Inexpensive iPhone: “Innovative, category-killer experience”

Some interesting quotes from RBC Capital Markets analyst Mike Abramsky who sat down with Apple’s two top dogs to discuss business, chief of operations Timothy Cook and finance wizard Peter Oppenheimer. According to Barron’s, when the analyst cornered the two men about that cheap iPhone we’ve been hearing about a lot, they said Apple wouldn’t launch such a device unless it was an “innovative, category-killer experience” type of product. This is the first time we hear Apple’s top execs comment on the rumored inexpensive iPhone. Their comment jives with Apple’s broader approach to the marketplace (they play in markets where they can differentiate in a big way) and Cook previously teased that “we don’t want to be just for the rich”.

Whatever the “category-killer experience” for the mass market iPhone is supposed to imply is anyone’s guess, but we have a few ideas of our own. An affordable iPhone would no doubt be a big hit in low income and emerging markets and help tackle slow down Android’s growth. The executives made it known they expect “explosion of low-priced Android smartphones”, but are ready for it citing Apple’s “sustained advantages”. They also told the analyst that come this Fall, the iCloud service will be ready for “significant scale”. RBC Capital Markets in their July note estimated apple could sing up around 150 million users to iCloud. More tidbits after the break.

Of advantages Apple believes it has over Android, RBC wrote:

Despite the expected explosion of low-priced Android smartphones – detrimental to Nokia, RIM, others – Apple believes a) its integrated approach to hardware/software, b) oversight of user experience (including its ruthlessness about taking things out, and c) application ecosystem “curation” will sustain its competitive advantages and premium positioning.

RBC also believe Apple will eventually settle with Android EOMs in the US and developed countries “in return for concessions in China”.