Next iPhone for Free?

Chris Anderson’s latest book, Free, has got me thinking about how his theories might apply to the mobile wireless industry. While  Anderson claims that digital businesses will gain by offering products for free, I have to wonder if that isn’t so far off in our industry either.

More than once I have thought in the back of my mind that in the future phones really will be given away for totally free – and I mean the really nice ones like iPhones, BlackBerrys, and the Palm Pres of the world. In fact every single phone will be for free. The reason is because of all the content that people will access using their smartphone will severely outweigh the cost of manufacturing the product itself.

Wireless carriers will continue to make money from all the network usage and data-heavy monthly plans so they will support the free phone concept. On the flip side manufacturers, like Apple, will make money from supporting & being a pass-through for content (ie, Apple App Store & iTunes Store). No doubt, it will be a survival of the fittest for manufacturers. Apple is currently leaps and bounds ahead in this market as I have previously noted.

So does this mean that the next iPhone is going to be given away for free? I wouldn’t be surprised. Since the launch of the iPod & iPhone, mega industries have spawned for content and mobile applications. Someone is benefitting from that …namely Apple at the moment and that will eventually change in the future with developers getting their share too. But the point is that all content is going digital and people have to access it from a digital device.  Whatever will be the cheapest method for them to access data will win. And if there is a ‘free’ offering, then why not?