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Tim Cook, Apple: iPhone 5C will cost $ 100 less than the traditional version of the device

São Paulo – Apple , the largest technology company in the world by market value, is having a déjà vu anything pleasurable. In the late 70s, the company introduced the first personal computer sold on a large scale, the Apple II. He had an embedded operating system hardware and set the technological standard of the PC

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But, in less than ten years, Apple has been overcome by the business model of Microsoft . Instead of targeting the production of computers, Bill Gates began to license its operating system, Windows , for manufacturers of PCs Thus, won 90% of the market in the 90s .

After three decades, the same movie seems to repeat with the product of the moment, smartphones . In 2007, Apple reinvented the mobile phone market by launching the iPhone. The unit brought its own operating system from Apple. Sales grew until the company reaches a maximum of 20% of worldwide sales of smartphones in mid-2012.

The problem for Apple is that Google decided to enter this market with force and adopted the same strategy of Microsoft in the 80s. Created an operating system, Android , and released their use for mobile phone manufacturers. Result: Today, out of every ten smartphones sold worldwide, eight use the software Google . Apple, meanwhile, has lost share and now accounts for a 14% share of smartphone sales.

To turn this around, Tim Cook , the successor to Steve Jobs , decided to make the iPhone a more accessible – an attempt to increase sales in emerging markets. In the second week of September, Cook launched iPhone expected 5c , cheaper version of Apple’s smartphone.

In the U.S., the unlocked device will cost $ 549, $ 100 less than the iPhone 5s , a new version of the main model, also launched in September. But the amount actually paid by the unit may be much smaller, at least in the United States. A contract with a U.S. carrier, in practice it will be possible to buy an iPhone 5C for only $ 99.

The question is outside the United States. In emerging markets such as Brazil and China , the price of the iPhone 5C still be salty, probably close to $ 549 offered by Apple. And that’s a problem. A report released in late August by American technology consultancy IDC says the global smartphone market will grow 40% in 2013 compared to 2012.