Why do journalists insist on saying the iPhone costs $2000?
Posted by Dr. Macenstein
I always find it funny when columnists list the iPhone’s cost as somewhere around $2000, instead of the $499-$599 it sells for. Well, not funny, really. I find it confusing and frustrating, actually, and I am beginning to question their motives.
In order to reach this insane number, they factor in 2-years of service into the price. That is perhaps one of the stupidest and most misleading arguments a tech journalist can make. EVERY smart phone/PDA requires a service plan, and the iPhone’s is one of the cheapest unlimited data plans you will find. The iPhone costs between $499 and $599, period. You might as well add sales tax and the cost of the gas you used driving to the Apple Store to the “shocking” costs.
Such is the argument Tom Yager, chief technologist of the InfoWorld Test Center, made in a recent article. Tom may have a cool job title, but the title of his article “iPhone: The $1,975 iPod: Apple’s and AT&T’s high-price gadget is a heartbreaking triumph of greed over genius” seems written specifically to incite iPhone users and Apple fans into a defensive, traffic-driving frenzy.
Yager goes on to make the (inaccurate, in my opinion) point that “Apple went to great lengths to tick the feature table boxes that make the device look like everything a professional could want in a mobile device: cell phone, PDA, e-mail, Internet client, and media player.”
No, Apple has NOT marketed the iPhone to business professionals. In fact, they specifically are discouraging businesses from adopting the iPhone at the moment. You cannot even activate an iPhone on a business account. A giant company cannot migrate their entire workforce to the iPhone even if they wanted to (unless they sign up for a couple thousand family plans). In reality, the iPhone (version 1.0) is being marketed to consumers/prosumers as an introduction to a smart phone, and it can indeed handle the PDA/Mail/Internet needs of the majority of them. To call the iPhone “The $1,975 iPod” is to imply that you get no extar value over an iPod when buying the iPhone, and that is just plain crazy.
I will be the first to admit the iPhone has some short comings, some of them glaring, (see our giant iPhone wishlist) however most are easily addressable via software updates, and I have every reason to believe Apple will fix the majority of these issues in the coming months (how often do the Treos and Blackberry’s of the world get updated with new features?).
Tom Yager is not the only one out there ignorantly bashing the cost of the iPhone. There are others who for whatever reason think you can’t spend $500-$600 on a Blackberry or Treo with a worse camera, less storage, horrible music/video playback, clunky interface, extremely lame internet browsing, and no multi-touch touchscreen, all on more expensive monthly plans.
So the real question is, why are these “journalists” so angry at the iPhone? Basically, I feel it is because they bought into the iPhone hype, the love the way it works, but unfortunately, it can’t yet do the one or two things they need it to in their specific workflow, so they angrily bash the hell out of it. Get over yourselves, folks. The iPhone isn’t meant for you. The iPhone is meant to serve as your average consumer’s introduction to the smart phone way of life, and it works far better for them than a clunky (and more expensive) Blackberry or Treo would.
Including the cost of the 2-year plan is proper. I’m currently shopping for a new phone and the cost of the 2 year contract is something I’m calculating because it’s relevant to the TCO of the phone. If I want a subsidized phone, I have to sign up for a 2 year contract.
I’m not going to buy an iPhone because I’m not going to put 2/3rds of the cost of a new Macbook towards a phone. But I love the idea of the iPhone and if they ever come out with a $200 iPhone “shuffle”, I’m there!
Scott, understood.
However, suppose I buy even a “subsidized” BlackBerry 8800 from AT&T. It still comes in at $299. I have to then pay $34.99 for the cheapest personal unlimited data BlackBerry plan (on top of my monthly service). That’s $15 more per month than the iPhone. Over the course of 2 years, that’s $360.
So I would have spent $660 on the subsidized phone, and $600 on the 8GB iPhone.
I’m just saying, you get screwed by the phone company no matter which device you buy. the iPhone is not as wildly out there in price as many are leading people to believe.
Is the iPhone expensive? Sure.
Is it way different than any other smart phone and plan? No.
I agree with Dr. Macenstein. My company is forcing me to use a blackberry to keep in contact with there Exchange email. (Oh god!) Do i surf the web with it or have all my home emails on it? No I do not. I use my iPhone. Why you ask? Because I love how my iPhone works! All the things the iPhone does, it does superiorly well. Far better than ANY other phone out there. The web browser actually works. I had a Treo before the iPhone for my personal stuff too. I got rid of it, and my data plan dropped by $20. The way i look at it, after two years i just saved my self $480. not much, but that in itself paid for most of my iPhone.
Yup, Scott, the TCO of the iPhone includes two years of service. And if you don’t get an iPhone, will you be going without cell phone service for two years? I kind of doubt it. You’ll probably be spending at least $960 for most provider’s minimum plans, and if you use a smartphone, multimedia, or anything like that, you’ll be into it for another $15-40/month.
As for the cost of being locked into a contract with AT&T for two years, well, that’s $175 dollars, the cancellation fee, which is just under the cost of three months of their minimum iPhone plan.
Another point:
Some (perhaps even many?) journalists think Apple = bad. THey don’t get it. they hang out with other people that don’t get it. They write for pubs that are purchased and consumed by people that don’t get it. These folks have invested days or even weeks of study in order to secure positions as pundits, and, for them, that’s what pays the rent. A rampantly successful Apple could lead to them living under a bridge…
This gives the hegemony a number and other quotable misinformation to use when responding to iPhone questions from innocent, interested, uninformed folks.
It is maddening, but there will always be someone fighting change tooth and nail with whatever FUD they can manufacture.
When you pay full retail for one the iPhones competing smart phones, you’re not required to agree to a 2 year contract. You can do with it as you please (not to mention that they’ll function as full fledged PDAs even when you don’t have phone service). You’re only required to agree to a 2 year contract if you avail yourself of the discounts and rebates. Further, if yo pay full retail or cancel your contract early, you can take your smart phone elsewhere and it will work. Not so with the iPhone, it’s AT&T or nothing.
The iPhone requires an active 2 year contract or it won’t even turn on, doesn’t offer ANY discounts of any kind, and can’t be used on any other network; therefore, the cost of the contract IS part of the cost of the iPhone.
No amount of fanboyism is going to change these FACTS.
Originally posted by Quix on Digg in response to this article
“Before the iPhone, I’ve never seen the cost of items over the long term trumpeted by the press. There are certainly other smartphone devices that cost the same or more than the iPhone over the long term, yet that fact is conveniently overlooked. How much does that new car cost over 5 years?
The most ridiculous instance was the financial analyst who argued the iPhone actually costs you $18,000 over 35 years in missed interest opportunities. 35 years??? What the??? Geez, better not buy a soda this afternoon, it will cost me hundreds of dollars in the long term… And what’s the long-term cost of Windows Vista Ultimate? Ah, not sensationalistic enough for copy.
I think the fact the iPhone *did* for the most part live up to the hype is making these *journalists* scramble for some sort of downer to report.
That plus the fact I’m sure the PR departments of competing firms are working overtime to spew as much iPhone FUD as possible. The number of ridiculous reports about the iPhone (“the battery will *completely die* in a year!!!”) tell me that this is a device that will be a huge success, and is causing a great amount of fear in Apple’s competitors (“$600 for a phone????” *sputter, spit, perspire profusely* – Steve Ballmer).
Apple has certainly enjoyed better press in the past few years than ever in its history, but there’s no doubt there are still legions of journalists and pundits who are dedicated to smearing the company at every opportunity.”
—
So true.
Scott,
The iPhone WILL function as a PDA without service, it has been documented on TUAW among other places.
And if it makes you feel any better, pretend the iPhone costs $1000 and by signing with AT&T for 2 years you get it for $600. Feel better?
I think they’re just trying to ruffle up everyone’s feathers [who like Apple products] so that they will venture over to the journalists sites to see exactly what is being said which in turn makes them look good because all of a sudden their hits suddenly sky rocket and they might even get the benefit of some affiliate marketing dough as well. I say fa-get-about-em!
“The iPhone WILL function as a PDA without service, it has been documented on TUAW among other places.
And if it makes you feel any better, pretend the iPhone costs $1000 and by signing with AT&T for 2 years you get it for $600. Feel better?”
Oooh, I have an idea, Let’s pretend it costs a Trillion dollars; what a deal! What rubbish!
$600 is the full retail price. It is on par with the full retail price of Treos, Blackberrys, etc. (which can be used on anybody’s network). If you agree to a two year contract, you can get them for less than half that price. If you agree to a two contract with the iPhone is costs… …$600. Period. The iPhone’s competitors will allow to you to use them as PDAs WITHOUT hacking them. The iPhone does not. If you’re talking about buying an iPhone, activating it, then canceling the contract (and then hacking it, which is risky at best – by the way, to qualify for pre-paid status, you have fail the credit check), the price is: $600, +plus tax, +$36 activation fee, +$175 early cancellation fee, +probably at least one months service; which would total $900 where I live. Not exactly a deal. At that point you might as well buy a MacBook and be done with it (and get a far more capable machine while you’re at it).
All this hype seems to be taking reason out of the picture here. Is the iPhone’s interface kick-a$$, without question. Does the iPhone have massive future potential, duh. Is being locked to AT&T limiting, yes. Is the iPhone expensive (regardless of perceived value, AKA real, hard numbers), yes.
Get some perspective folks (and no, I’m not an “iPhone hater”).
Scott,
You may not be an iPhone hater, but you are definitely an AT&T hater. I have had AT&T, then Cingular, and now AT&T, and have never had any problems with them. I hear a bunch of people cursing AT&T, as if they killed their families. But I’ll be you an iPhone that if Apple had chosen Verizon or Sprint we’d be flooded with stories of how much THOSE companies sucked by people who had a bad experience with them and switched. The only semi-legitimate complaint I can see with AT&T is people who wish the Phone ran on something faster than Edge.
All your mathin’ and figurin’ still doesn’t account for the fact that the iPhone AT&T plan is still cheaper than any other smart phone plan you could get. So say you get your $600 Treo you “can take to any network”. Great. In 2 year’s time, you’ll have spent more money than any iPhone user sticking to AT&T, even the 8GB buyers. And likely in 2 years you’d want to upgrade to a new Treo or we to a new iPhone. Who knows what the deals will be then?
Now, maybe you have a hard-on for Verizon or Sprint or something, and more power to you. But the fact is, Apple and AT&T are partners. tons of other phones are exclusive to certain carriers. Sure, in a perfect world every phone would come unlocked and no cell plan would cost more than $30 including unlimited data, and there’d be no roaming, and they would all work internationally, etc.
But the reality is Apple made a $500-$600 cool phone that works on AT&T.
Buy something else if you don’t like it.
“You may not be an iPhone hater, but you are definitely an AT&T hater.”
Wow, where’d THAT come from, I hardly even mentioned them?
All I meant by AT&T being limiting is that making the iPhone exclusive with ANY carrier means someone, somewhere is going to get screwed as no one carrier can possibly provide great coverage for everyone. As far as what other smart phone plans cost: if you get an unlocked phone and DON’T agree to a long term contract, the amount it will cost you is up to you (as in how long you decide to use it – one month, cheap; 50 years, expensive). With the iPhone, you required, by contract, to buy a least 2 years of service. Why is everyone so hell bent on bending reality to justify the iPhone’s price; if it’s worth $500-$600 + contract to you, go for it!, if not don’t.
Relax dude, it’s just a phone, you make sound like I peed on your grandmother or something.
Just thought I’d mention you can sign up for a prepaid plan with the iPhone. As I understand it, that doesn’t lock you into a 2 year contract even though it’s still with AT&T.
Scott… You are not required to have a two year contract and no it does not rquire acing. If you put in all nines for your social ecurity code you will be given the option of a month to month plan. It would be nice if you knew what yu were talking about.
Journalists write for the moment and the day – philosophers are more likely to see sympatico to the iPhone … http://paullevinson.blogspot.com/2007/07/nano-iphone-and-dymaxion-principle.html
I think you might be intentionally naive here. I think we must definitely consider the possibility that many “journalists” (bloggers, really) are on the payroll of one of the many companies that stand to loose BIG with the iPhone. They are probably shaking in their pants and are trying to counter the overwhelmingly good response of the average user to the iPhone. Hence they have brought all sorts of “issues” with the iPhone that, oh surprise, are also issues on other smart phones.
I have not bought an iphone yet but I plan to do so soon. This is a change from my original plan, which was waiting for the second version of the iPhone, but I got to play around with one and I am extremely impressed, so I have decided to wait just a couple of months, until the first software update.
Scott got OWNED!! HAHAHAHA!!!! I also hate it when people like Scott talk about stuff that they don’t know. Haters.
[QUOTE]
All I meant by AT&T being limiting is that making the iPhone exclusive with ANY carrier means someone, somewhere is going to get screwed as no one carrier can possibly provide great coverage for everyone.
[/QUOTE]
From a purely practical standpoint needed an established carrier to enter the cell phone marketplace. The worked a deal with ATT– cound have been Verizon, Sprint or someone else.
Apple’s alliance allows them to enter the market with a revolutionary device with the support of (at least) one carrier.
Without that alliance, they would have everybody against them.
Revolutions are funny… they have a way of wiping the slate clean..
… a clean slate will benefit everyone (who matters) until it is time for the next revolution.
apres moi, le deluge…
“Why do journalists insist on saying the iPhone costs $2000?”
Maybe because it’s true? Tax is not the same thing as a contract to pay money. Sure, it’s deferred to a monthly payment. But the absolute bottom line is that if you buy an iPhone for $600 you cannot stop there — you owe an additional $2000 which AT&T is nice enough (hah) to spread out over 2 years.
you said…
“EVERY smart phone/PDA requires a service plan”
not so, check out http://openmoko.org/
thanks mate,
(like the blog BTW…)
CeeAyy,
So, basically, you’re using a bug in the software that allows you to do something that AT&T officially doesn’t allow you to do. According to AT&T documentation, you’re only supposed to be allowed that option if you fail a credit check first. Activation isn’t suppose to occur in this case unless you’ve gone to an AT&T store and made a deposit first ($250 if I remember correctly). More power to you if it allows you to get away with it. But, it’s still a hack that takes advantage of an unadvertised bug and that can be easily remedied by bug fix in iTunes.
Scott,
This article was about the iPhone’s TCO over 2 years. As the ‘Doc’ pointed out, the TCO is lower for the iPhone than any other comparable Smartphone.
As for the hacks, sorry ‘journalists’, they should be required to quote the TCO for other smartphones in every article. Even better, they should include the cost of the accessories needed to match the iPhone’s functionality – if that is even possible.
Nobody here is trying to ‘justify’ the iPhone’s price. We are just pointing out that it offers the best value for your money among Smartphone on the market today. If you prefer to pay less for your phone up-front and more over the term of the contract, well, you have plenty of other options. I just don’t see the value in getting a ‘subsidized’ phone if it actually costs you more over the term of the contract. The rest of us prefer to make the smart choice and not get hung up on whether the phone is ‘subsidized’ or not.
I think Apple has created a great device and bundled it with a plan that offers value for your money. I am looking forward to the iPhone’s success and its positive effect on the Smartphone market.
Spock
scott, your logic and reasoning is right on the money. I am always amused at the juvenile responses when people are told their baby is ugly. Sometimes the truth hurts. you don’t have to be a basher or hater to tell the truth.
Journalists don’t write headlines! No really, they don’t! In fact, in this particular article, the first time the WRITER mentions the price is when he writes: ” I’d challenge any gadget hound to find a more satisfying, status-elevating way to blow half a grand.” =$500, actually LESS than the more expensive version, ignoring all sign up costs, etc.
Honestly, Macenstein, stop accusing journalists of bias (most newsrooms are Mac heavy due to Adobe’s legacy, anyways) where there is none and realize that most tech writers have gushed over the iPhone, not bashed it.
I have been having this very same argument with some friends, and this morning my friend peekamo’d me and told me about this article. Well let me tell you, nothing made me more happier than to read this article.
Journalists are always trying to give bad press, but in apple’s eyes any press is good press. I have found that everytime a new phone comes out, everyone always adds in the cost of ownership, but really do you really factor in the cost of gas when you buy a car?
After reading this, I can’t wait to go out and get my new iPhone tomorrow. I just hope the browser works with my favorites sites. I heard sites like digg and peekamo and facebook are okay, but some myspace pages don’t show up correctly. But then I’m sure the journalist will come up with yet another cost of my loss of time and effort to add to the growing cost of ownership 😉
Great write up.
This is something you are concerned about? Really? Apple sells a million iPhones in a week with journalists gushing over how great the device is (“but it will cost you up to $2000”), and no one blinks an eye? One has to wonder if Apple should have charged MORE for the phone. $2000 did not scare off anyone. Maybe Apple should charge $600 plus have an added $10 per month fee in the AT&T service, since it clearly is not scaring anyone away.
My point is that it does not matter if they want to list the total cost of owning the device. Given that this is the first consumer phone to really require an unlimited data plan, you could say they are warning the consumer that it will not be as inexpensive as their current 200 minute per month only plan. You may not agree that the press should be warning everyone, but who cares if it is not making a dent in Apple’s sales?
As a Verizon customer who has to pay $79.99 per month for a Treo 650, paying $59.99 with AT&T will save me $480 going with an iPhone. The math works for me on the iPhone. Come Feb 2008 when my 2yr contract with Verizon expires I will probably jump ship.
See my URL for Comparing voice and data rate plans for AT&T iPhone vs other smartphones
I see your point about the iPhone being an expansive iPod. But the $2000 is the minimum price with the AT&T contract(Since you have to pay that).
Here in Denmark all mobilephone adds have to by law contain the minimum price you pay for the phone + the 6 month contract. Oh yeah, 6 month is the maximum length of these forced contracts.
In this way it’s so much easier to see what the “real” price of the phone is.
An unsubsidized PDA gives the owner the option of signing on to any network they wish. The iPhone specifically guards against that. Rowlings: Who cares if you love att? I may not. Imagine this: its the early 90s and modems are still in. Would you buy a modem locked into, lets say, AOL? The idea is preposterous. Most phones come SIM locked in the U.S. because the cost of the phone is subsidized. However, upon request the locking vendor is required to give the proper codes over to unlock it. For example, the SIM unlock for an international phone is typically handed over in ~24 hrs. There is no such mechanism for iPhone. Two years down the road, if I decide att was nice, but I want to switch to T-Mobile, I could no longer use my iPhone, I’d have to go buy something else.
“EVERY smart phone/PDA requires a service plan”
WRONG!
I still would like to have one…No if the Boss would pay that would be better.
Scott said
quote: The iPhone requires an active 2 year contract or it won’t even turn on, doesn’t offer ANY discounts of any kind, and can’t be used on any other network; therefore, the cost of the contract IS part of the cost of the iPhone.
No amount of fanboyism is going to change these FACTS. end quote
And its selling like hot cakes. Guess those facts don’t mean much.
i’d like to point out that the TCO is $2000 and no amount of fanboyism will change that, and that i currently use a Sony Ericsson p910i smartphone/PDA and i don’t have a service plan 😉
I think it’s interesting, in terms of the strange way economics works that the iPhone costs $600 and for that price I can build a pretty decent computer and for about $200 less I can pick up a POS computer from Best Buy.
Of course, it’s a moot comparison since it won’t be all portable like the iPhone and all that, but I just think it’s interesting to put prices into perspective. In fact, I can make four roundtrip flights to my folks for the price of an iPhone.
Erm,
Ah yes, but do your parents support multi-touch?
(wait, I don’t want to know the answer to that…)
Smartphones are for suckers. I use my Tracfone for contact only. If I need more robust communication than a text message or a quick phone call, I use my laptop. The total cost of owning an iPhone or any Blackberry with their respective plans can buy a nice laptop.
I didn’t realize you could fit a laptop in your pocket.
How to get a subsidized iPhone?
Full price iPhone? 2 years service contract? No subsidy? Lessen the blow and enter a contract with AT&T by first purchasing a subsidized phone have the phone company provide the unlock code (they have to). Switch your service to the iPhone then sell the other phone. There is your subsidy.
“Latent†– That which is inherent but is veiled or hidden until exposed or unmasked through self-indulgence ….
Materialism has only ONE role within humanity and that is to elicit love and joy [and not their poor relatives which dwell within emotions, objectivity and intellect] through the act of gifting. When materialism is expressed through indulgence, however, it’s about worship, not giving/loving. Indulgence, ignorance, arrogance, as evinced by the “right and ability to buy a heart-flutter, a token of my missing self-esteem, because it associates me with greatness and modernity, thereby propelling me to imagined heights of fashion and utility, conferring the confidence within me to feel that I, too, am of value as a humanâ€, nonsense, is to be expected when maturity is lacking and immaturity do not differentiate on age.
When materialism fulfills its role, it establishes satisfaction, which is a permanent quality whereas worshipping/groupie-ism releases wanton urges by engendering permanent dissatisfaction through momentary satisfaction. That’s addiction which is also another word for fashion. Licentious material consumption, an indication that the person has no inkling as to why he exist other than to indulge through excuses like, modernity, necessity, progress, priviledge, and more, is a highly virulent form of moral corruption which no human culture can resist and those who think they are special, like being “a chosen oneâ€, intelligent, talented, powerful, and similar worshipping of shallowness, are the ones who lead the charge towards mutual destruction whilst holding “The Progess of Mankind†banner. Is that why we all have to be dragged screaming, achieving and worshipping to our deaths, whether we like it or not? Witness those who can, being buried with their gadgets or have their “idols†frozened with their severed heads. There is nothing like the greedy & blind leading the dumb, naïve and blind.
Utility, efficiency, productivity and similar benefits are not for exploitation through “the land of fabulous opportunistic wealthâ€, but when they do, fashion takes charge and the master and slave equation dictates. Let all the groupies and their pimps do as they please but their grooming of others for enslavement should not go unexposed. Reaction is just another word for enslavement and reacting in a worshipful manner is the worst kind of entrapment. A groupie gets his/her come-uppance “with immediate effectâ€, but the religious goo-goo, ga-ga’s, living on hope and imagination, aim for immortality & paradise.
Materialism as a gift [including self-gifting] is not the same as materialism at any price, like deserting one’s self-esteem for worship. Continuous irrational material acquisition means addiction/masochism had taken hold which is why sadists always impose freakish controls to further the cause of their pocket & soul-emptying agenda. “Ja… put zer b**t zhere, 2.38 degrees zo zer left for ve must get zit exactly right …whol.†Truly an indescribable experience … whilst not forgetting that just because a depressive/masochist loves getting hurt, doesn’t mean that the complementing aggressive/sadist is not addicted to his mean streak. Now, if sadists were only aiming for mere material gain/temporary theft, that’s fine, but when they are after “paradiseâ€/worship/perpetual gain/permanent theft, that’s devolutionary for all concerned. Indulge if we must but start cleaning-up our tarnished image thereafter for indulgence is merely Nature’s way of teaching about errors and errors are not for keeping [the guilty masochist], they are for correcting. Meaning, if others are dumb & crazy, do we have to be that too?
It shouldn’t be surprising that they want you to use the iPHONE as a PHONE.
Scott, everyone is assuming that you get a wireless plan with your new cell phone. Sure, if you just want a PDA, you can buy an actual PDA and it would be cheaper, but this is a smart phone, and *generally*, you use smart phones to make phone calls. Keeping the same variable among the Blackberries and Treos, namely, “having cell coverage”, the iPhone is cheaper over the two year contract. The other smart PHONES also cost $2000 or so when you factor in the price of the long term cell plan. This makes it unfair to call the iPhone expensive, because other comparable devices (PDAs that play music and make calls) are actually more expensive.
It’s like saying that a high-end Toyota is cheaper than a comparable and identically-priced Porsche because with the Toyota you can tear out the high preformance engine and all the features and the interior, resulting in a cheaper car. The problem is that when you get that cheaper car, it’s not COMPARABLE anymore. It’s cheaper but the Porsche is now better.
Oh, and bryant- shut the pompous psychobabble, it’s a goddamned cell phone not the downfall of the Righteous Soul of Man or whatever the hell you’re attempting to rave on about.
Try to put it into some perspective unless you’ve completely lost your mind. You should be ashamed of yourself.
i gotta say, i had an ipod back in the day and after that i will not go near another apple product. in fact I’d go as far as saying i will not buy any expensive technology that won’t let me do the simplest things like CHANGE THE BATTERY OF THE PRODUCT I OWN!! apple restrict and you buy as a life style choice. I’ve just been reading the small print on the iphone and it says if someone calls you both parties are charged for the call and you’re charged for calls that didnt connect!! is this true?
my brothers,
there are actually some countries that doesn’t lock your phones. in my country, virtually every phones can use any kind of services available.
so, it’s, to some extent, true that the the iPhone cost $2000, if i want to use it with my choice of provider (if it’s at all possible), but of course we can also pay the termination fee, can’t we?
I doubt if anyone will read this because the comment is so far down, and it is possible that it has already been said, but I don’t have the time to read throught all of the comments first.
There is a reason why the iPhone is currently locked to one carrier, and that is because AT&T is the only company that has the hardware working in the background to support Visual Voicemail, which Apple is touting as one of the big reasons to buy an iPhone. Now, as a hardware company trying to launch a new, slightly expensive, revolutionary device, would you want to unlock it so that one of your main features only works for 1/4 of the people who buy the device? I know that I wouldn’t. Until the other Mobile Phone carriers get their network set up to suport visual voicemail, Apple is not going to let them sell the iPhone. AT&T made the investment that lets the iPhone do everything Apple wants it to do, so AT&T gets the exclusive contract to sell the phone.
At least for now. Once the exclusive contract AT&T has with Apple expires and more carriers have what Appe needs for the iPhone to work properly then I would expect unlocked versions, or at least multiple carriers available with locked SIM cards.
Now, I don’t that losing Visual Voicemail (if that is the only thing that AT&T has specific to it’s network) would be a problem if I preferred another network, but I have an AT&T plan now, love it, and will be getting an iPhone for the wife and I just as soon as we can afford it.
Most of you guys are missing the point.
Look at the title of this article:
“Why do jounalists insist on saying the iPhone costs $2000”
The point is that these same journalists do not talk about other smart phones in the same way. They do not talk about the cost of the plan.
The other problem with mentioning this price point of $2000 is that you are adding in a variable (the plan) that:
A: Is a variable, it could exist, and it can not
B: You don’t need the plan unless you want to make phone calls
C: You can always do prepaid, which does not give you a set price.
This is like complaining that computer companies don’t factor in the price of internet access when they sell computers. Apple is selling you a divice. AT&T is charging you to use some of the functionality on it.
Those that complain that it is AT&T only that thus the iPhone sucks think they have some god given right to a new product, and that if the company doesn’t cater to THEIR needs and wants, than the product must be bad for all. Go live in a 3rd world country and tell me that Parker Brothers suck because you can’t find a version of Monopoly that fits you income at the local store. The only way to use it is to pay ridicules shipping!! OMG!!!
Suck it up, kids.
Argue the price all day. The fact is there are journalists that are putting negative spin on this product, and it’s perfectly fine to call them out on it.
I bought a Razr when the price first dropped. Or so I thought. I just added up the TOC and my ($99) Razr actually cost me over $1800. And that’s with only SMS and MMS, NO Internet Plan, and it’s a sucky PDA, if you could call it that.
I wish that I would’ve had reporters opening my eyes to the total cost back then, I would’ve looked into something a bit cheaper or even free like a carrier pigeon. But then I’d have to factor in the cost of paper, ink, the pigeon, a cage, feeding… Oh man
Or I also could’ve gone without a phone for those 2 years, and bought $1800 worth of Apple stock instead (About 50 shares) and could’ve had over $6600 in my account today. I could take out a few shares and buy an iPhone, and siphon off remaining shares each month for the next 2 years hoping that the future increase in the share price would further offset the cost of the service plan. Then they would be paying me to use it for the next 2 years.
The thing is, most companies (Well, t-mobile) offer plans starting at $29.99/mo for voice alone, and you have the option of acking out of your data plan if it turns out the network is not that good and you just use wifi for internet. And, I hear, with the iPhone the network isn’t that good _and_ you can’t “drop” the data portion of the plan.
This Honda is only 20,000 bucks and so is this Toyota, but the Toyota needs GAS! Gas is expensive, and it will end up costing you 25,000 over the life of the car!! The Toyota is therefore really more expensive! It’s not like the Honda needs gas.
I’ll make it really simple: You want to USE an iPhone, it’s 600 bucks for the phone, and a $1400 two-year service plan. You have to commit $2K of your money. Period. You can’t spend any less to purchase and use an iPhone.
yeah, but the issue is that they don’t say that for the Blackberrys and Treos. Just the iPhone. Which is bad journalism. It’s like saying that little Jimmy was born and cost 600 bucks for the hospital fees, but that brat Jason is going to cost thousands and thousands of dollars over the course of his childhood before he leaves the house, in addition to a 600 dollar hospital fee. Jason’s parents must be stupider than Jimmy’s parents.