Apple exec Tim Cook seems to confirm 'iPhone nano'

Apple seems to be set to release a cheaper iPhone after the company's executives made some uncharacteristically frank comments during an analyst meeting with Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconaghi. Chief operating officer Tim Cook appears to have all but confirmed a cheaper iPhone is in the works.

Cook told Sacconaghi that the Cupertino company wants its iPhone to not be just a device "for the rich," and said the company is planning "clever" things for the prepaid market. He acknowledged that China, a major mobile market which the company is now focusing heavily on, is a country which has a large prepay base.

There was no market that Apple was willing to cede to its competitors, Cook said. Such an attitude from the company's top brass seems somewhat shocking, considering the company for so long prided itself on its exclusivity and highly targeted products.