It seems Apple is planning to sell a low cost IPhone. do you think it will damage their marketing strategy or not and why?

i don't think so, because in current marketing position there are lot of low price smart phone brand available in a market.....if they continue at high price they will not only loose there market share but also loose they loyal customer and the name of company also go down like Nokia......

No. Nowadays the customers are  price sensitive. It will not damage. The brand buyers will exists and may increase, but the quality buyers may have a chance to move out, if the quality along wtih the prices are low..

Yes, It's better to launch their new product by individual name with subliminal secondary association

If we see the space of the smart phones then most of the smart phones have more or less same features. With the similar features on phones then customer takes the buying decision based on the price. Currently the i-phone does not have any thing new to offer, which can support their high prices. So it is good move to reduce the price and maintain the market share. 

My first thought is who am I to challenge a new Apple’s plan put in motion, for I trust tedious & meticulous industry-leading research & analysis must have preceded such a decision. As a matter of fact such a plan can be very much be part of their continuous market research & innovation.

 

My second thought is, yes, Apple has always had such an exclusive/expensive image of a pioneer, but what use does an image have if it cannot maintain itself in the face of competition and marketing dynamics? Such forces may harm the sales of your expensive products that are becoming very similar or less that rivals’ products, breathing down your neck like Samsung with its world concurring Galaxy.

 

 

In my humble opinion, Apple just follows the historical, mostly difficult to challenge, record of high-tech products’ (price) life cycle; they all start(ed) exclusive, thus expensive, then they become (became)increasingly affordable. This is certainly the case with smart-phones that are no longer viewed as luxury products in some parts of the world, but rather as necessity products that in many convenient ways replace the function of a non-affordable PC or a laptop for many low-income technology-hungry customers, who want to keep up & go online while they now can.

 

Why miss out on such a chance of re-devising an image keeping up with “zeitgeist”, for the sake of maintaining a rigid exclusiveness of image.

In my opinion , this will be a very risky step for Apple . Selling a low cost IPhone will incredibly damage the whole image of Apple brand . Because , iPhone fans choose this phone for it's image of exclusivity and in their mind  high price = prestige and quality . And the personal image of Steve Jobs contributed so much to be "top of mind" brand . The Apple products have a special and unique personality . If Apple launches this low cost iPhone , the current consumers of Apple will feel offended also . This step will ruin all the past marketing success of this brand . The roadmap for Apple is not to create a low cost phone but to create a high priced new phone based on innovation and  maintain the current image and customer segments . 

 

If it became mandatory for Apple to launch a low cost phone , then they must create a new low - cost sub-brand in order not to ruin Apple's highly installed image . 

Some day you need to expand your customer base as new area of competition in different features with same product quality.

Regarding to the comments I have received in this question, it seems if Apple launches a low cost Iphone, they would be failing in their Marketing strategy.
Anybody thinks Apple could cover two different targets so different at the same time? For instance, make a low cost Iphone with less services and devices, less quality camera, etc...
Come on!!! I want the opinion of the Masters of Marketing that are in Bayt!!! What would you do as an Apple Marketing Responsible???