Cheaper iPhone = Digital One Rate

Some of you may remember "Digital One Rate," the first "bucket of minutes" wireless voice plan, launched by AT&T when Dan Hesse, now Sprint Nextel CEO, ran the AT&T Wireless business. You might also remember that Digital One Rate ignited a huge wave of wireless voice usage.

It is conceivable that the new 3G iPhone, with price points aimed at the "the other side of the chasm" crowd (the mass market), as well as the inevitable responses by competitors, could well ignite a new round of data services use by fairly "average" mobile users.

A $200 iPhone with 3G is just the sort of thing that could trigger dramatically-expanded mobile Web and mobile broadband use, driving smart phones and mobile Web services into the lead edge of the "early majority" market that mobile providers will have to crack if 3G is to become a user mainstay.

With the latest release, Apple is taking aim at the enterprise segment, one of several key smart phone segments, as well as the broader "entertainment-focused" segment. Some of us are in the less-well-defined segment that rely relies on the Web, even if we use BlackBerries, so the mobile Web element also now comes into play.

The point is that the 3G iPhone might one day be seen as a key turning point for mobile broadband.