I never understood the expectation for the 5C to be introduced so cheaply. Apple's M.O. has been good/better/best, with increasingly older models making up the

I never understood the expectation for the 5C to be introduced so cheaply. Apple's M.O. has been good/better/best, with increasingly older models making up the cheaper slots. Without a 5C, everyone would have expected 5S/5/4S. So with a 5C in the 'good' slot, that would imply 5S/5/5C -- but who would buy a 5 for $100 more, if it's barely distinguishable from the 5C? And they couldn't have stripped a 5C down much further to build more separation -- at its core a 5 needs the internals it has to drive its display with the performance and battery life Apple aims for and advertises. So as soon as we saw the screen dimensions and assumed 5C (vs 4SC), people really ought to have expected 5S/5C/4S. Further, Apple's finally landed a few highly-sought-after carriers in the East, which will bring a ton of sales all by itself. So why would anyone expect them to take a margin hit pitching a more attractive $450 model (and at the expense of having any clear $550 offering) when they haven't soaked the early adopters yet? Next year, the 5C will flow down naturally to the 'good' slot: 6/5S/5C. And its construction likely allows Apple to shoot even lower than the 4Ss $450 slot. That's when I'd expect to see Apple make a price play. Perhaps even sliding everything down the scale a little, to make room for the rumored larger-screen iPhone at the new premium price point. In any event, it will be interesting to see how they move forward from that. 6/5S/5C -> 6S/6/... 5SC? Would the larger-screen variant flow down the way the larger screen of the 5 is simply becoming 'standard'? Or would it remain an essentially separate product that simply got refreshed at its existing price point and didn't have a deep bench of older models, ala iPod Touch?