What does the 'C' in Apple's IPhones 5C stand for?

Well it's certainly not 'C'heap.

It was their third try at #5.

Vitamin C

Chinese--this is Apple's attempt to expand their market share downward and include the Pacific Rim market, including Mainland China.

And… Yeah, it is cheap, just not for us customers (never for us). Essentially, when Apple Computer makes a phone with the aluminum body and gorilla glass, it costs them money to fabricate those materials. Way more money than it would take to simply use plastic--iPhones haven't been made with cheaper plastics since the 3GS, so yeah, it's a concern.

The "C" might also stand for "cutoff", as in, "This is where we cut off people's getting older-gen iPhones for free under contract." Because now apparently only things like the 4/4S are offered as free phones, and that isn't all that common. Essentially it's a play to make people buy new product at the price points (or slightly higher ones) that they originally bought older-gen phones at.

It's shrewd business, I'll give them that. Figuring out how to expand their markets while tightening things up at the same time isn't something everyone knows how to do.

It's still a smartphone though--and they're still money pits, most of the time, on most carriers.