Here’s an interesting article that talks about a couple of new Broadcom chips that will be coming out in 2011 that will drastically reduce the price of smart phones. Today, people have to buy smart phones through a carrier (mostly) and pay a cost somewhere around $200 plus a steep monthly fee. It’s $200 because the carrier is subsidizing the price of the phone and forcing customers to sign two year contracts. The estimate now is that later in 2011, the unsubsidized price of some Android smart phones will reach the sub-$100 level which will finally give consumers the ability to jump from carrier to carrier based on the best deal instead of being locked up in a contract for two years. I can’t wait!! While we get a really good deal on our cellular service through corporate discounts, I still pay way more than I’d like to.
http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2010/12/22/2011-will-be-the-year-android-explodes/