Why not a prepaid iPhone?
After reading all the stuff about "Verizon and Sprint pass on the Motorola iTunes phone", I could not help but wonder why Apple's "marketing" people didn't try to put the iPhone out as a prepaid phone.
(I say "marketing" because Apple is the only company I know of that has the marketing people lumped in with their legal department...
)
Cut a deal with TracFone or T-mobile. Sell prepaid cards good for airtime or downloads. Make Verizon face the nation. Sell more Macs. Sell more music. Have a nice day.
(I say "marketing" because Apple is the only company I know of that has the marketing people lumped in with their legal department...
)Cut a deal with TracFone or T-mobile. Sell prepaid cards good for airtime or downloads. Make Verizon face the nation. Sell more Macs. Sell more music. Have a nice day.
Comments
I work at Radioshack, and we sell tons of cell phones. Generally, your prepaid market consists of four segments -
1 - Teenagers who can't get a contract phone due to age/credit.
2 - Senior Citizens who don't use a cell phone enough to justify the monthly bill.
3 - People who have had credit problems and are unable to get a contract phone.
4 - Illegal immigrants who don't have the proper information to get a contact phone (social security #, etc...)
There are always exceptions to these rules, but thats the way the market mostly shakes up. Again, I'm not trying to offend or stereotype anybody, but thats a pretty accurate market map. ( in my location anyhow)
Your first market would probably take the iPhone (if it were at a reasonable price) and it would do well there.
Your second market is a dud... most senior citizens come in to the store once a month just to know how to get their voicemail or have us remind them how to make a call.
Your third market is a little divided, some won't notice, some will. But thats a tough one to call.
Your fourth market is also a good one, provided you can provide enough world music to satisfy them.
The only other thing to worry about is price... Apple usually charges a premium for their products, and most of the rumors have pegged the iPhone as a pretty well rounded phone. Most prepaid phones are either older models, or lacking certain features. To position a top tier phone as prepaid without selling a contact version would be very hard. Prepaid phones are always getting cheaper, people just won't pay that much for a prepaid phone - its always about your cheapest model.
This is all assuming a carrier would actually let you carry the phone (you still have to have a deal with somebody who's got towers remember).
Just a little information, but there are a few roadblocks... not insurmountable however.
2 - Senior Citizens who don't use a cell phone enough to justify the monthly bill.
I must fit here, even though I am only 37. Prepaid is the way to go unless you are a big talker. I use about $5-$10 worth of cell phone calls per month, and the cingular $20 cards take 3 months to expire.
I think that a lot of people who get contracts don't really need them, and you can spend the money you save on an expensive pda phone.
I use vonage and have all of my calls forwarded to my .mac account. this way when I turn on my laptop I get all of my phone voicemail messages downloaded.
Apple if they implement such an idea as a prepaid cell phone will undoubtedly do it differently yet in such a way that it is both practical and intuitive.
That doesn't say that I wouldn't want one.
I think that apple will just release the itunes for mobile as a java applet eventually and then anyone with a phone a usb cable/bluetooth can get their itunes.
Originally posted by e1618978
I must fit here, even though I am only 37. Prepaid is the way to go unless you are a big talker. I use about $5-$10 worth of cell phone calls per month, and the cingular $20 cards take 3 months to expire.
I think that a lot of people who get contracts don't really need them, and you can spend the money you save on an expensive pda phone.
So you only have to pay 5-10 bucks per month? I've never really looked into this prepaid thing. I know normal cell plans are like 50 bucks per month. If going pre-paid is way cheeper, I might sign up with one of those. What are the advantages/disadvantages?
Originally posted by WhiteRabbit
So you only have to pay 5-10 bucks per month? I've never really looked into this prepaid thing. I know normal cell plans are like 50 bucks per month. If going pre-paid is way cheeper, I might sign up with one of those. What are the advantages/disadvantages?
disadvantages: manual intervention required to re-fill minutes (instead of auto billing to your credit card with a plan), also I have not tried to roam - I assume that it works.
advantages: just as good, very inexpensive (0.35 or 0.10 per minute (depending on time of day, I think), refill with $20 cards that expire after 3 months, your expiry timer is reset when you re-fill, so minutes can last forever).
Originally posted by e1618978
I must fit here, even though I am only 37. Prepaid is the way to go unless you are a big talker. I use about $5-$10 worth of cell phone calls per month, and the cingular $20 cards take 3 months to expire.
I think that a lot of people who get contracts don't really need them, and you can spend the money you save on an expensive pda phone.
I didn't mean to lump you in with a group... thats why I said there are always exceptions. Also you pay a LOT more for your prepaid minutes than a person on a contract phone would. You basically pay extra for the freedom of not being in a contract.
But there are some people who go that route and are much happier than having another monthly bill. Depends on how you use the phone, but again, I didn't mean to offend, only trying to provide some demographics some my area of knowledge.
Originally posted by Sam Damon
After reading all the stuff about "Verizon and Sprint pass on the Motorola iTunes phone", I could not help but wonder why Apple's "marketing" people didn't try to put the iPhone out as a prepaid phone.
Who says they won't? Maybe, come July, the iPhone will turn the mobile market on its head when all the iPod users ditch their old contract mobile phones and go with the T-Mobile pre-paid iPhone.
How about even offering people the option of buying more minutes via the iTunes mobile store?
Originally posted by jms698
Who says they won't? Maybe, come July, the iPhone will turn the mobile market on its head when all the iPod users ditch their old contract mobile phones and go with the T-Mobile pre-paid iPhone.
How about even offering people the option of buying more minutes via the iTunes mobile store?
Because I, like a lot of other people, have another year and a half before I can get a new phone, and t-mobile has NO coverage here. I love apple as much as anybody, but thats counter-productive for me to pay $175 to ditch my contract for an apple iphone that would have no coverage and also cost me more money in minutes.
I love apple, just not that much.
Originally posted by shady104
i wonder how many versions they are making? cuz sprint and verizon use the sam technology but cing and t-mo use a completely different technology. so why make 2 different versions for no reason??? also if it is GSM (cing & t-mo) then u can buy it unlocked and slip ur SIM card in it.
This is really a moot point since Apple is working with Motorola on the iPhone. Motorola has some great phones for both technologies. Apple won't actually design the guts of the phone, thats pointless. Why re-invent the wheel? They'll just throw iTunes on it and make it look a lot cooler.
Originally posted by mox358
This is really a moot point since Apple is working with Motorola on the iPhone. Motorola has some great phones for both technologies. Apple won't actually design the guts of the phone, thats pointless. Why re-invent the wheel? They'll just throw iTunes on it and make it look a lot cooler.
well thats a good point but has nothing to do with what i said. regardless of who making the phone (obviously moto) my question was that if they made both versions of the phone and only a GSM provider picks it up then whats the point of makin the CDMA version? so i was wondering how they were handling this issue? unless we are just completely in the dark about what is REALLY going on with this phone and they already no exactly which provider is picking it up...
Originally posted by shady104
well thats a good point but has nothing to do with what i said. regardless of who making the phone (obviously moto) my question was that if they made both versions of the phone and only a GSM provider picks it up then whats the point of makin the CDMA version? so i was wondering how they were handling this issue? unless we are just completely in the dark about what is REALLY going on with this phone and they already no exactly which provider is picking it up...
I would assume that they have a version for both carriers since previous articles claimed they were shopping the device to both Verizon and Cingular, Obviously they wouldn't ask Cingular to carry the phone only to inform them that they only made a CDMA version and vice-versa.
Originally posted by mox358
I would assume that they have a version for both carriers since previous articles claimed they were shopping the device to both Verizon and Cingular, Obviously they wouldn't ask Cingular to carry the phone only to inform them that they only made a CDMA version and vice-versa.
Cingular just dropped the price (again) of the RAZR V3... I think the RAZR did a nice job of driving traffic to their stores, perhaps an iPhone would do the same. Has there been any word on when/if the iPhone (or whatever they call it) will be released?