Will the Apple Phone Save you Cash?

What do you get if you add up all the rumors? A crazy potpourri that even Emeril wouldn’t try to kick up a notch. What if you carefully select the ingredients? The outcome is a little different. First, the components of our rumor burger:

1) Apple adding GPS to MacBooks and iPods
2) Cell phone at Macworld
3) The general impression that this Macworld will feature something ‘big.’
4) Apple wants the carriers to not subsidize a cell phone

To the main ingredients above let us add some delicious condiments:

1) Google CEO on Apple’s board of directors
2) Google’s free Wi-Fi plans
3) Mysterious iChat update

If we take all those tidbits, mix them together, toss them in a crockpot until Tuesday what is likely to pop out? Just another cell phone won’t turn the trick especially if Apple doesn’t want the thing sold for $.99 with a two year contract. Realizing that Apple needs to add perceived value to the device, realizing that Wi fi hotspots are ever increasing and mixing in the GPS part of the story the easy thing to conclude is that the Apple cell phone will save you money. You’re saying “What? Apple is going to save me money? How severe is the chemical imbalance in Chris Seibold’s brain?” Well, very.

But here’s the thing, the pitch and justification for buying the Apple phone is that it will save you airtime charges. By using GPS the phone will remember Wi Fi hotspots you approve and use Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) when available and traditional networks when you’re on the move. You’re at Starbucks? VoIP. Driving to Starbucks? Traditional carrier. Imagine the minutes you’ll think you’ll save!

Of course, this is probably a completely unworkable plan for some obvious reason. In fact, the mere notion is probably laughable, but go easy on me, chemical imbalance and all.