Yowza. Well, I hear that AT&T will be offering a 450 minute, unlimited data plan at a reasonable price. Some of the more advanced technology will depend on it being online all the time, so some sort of unlimited data plan is really a requirement.
Yeah, as cool as it is, I’d still wait for the 2G and 3G models.
I’d switch to a MAC first before I’d get an iPhone at that price
I’m waiting for a Widescreen Upgrade for the iPod.
Comment by Bernard |
June 27, 2007
I don’t want to be called an Apple fanboy, but that is just about the most irrelevant or at least unfair price “analysis” I can imagine. At least the author could have done a comparison to say Verizon or other Cingular/AT&T plans or Sprint. What you’ll find is that the biggest difference is in the cost of the phone, which is an upfront cost and people can decide if they need an iPhone for the features and their ego. My current, voice only plan through Verizon has meant that my crappy little LG, no web, no camera, no features phone costs over $1100 over 2 years. Tack on a data plan, and that would be closer to $2000 with Verizon and of course the phone would have been more than $79.
The only comparison that really matters is the cost of the phones since the plans and accessories are all relatively comparable. Actually, the iPhone plans seem to be better value than AT&T’s other unlimited data plans for PDA’s. They seem to be considering the iPhone to be on par with a WinMobile smartphone rather than a PDA.
So Apples to apples comparison, pun intended, the difference in cost between a $500 iPhone and a $100 smartphone is exactly what it appears. $400.
Comment by morgan |
June 28, 2007
I have to agree wholeheartedly with Morgan on this one. Call me a “Apple fanboy” if you must (though I don’t even own one), but that price analysis didn’t bother me so much because I am a fan of Apple or the iPhone so much as the fact that I’m a fan of logic. And don’t even get me started on the bigass font size, as I’m sure the html style police are already tracking him.
Based on his analysis, I’m going to figure out what an iPhone would cost me.
First of all, let’s get these iPhone facts straight
Apple and AT&T have already announced the pricing for their iPhone plans ($59.99 for 450 minutes, $79.99 for 900 minutes, and $99.99 for 1,350 minutes, all including unlimited data, Visual Voicemail, 200 SMS text messages, roll-over minutes and unlimited mobile-to-mobile), so the numbers he throws around regarding the monthly plans and estimated data costs are way high. So, at 2 years x $59.99 / month (because I honestly can’t imagine using more than that) comes to (rounding up): $1,440.
The iPhone comes with a Bluetooth earpiece, so no point in spending another $50 on another one unless you feel the need to have conversations in stereo, or can’t stand the idea of people to your left not seeing the ridiculous thing on your head.
Are people really paying the $200 penalty to break their existing contracts early to jump on the iPhone bandwagon? Maybe a few of the extreme early adopters (with their Mountain Dew and skateboards and whatnot) might, but it doesn’t apply to me nor to anyone I know off the top of my head.
Car charger, case, those sound like legitimate costs ($40 + $50), though from my cell phone purchasing experiences typically they start throwing that stuff in if you ask correctly.
Oh yeah, and the iPhone itself. I’m going to go ahead and assume that most people are going to spring for the 8GB, so: $599. Total (actual) iPhone cost: $2,129, or, $88.71 a month.
My Motorola RAZR (which everyone and their cat has now)
Even though they give these things away in cereal boxes now, back when I got mine (in the ancient times of 2006), I actually paid $100 for it.
I bought a Bluetooth headset that I never use: $40.
My plan with Verizon (for something like 400 minutes, unlimited mobile-to-mobile, no data, and text messaging) is roughly $55 / month. Over two years: $1,320. Total RAZR cost: $1,460, or, $60.83 a month.
This type of analysis is a perfect example of how “numbers can lie.” Sure, in one sense it’s true that an iPhone could cost someone up to $3,000, but along that same line of thinking a free cell phone can easily cost someone at least $1,500. All I’m getting at is, it seems better to just put everything into perspective and compare apples to apples (pun not intended) rather than inventing reasons to bash on an unreleased product or corporate entity we might not agree with.
All that analysis really amounted to was illustrating the total cost of ownership of the iPhone in an attempt to display a shockingly high dollar value. But the same can be said of nearly anything, such as a relatively inexpensive and reliable car like a Honda Civic:
Initial price of car (MSRP, 2007 DX model): $14,760
CA tax and license fees: $1,362
Financing: $1,684
Fuel costs (average driving rate in CA): $3,021
Insurance: $2,831 Opportunity Cost: $839
Maintenance: $450 2007 Civic DX Total Cost: $24,947
Dang, that $14.7k Civic cost me twenty-five thousand dollars! That’s not what it said on the Sticker Price! Those money-hungry bastards lied to me! If I were going to spend $25k on a car, I could’ve gotten a top-of-the-line Accord with heated leather seats and an in-dash GPS and wood-trimmed wang holder, so on and so forth.
The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.–A. Toffler 20 hours ago
Yowza. Well, I hear that AT&T will be offering a 450 minute, unlimited data plan at a reasonable price. Some of the more advanced technology will depend on it being online all the time, so some sort of unlimited data plan is really a requirement.
Yeah, as cool as it is, I’d still wait for the 2G and 3G models.
I’d switch to a MAC first before I’d get an iPhone at that price
I’m waiting for a Widescreen Upgrade for the iPod.
I don’t want to be called an Apple fanboy, but that is just about the most irrelevant or at least unfair price “analysis” I can imagine. At least the author could have done a comparison to say Verizon or other Cingular/AT&T plans or Sprint. What you’ll find is that the biggest difference is in the cost of the phone, which is an upfront cost and people can decide if they need an iPhone for the features and their ego. My current, voice only plan through Verizon has meant that my crappy little LG, no web, no camera, no features phone costs over $1100 over 2 years. Tack on a data plan, and that would be closer to $2000 with Verizon and of course the phone would have been more than $79.
The only comparison that really matters is the cost of the phones since the plans and accessories are all relatively comparable. Actually, the iPhone plans seem to be better value than AT&T’s other unlimited data plans for PDA’s. They seem to be considering the iPhone to be on par with a WinMobile smartphone rather than a PDA.
So Apples to apples comparison, pun intended, the difference in cost between a $500 iPhone and a $100 smartphone is exactly what it appears. $400.
I have to agree wholeheartedly with Morgan on this one. Call me a “Apple fanboy” if you must (though I don’t even own one), but that price analysis didn’t bother me so much because I am a fan of Apple or the iPhone so much as the fact that I’m a fan of logic. And don’t even get me started on the bigass font size, as I’m sure the html style police are already tracking him.
Based on his analysis, I’m going to figure out what an iPhone would cost me.
First of all, let’s get these iPhone facts straight
Apple and AT&T have already announced the pricing for their iPhone plans ($59.99 for 450 minutes, $79.99 for 900 minutes, and $99.99 for 1,350 minutes, all including unlimited data, Visual Voicemail, 200 SMS text messages, roll-over minutes and unlimited mobile-to-mobile), so the numbers he throws around regarding the monthly plans and estimated data costs are way high. So, at 2 years x $59.99 / month (because I honestly can’t imagine using more than that) comes to (rounding up): $1,440.
The iPhone comes with a Bluetooth earpiece, so no point in spending another $50 on another one unless you feel the need to have conversations in stereo, or can’t stand the idea of people to your left not seeing the ridiculous thing on your head.
Are people really paying the $200 penalty to break their existing contracts early to jump on the iPhone bandwagon? Maybe a few of the extreme early adopters (with their Mountain Dew and skateboards and whatnot) might, but it doesn’t apply to me nor to anyone I know off the top of my head.
Car charger, case, those sound like legitimate costs ($40 + $50), though from my cell phone purchasing experiences typically they start throwing that stuff in if you ask correctly.
Oh yeah, and the iPhone itself. I’m going to go ahead and assume that most people are going to spring for the 8GB, so: $599.
Total (actual) iPhone cost: $2,129, or, $88.71 a month.
My Motorola RAZR (which everyone and their cat has now)
Even though they give these things away in cereal boxes now, back when I got mine (in the ancient times of 2006), I actually paid $100 for it.
I bought a Bluetooth headset that I never use: $40.
My plan with Verizon (for something like 400 minutes, unlimited mobile-to-mobile, no data, and text messaging) is roughly $55 / month. Over two years: $1,320.
Total RAZR cost: $1,460, or, $60.83 a month.
This type of analysis is a perfect example of how “numbers can lie.” Sure, in one sense it’s true that an iPhone could cost someone up to $3,000, but along that same line of thinking a free cell phone can easily cost someone at least $1,500. All I’m getting at is, it seems better to just put everything into perspective and compare apples to apples (pun not intended) rather than inventing reasons to bash on an unreleased product or corporate entity we might not agree with.
All that analysis really amounted to was illustrating the total cost of ownership of the iPhone in an attempt to display a shockingly high dollar value. But the same can be said of nearly anything, such as a relatively inexpensive and reliable car like a Honda Civic:
Initial price of car (MSRP, 2007 DX model): $14,760
CA tax and license fees: $1,362
Financing: $1,684
Fuel costs (average driving rate in CA): $3,021
Insurance: $2,831
Opportunity Cost: $839
Maintenance: $450
2007 Civic DX Total Cost: $24,947
Dang, that $14.7k Civic cost me twenty-five thousand dollars! That’s not what it said on the Sticker Price! Those money-hungry bastards lied to me! If I were going to spend $25k on a car, I could’ve gotten a top-of-the-line Accord with heated leather seats and an in-dash GPS and wood-trimmed wang holder, so on and so forth.
To summarize: How Could They Do Such a Thing!
Woohoo!!!
I love sturring the pot…
Long live Microsoft!!!
j/k guys
Just so you guys know, I Lust For the iPhone. I’m just waiting for Generation 2.