iPhone 3GS Price Drops To $97 At Walmart Ahead of iPhone 4G Launch

Walmart recently announced a reduction in the price of iPhone 3GS starting today. It is offering a 16GB iPhone 3GS model for only $97 (instead of $197) with a two-year AT&T contract. The deal currently only appears to be active for in-store purchases. The announcements come close on the heels to news that Apple may have stopped the shipment of entry-level 8GB iPhone 3G units to AT&T retail stores. An apparent shortage in the supply of iPhone 3G model was also noted by customers in Austrailia and the United Kingdom.

These latest developments are pretty strong indicators of an imminent launch of a new iPhone 4G model. Apply is likely to retain the standard $199/$299 price points for its upcoming iPhone models, a drop in the price of the older generation iPhone was something that was very expected. You may even recall that Apple had announced a similar price cut for the iPhone 3G when the third generation iPhone 3GS model was unveiled last year.

There is an interesting point to note here with respect to the timing of the announcement. Unlike last year when Apple announced a drop in the price of the iPhone 3G during the WWDC 2009 Keynote address, this year’s price cut on iPhone 3GS has been announced close to two weeks ahead of WWDC. This may possibly support earlier speculations that the iPhone 4G may go on sale on June 7. For a similar perspective, you may note that the iPhone 3GS was available on stores nearly 11 days after it was unveiled at WWDC last year.

With so many rumors and speculations going around in the past few weeks over the iPhone’s new design, featuers, and network connectivity, we can’t wait until it’s all officially announced at the WWDC Keynote address this year.