Apple: Hopes Ebb On iPhone Nano; Cheaper Data Plans?

The Street seems to be backing away from the theory that Apple (AAPL) will introduce a cheaper version of the iPhone with a smaller screen and reduced functionality.

Yesterday, Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconaghi noted that the company does not appear to be pursuing his idea for an “iPhone Nano,” and that any new iPhones are likely to include both a browser and access to the App Store.

This morning, Kaufman Bros. analyst Shaw Wu reached a similar conclusion. In a research note, he writes that he is hearing Apple is in “fairly advanced development” on three new iPhone models, but that it is not certain they will all be commercialized.

One of those models, he says, has a 2.8 inch screen–smaller than the 3.5-inch screen on the curent version. But he says that one is “less likely to see the light of day in the near term as it appears that software and thus feature sets will be the key differentiator” as opposed to screen size.

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