Apple executives said this week they believe the iPhone remains in its infancy and went on to — somewhat uncharacteristically — reveal a series of strategic measures they may employ in the near term to help grow the handset’s share of the booming smartphone market.

The comments came during a meeting between senior company officials and analysts for Oppenheimer, who stopped at the iPhone maker’s Cupertino-based campus Thursday as part of a bus tour that also swung by the headquarters of Synaptics, Trimble Navigation, Zoran, and Cypress Semiconductor.

In a report on the meetings issued to clients Friday, analyst Yair Reiner said Apple sidestepped his questions on new products but remained upbeat about the potential for “considerable” growth through share gains in two of its three core business segments: the Mac and iPhone.

Reiner wrote that the “iPhone is still in its early days and could gain share by: providing more functionality; lowering prices; growing geographically; or segmenting the market with different models.”

We agree with their assessment; the iPhone could grow even more, by lowering the entry price and adding more ways to get access to the iPhone with less expensive default service plans (we’re looking at you, AT&T). Perhaps a $99 new model with a few features removed?