Published: 06:40 PM EST While the likelihood of Apple releasing new iPhones this year is all but certain, a discussion between analysts and Apple’s top brass has also dropped clues that the iPhone’s pricing may not be static this year.

 Toni Sacconaghi of Bernstein Research mentions in a research note that a discussion with Apple COO Tim Cook, CFO Petter Oppenheimer and worldwide marketing senior VP Phil Schiller point both to an upgrade to the touchscreen device as well as to the possibility of "different pricing/price points" this year, with Cook "examining iPhone’s business model" for possible changes.

Cook and Schiller in particular have teased a "very exciting" 2009 for iPhones.

What these possible price changes would entail isn’t divulged by the Apple executives, although Sacconaghi is quick to dampen rumors of an iPhone nano or a similar low-budget cellphone. Without naming any one of the executives as a source, he gathers from his investigations that the company isn’t presently chasing such a concept.

Any future iPhone, he says, will probably have at least a web browser and access to the App Store, the latter of which has Cook, Oppenheimer and Schiller particularly "bullish" about the iPhone’s success as it gives Apple an (more…)

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