Apple to sell contract-free to sell contract-free

The latest, courtesy of a story from Boy Genius Report today, has Apple selling a contract-free, $350 iPhone 3GS for the prepaid customer segment. The report also said the next iPhone, which may or may not feature a radical design, will be coming out or announced "by the end of summer, late August-ish."
An Apple representative wasn't immediately available to comment on the validity of the report.
Apple has been looking at ways to expand its potential base of customers and cement its leadership role in the smartphone world. The company has already expanded its distribution with the addition of Verizon Wireless as a carrier partner. But Apple wants to go after the burgeoning prepaid market, one of the few areas of customer growth still left in the wireless industry.
The move comes as Google's Android platform steadily overtakes Apple for smartphone supremacy. The free software is already used by a number of handset manufacturers, allowing it to tackle both the low and high ends of the market.