Mac faithful will call it strategic repositioning; people who hate the Cupertino flock will call it something that would make Steve Jobs do the Gangnam style in his grave.

After going against its avowed disdain for smaller tablets to launch the iPad mini in the last few weeks of 2012, Apple is now reportedly planning to launch a more affordable version of the iPhone.

Of course, we all know Apple and "affordable" do not normally appear together in the same vicinity, much less in the same sentence. Moreover, the iPhone generates the biggest portion of Apple's revenue; hence, this corner's reluctance to believe that Apple would do anything to tarnish its brand.

Cheaper, Closer to You

Would seeing those cheap Android smartphones grab huge market shares be enough of an incentive for Apple's top management to risk damaging the company's reputation by launching a more affordable iPhone?

Sources, anonymous and unconfirmed, of course, say the alleged cheaper iPhone would likely be looking like the standard iPhone, albeit with a different and less expensive body. Apple would likely use a polycarbonate plastic shell, which is a lot cheaper than the iPhone 5's aluminum housing.

The budget iPhone's parts could be the same as those found in the more expensive iPhone or come from older models of the iPhone.

What would they call the phone then? iPhone mini, iPhone lite, iPhone easy, or iPhone cheapo?

Then again, Apple could also opt to not build a cheaper iPhone.

Samsung Rocks

South Korean consumer electronics giant Samsung reported its operating profit grew 88 percent to about $8.27 billion in the fourth quarter of 2012 from the previous year. Analysts believe the company's huge profit growth was driven by the mobile phone business.

Samsung's handset division accounted for around two-thirds of its earnings in the previous quarter.

Despite the extreme popularity of Apple's iPhone and the Cupertino company's legal blitzkrieg, Samsung has transformed itself into the world's largest smartphone vendor in terms of unit sales, with a product range that embraces the market's low-end and premium segments with near equal fervor.

Driving Schools' Worst Nightmare

Toyota Motor Corp., the world's largest car manufacturer, recently unveiled its driver-less automobile in Las Vegas.

Based on the company's high-end Lexus car, the Advanced Active Safety Research Vehicle is designed to navigate its way autonomously using a system that consists of cameras, sensors, and other technologies developed by Toyota to control the car's speed pedal, brakes, and steering wheel.

If this is the future of automobiles, I guess we no longer have to spend our hard-earned money on driving lessons.

That's all for the meantime, folks. Join me again next time as we keep on watching IT.