If it had been, I think it would have been better received:
5C-16: $0
5C-32: $99
5C-16: $199
It will be interesting to see how many people buy the 5C, given the small price differential. The only thing going for it is the color, but there may be enough people that buy on that basis -- then cover it all up with a case. :-)
I honestly thought they would ditch the 4S altogether to get off the 30-pin connectors once and for all. The “free” phone being an 8GB 4S is pretty much for the person who wants an “iPhone” but really doesn’t want to use it as such. (I say this as a 4S user who likes his 4S very much, but who also uses a lot more storage than that for apps alone, let alone music, movies, photos, etc.)
As someone likely to upgrade this winter/spring, I’ll certainly take the 5S over the 5C - I agree I don’t see the appeal of it, but then, I never saw the appeal of buying the “lesser” phone available at any given time. Still, the 5C is the least expensive LTE option in the lineup.
I, for one, welcome the fingerprint scanner in the 5S - I have to use a passcode in order to enable push email from my office, and the scanner would be easier and quicker, and likely allow me to set the lock timeout to a shorter values (I use the longest possible time right now, just so I can meet the requirement.)
As for the cases, certainly if you’re going to just put it in a concealing case, there’s little point to caring about color, or even plastic vs. metal. Apple’s case, though, will likely spawn a variety of “cutout” style cases, allowing the underlying color to come through to produce different visual patterns.