuance speech-to-text, and 1GB of RAM. Apple Stores are also planning overnights for October 13th. We’ve also heard that stores will open at 7AM for the crowds on that Friday. Certain locations will even be open until midnight to help meet demand.
