Please be careful throwing around expressions like "no one really needs". People's circumstances are different, and it's impossible to anticipate everyone's.
My brother for example does NEED a personal data plan on his phone because he travels and needs access to email for his job, and by using his phone as a modem he has been able to get rid of his home internet connection, actually saving him money overall.
You're taking my comment out of context. I was suggesting that refraining from a contract for only three months one can save up the difference between iPhone 3GS and 4. I wasn't suggesting to give up one's phone line altogether.
Also, if you need email access for your job, chances are that you can afford to spend $150 more on better hardware. It's all about priorities.
People are not that smart on average and they don't generally act rationally either.
These kind of deals always work to increase sales and are done across multiple industries. It's the same thing as the idea of giving you the first few months free or at a reduced price when you are talking about some kind of service or buying furniture with nothing down and no payments for a year, or car leases that work the same way.
They are all colossally *bad* deals, but people grab them like so much candy. Sadly not many people sit down and rationally try to figure out what the best deal is or why they are being offered what seems like such a great deal.
The 3Gs is likely to be discontinued very soon. Certainly long before the contract on these offers will be up. But I bet there are people at this minute rushing to a store to get one. It's like fish rushing to put a hook through their cheek.
We're on ATT. The 2 Adults have iPhones. Each kid has an older SIMLess iPhone serving as an iPod Touch.
We all get new phones when the new iPhone is released. We usually pay $50-$75 for each kid's phone -- with 1 or 2 replacements per year.
We'd all have iPhones except there is a $20 charge for data per iPhone per month.
I wish they'd offer a family shared data plan -- then we'd be iPhone only.
Google has promoted its Android platform as having the potential to drive down the cost of hardware to attract low end buyers, but Apple's ability to sell older versions of its flagship iPhone at a discount has so far beaten Android at its own game.
LOL - I finally dropped my work Blackberry for a work-provided 3GS. It's still a very nice phone. I just can't have it out at the same time as the iPhone 4 or the difference in the screen is dramatic and annoying
Quite shocking, really. The total cost of ownership for the 3GS over two years is hardly much lower that the one for iPhone 4, and spreading the difference over such a long period would make it barely noticeable. In contrast, the difference in everyday use must be quite tangible...
That's the difference in perspectives between a nerd with disposable income, and a non-nerd without. A non-nerd without disposable income would say the exact opposite as what you said above - the 3GS doesn't perform meaningfully different that the 4, yet is noticeably less money per month (IE I can pay my electric bill this month, instead of maybe not).
I'm in the nerd camp, and so are you. But most people are not.
You're taking my comment out of context. I was suggesting that refraining from a contract for only three months one can save up the difference between iPhone 3GS and 4. I wasn't suggesting to give up one's phone line altogether.
Also, if you need email access for your job, chances are that you can afford to spend $150 more on better hardware. It's all about priorities.
I think most people would say, if the choice is between NOT USING a cell phone for three months, or keeping the old one, they'd keep the old one.
My brother and his wife just came into the iPhone fold with a pair of 3GSs. They couldn't justify the $200 each for the 4, but $100 for 2 iPhones suited them perfectly. The only feature of the 4 they have mentioned missing on their phones is FaceTime, but that wasn't worth the extra $150 per unit to them.
If you intend to use your phone heavily as a smartphone the display on the iPhone 4 is quite the upgrade. I just recently switched my work phone from a BlackBerry to a 3GS and I am much more susceptible to eyestrain on it than my personal iPhone 4. $300 difference? For me it would have been. I'm only holding onto the 3GS until the next iPhone is released...
You're taking my comment out of context. I was suggesting that refraining from a contract for only three months one can save up the difference between iPhone 3GS and 4. I wasn't suggesting to give up one's phone line altogether.
Also, if you need email access for your job, chances are that you can afford to spend $150 more on better hardware. It's all about priorities.
I am currently using the original iPhone (yes, it was purchased in July 2007, and is still on Edge). There is very little I miss from my iPhone 4 (which I lost in an unfortunate taxi ride). The thing I miss the most is the lack of push email, the speed, and the screen. However, nothing that is a deal breaker, so I will be waiting for the iPhone 5 to upgrade.
The point is that while each phone is significantly better than the last, not everyone needs all the features that the latest model provides. Additionally, an upgrade is usually from a feature phone (or a blackberry), so even moving to a 3GS which is 2 years old, makes their cell phone experience dramatically better. The delta between choosing the iPhone 4 instead of the 3GS, is far far smaller than the delta between their current phone and the 3GS.
So, not only is the iPhone 4 the #1 phone in America, but the iPhone 3GS, which is more than two years old now, holds the #2 spot and is beating the crap out of every single other phone on the market, bar none.
If I were an annoying little Android twerp, I'd frantically and desperately try to change the subject in order to deny reality, and I'd make my delusional mind feel slightly better by saying that all Android phones, all added up together into one lovely, fractured mess, and made by every phone manufacturer on the planet that is not Apple, does indeed sell more than Apple phones do.
People who buy iPhones are people who know quality when they see it, and they aren't afraid to pay to have the best.
People who buy Android phones do not mind having an inferior OS. A few of these people are simply Apple haters. They belong to the anything but Apple crowd. Besides a few angry, clueless, not very technically minded geeks on a few forums, this crowd is tiny and irrelevant. Many people who buy Android phones are simply people who are economically disadvantaged and lesser educated. A recent survey backs up my assertions.
You sound like a Christian unaware why people are actually atheists or belong to other religions....aka you sound pathetic.
No Android user in his right mind would deny that the iPhone is ALWAYS going to be the highest selling device...there's only one flagship at a time and now there's a lower end model...2 choices for iOS phones...hundreds for Android phones....100xAndroid > 2xiOS
I use Android because it isn't as stale IMO as iOS...I use a Mac for work.
I am literally not impressed by iOS...not at all...it is pretty but rather limited...really limited....it is a pretty little app launcher...and not for me.
Nothing about hating Apple...I'm sure a few are Apple haters, sure...but MANY iPhone users are anything not Apple haters.
PS...the highest selling Android phones are also the most expensive ones...what does that say about only the poor and stupid buying Android?
Seriously..you rant endlessly, unprovoked, against Android users...yet somehow, someway, you cannot see how YOU are the unreasonable one...
.... Except the rumor is that the 4 would become a "middle" model and a whole new "low end" model would come out. That middle model is the confusing part to me. Why not let the "old 4" become the low end model?
You answered your own question right at the beginning. ... It's a rumor, much like the one I keep hearing about Elvis being "spotted" working at a 7-11 in some town I never heard of.
Comments
BTW, do you have the link to this Solipsism? I'm assuming it's the NPD Group results.
Kind of. I can't find the direct info on NPD's site, only other sites reporting it.
Please be careful throwing around expressions like "no one really needs". People's circumstances are different, and it's impossible to anticipate everyone's.
My brother for example does NEED a personal data plan on his phone because he travels and needs access to email for his job, and by using his phone as a modem he has been able to get rid of his home internet connection, actually saving him money overall.
You're taking my comment out of context. I was suggesting that refraining from a contract for only three months one can save up the difference between iPhone 3GS and 4. I wasn't suggesting to give up one's phone line altogether.
Also, if you need email access for your job, chances are that you can afford to spend $150 more on better hardware. It's all about priorities.
People are not that smart on average and they don't generally act rationally either.
These kind of deals always work to increase sales and are done across multiple industries. It's the same thing as the idea of giving you the first few months free or at a reduced price when you are talking about some kind of service or buying furniture with nothing down and no payments for a year, or car leases that work the same way.
They are all colossally *bad* deals, but people grab them like so much candy. Sadly not many people sit down and rationally try to figure out what the best deal is or why they are being offered what seems like such a great deal.
The 3Gs is likely to be discontinued very soon. Certainly long before the contract on these offers will be up. But I bet there are people at this minute rushing to a store to get one. It's like fish rushing to put a hook through their cheek.
We're on ATT. The 2 Adults have iPhones. Each kid has an older SIMLess iPhone serving as an iPod Touch.
We all get new phones when the new iPhone is released. We usually pay $50-$75 for each kid's phone -- with 1 or 2 replacements per year.
We'd all have iPhones except there is a $20 charge for data per iPhone per month.
I wish they'd offer a family shared data plan -- then we'd be iPhone only.
Kind of. I can't find the direct info on NPD's site, only other sites reporting it.
The rest of the phone rankings are also impressive after checking on them. They're only available from one carrier, unlike the iPhone 4G.
The 3rd place phone HTC Evo 4G, is only available on a single carrier. And it's not Verizon or ATT. Sprint!
The 4th place phone, HTC Inspire 4G, is also on just one carrier, AT&T.
The 5th place phone, Samsung entry-level Intensity II, is also a single carrier phone, Verizon in this case.
I had always assumed that most Android phones were available on multiple carriers. Not so apparently.
Google has promoted its Android platform as having the potential to drive down the cost of hardware to attract low end buyers, but Apple's ability to sell older versions of its flagship iPhone at a discount has so far beaten Android at its own game.
LOL - I finally dropped my work Blackberry for a work-provided 3GS. It's still a very nice phone. I just can't have it out at the same time as the iPhone 4 or the difference in the screen is dramatic and annoying
Quite shocking, really. The total cost of ownership for the 3GS over two years is hardly much lower that the one for iPhone 4, and spreading the difference over such a long period would make it barely noticeable. In contrast, the difference in everyday use must be quite tangible...
That's the difference in perspectives between a nerd with disposable income, and a non-nerd without. A non-nerd without disposable income would say the exact opposite as what you said above - the 3GS doesn't perform meaningfully different that the 4, yet is noticeably less money per month (IE I can pay my electric bill this month, instead of maybe not).
I'm in the nerd camp, and so are you. But most people are not.
You're taking my comment out of context. I was suggesting that refraining from a contract for only three months one can save up the difference between iPhone 3GS and 4. I wasn't suggesting to give up one's phone line altogether.
Also, if you need email access for your job, chances are that you can afford to spend $150 more on better hardware. It's all about priorities.
I think most people would say, if the choice is between NOT USING a cell phone for three months, or keeping the old one, they'd keep the old one.
My brother and his wife just came into the iPhone fold with a pair of 3GSs. They couldn't justify the $200 each for the 4, but $100 for 2 iPhones suited them perfectly. The only feature of the 4 they have mentioned missing on their phones is FaceTime, but that wasn't worth the extra $150 per unit to them.
If you intend to use your phone heavily as a smartphone the display on the iPhone 4 is quite the upgrade. I just recently switched my work phone from a BlackBerry to a 3GS and I am much more susceptible to eyestrain on it than my personal iPhone 4. $300 difference? For me it would have been. I'm only holding onto the 3GS until the next iPhone is released...
You're taking my comment out of context. I was suggesting that refraining from a contract for only three months one can save up the difference between iPhone 3GS and 4. I wasn't suggesting to give up one's phone line altogether.
Also, if you need email access for your job, chances are that you can afford to spend $150 more on better hardware. It's all about priorities.
I am currently using the original iPhone (yes, it was purchased in July 2007, and is still on Edge). There is very little I miss from my iPhone 4 (which I lost in an unfortunate taxi ride). The thing I miss the most is the lack of push email, the speed, and the screen. However, nothing that is a deal breaker, so I will be waiting for the iPhone 5 to upgrade.
The point is that while each phone is significantly better than the last, not everyone needs all the features that the latest model provides. Additionally, an upgrade is usually from a feature phone (or a blackberry), so even moving to a 3GS which is 2 years old, makes their cell phone experience dramatically better. The delta between choosing the iPhone 4 instead of the 3GS, is far far smaller than the delta between their current phone and the 3GS.
So, not only is the iPhone 4 the #1 phone in America, but the iPhone 3GS, which is more than two years old now, holds the #2 spot and is beating the crap out of every single other phone on the market, bar none.
If I were an annoying little Android twerp, I'd frantically and desperately try to change the subject in order to deny reality, and I'd make my delusional mind feel slightly better by saying that all Android phones, all added up together into one lovely, fractured mess, and made by every phone manufacturer on the planet that is not Apple, does indeed sell more than Apple phones do.
People who buy iPhones are people who know quality when they see it, and they aren't afraid to pay to have the best.
People who buy Android phones do not mind having an inferior OS. A few of these people are simply Apple haters. They belong to the anything but Apple crowd. Besides a few angry, clueless, not very technically minded geeks on a few forums, this crowd is tiny and irrelevant. Many people who buy Android phones are simply people who are economically disadvantaged and lesser educated. A recent survey backs up my assertions.
You sound like a Christian unaware why people are actually atheists or belong to other religions....aka you sound pathetic.
No Android user in his right mind would deny that the iPhone is ALWAYS going to be the highest selling device...there's only one flagship at a time and now there's a lower end model...2 choices for iOS phones...hundreds for Android phones....100xAndroid > 2xiOS
I use Android because it isn't as stale IMO as iOS...I use a Mac for work.
I am literally not impressed by iOS...not at all...it is pretty but rather limited...really limited....it is a pretty little app launcher...and not for me.
Nothing about hating Apple...I'm sure a few are Apple haters, sure...but MANY iPhone users are anything not Apple haters.
PS...the highest selling Android phones are also the most expensive ones...what does that say about only the poor and stupid buying Android?
Seriously..you rant endlessly, unprovoked, against Android users...yet somehow, someway, you cannot see how YOU are the unreasonable one...
pathetic.
.... Except the rumor is that the 4 would become a "middle" model and a whole new "low end" model would come out. That middle model is the confusing part to me. Why not let the "old 4" become the low end model?
You answered your own question right at the beginning. ... It's a rumor, much like the one I keep hearing about Elvis being "spotted" working at a 7-11 in some town I never heard of.