Unlocked iPhone for sale for 749euros in France (1070usd)
Well.. damn... that's just extortionate
I wonder how and if they will block USA imports. Would it be possible?
http://www.phoneandphone.com/search/...&idp=719&idc=1
Seeing that they say it's available NOW, I dunno how OFFICIAL this is... still, they even offer it with the other 3 Operators
I wonder how and if they will block USA imports. Would it be possible?
http://www.phoneandphone.com/search/...&idp=719&idc=1
Seeing that they say it's available NOW, I dunno how OFFICIAL this is... still, they even offer it with the other 3 Operators
Comments
Well.. damn... that's just extortionate
I wonder how and if they will block USA imports. Would it be possible?
I sure hope so!!!!
?749 isn't too bad. Top end HTCs and the Nokia N95 were about that when they were first announced, unlocked.
The N95 8GB is going to be available shortly for about 650?. Now obviously Nokia will win any feature checklist comparison, but iPhone has sold very well in the US. That makes me wonder if at these price points it would even hurt iPhone sales if Nokia cut margins and charged, say, 550? for the N95 8GB.
The big question is, how separate are the buyer groups for these two phones?
Nokia has great production, distribution and economy of scale otherwise, but Apple has cheap flash memory due to iPods. I think maybe Nokia should just flood the 200-300? midrange market right now with phones with decent amount of flash built in. 2GB, 200?, plays music. 4GB, 250?, plays music. For great justice, etc.
Now obviously Nokia will win any feature checklist comparison, but iPhone has sold very well in the US. That makes me wonder if at these price points it would even hurt iPhone sales if Nokia cut margins and charged, say, 550? for the N95 8GB.
The iPhone is not in the same category as existing cell phones. People tend to oversee that part.
I sure hope so!!!!
You hope they will block USA imports?? Are you a sadist!?
Well.. damn... that's just extortionate
No, Apple wants to keep their iPhone locked to the companies they want. If you want to buy the iPhone unlocked, then you should have to pay for it, as Apple is getting profits from ATT and Orange for using the phone exclusively for them.
And all the months they are WASTING by having to get exclusive contracts with ONE Mobile Operator per country at a time?
If Apple would just allow, right now, all 194 countires in the world (a market of a few BILLION people), to go down to their stupid local phone shop or order online, I'm kinda hedging to bet that they'll not only be making MORE money but actually PLEASING customers
EDIT: And there goes my 3000th post.. hurray for me
thats one way of looking at it.. but has anyone actually made an even approximate study/calculation to see if they would make more money by selling MORE units to ALL mobile phones users?
And all the months they are WASTING by having to get exclusive contracts with ONE Mobile Operator per country at a time?
If Apple would just allow, right now, all 194 countires in the world (a market of a few BILLION people), to go down to their stupid local phone shop or order online, I'm kinda hedging to bet that they'll not only be making MORE money but actually PLEASING customers
EDIT: And there goes my 3000th post.. hurray for me
ZO, exactly what part of the success Apple is achieving with the iPhone are you displeased with? You're being very critical of the direction Apple is going in with the device even though it's being acclaimed as revolutionary and even a disruptive force in the industry, where "disruptive" means it's changing the way things are done.
Apple IS pleasing it's customers, and has better results in a recent survey than any other, with 82% of the iPhone owners being "very happy" with the phone.
thats one way of looking at it.. but has anyone actually made an even approximate study/calculation to see if they would make more money by selling MORE units to ALL mobile phones users?
And all the months they are WASTING by having to get exclusive contracts with ONE Mobile Operator per country at a time?
If Apple would just allow, right now, all 194 countires in the world (a market of a few BILLION people), to go down to their stupid local phone shop or order online, I'm kinda hedging to bet that they'll not only be making MORE money but actually PLEASING customers
EDIT: And there goes my 3000th post.. hurray for me
ZO, exactly what part of the success Apple is achieving with the iPhone are you displeased with? You're being very critical of the direction Apple is going in with the device even though it's being acclaimed as revolutionary and even a disruptive force in the industry, where "disruptive" means it's changing the way things are done.
Apple IS pleasing it's customers, and has better results in a recent survey than any other, with 82% of the iPhone owners being "very happy" with the phone.
And don't forget they actually have to be able to produce those phones. Apple does a stellar job (best in class) of supply chain management but I doubt they can just turn it on like that would likely require. They're building a platform as much as selling a product.
?749 isn't too bad. Top end HTCs and the Nokia N95 were about that when they were first announced, unlocked.
What makes it a truly awful price is beyond Apple's control -- the pitiful level the dollar has fallen to under ruinous Republican deficit spending.
If the dollar and the euro were closer to parity, like they had been at one time long ago, I still wouldn't feel exactly joyful at the prospect of paying nearly double for an unlocked version of an iPhone, but now it would be nearly triple the price -- probably over triple the price once you pay import duties, and perhaps some middleman importer to boot.
ZO, exactly what part of the success Apple is achieving with the iPhone are you displeased with? You're being very critical of the direction Apple is going in with the device even though it's being acclaimed as revolutionary and even a disruptive force in the industry, where "disruptive" means it's changing the way things are done.
Apple IS pleasing it's customers, and has better results in a recent survey than any other, with 82% of the iPhone owners being "very happy" with the phone.
I have more than enough material throughout AI forums about all the stuff that is NOT alright with the iPhone and Apple's less than stellar (bordering on fascist) attitude towards it and its customers.
As many have said, it boils down simply that the iPhone is capable of SO much more and Apple has been treating users and developers who have been trying to improve the user experience of the supposed 18% unhappy users like terrorists or worse.
I've been using Apple products since before 1984 and I'm a pretty staunch fan and I'm sorry to say there is nothing "revolutionary" about the iPhone per se.
Its a typically Apple industrially designed piece of hardware with a slick UI. The insides, the hardware, can be considered cutting edge if it were still 2005. So, not sure where you're getting the whole "revolutionary" bit from.
Don't get me wrong, it's damn nice phone and I would probably consider myself in the 82% of satisfied users (despite having hacked it and using it currently in France), but still, the amount of crap they've had people who just care for Apple products and simply want to use it somewhere else but the USA has been taken way too far.
ANY device with a computer chip is capable of "SO much more" because it's capable of anything the hardware is capable of. So, you're not in the demographic the iPhone is aimed at - why do you take that personally?
I've been using Apple products since 1979 and not all the products were aimed at me. I'm not a fan of Apple, I'm a fan of technology and sometimes a company meets my needs and desires. When they do, it's good. When they don't, usually another company does and that's good too.
I gotta say, it seems you had your hopes too high. You seem to feel the company should move in a direction you approve of and if they don't they're wrong in some sort of significant way.
That's not the case here. They've met shareholder expectation, they've made the president and the board of directors happy, and the demographic the iPhone is serving is overwhelmingly pleased with their product.
I think you need to realize that if you're not happy, that's not Apple's fault.
ANd to address your "where's the revolution happening?", it's happening with the interface. It's happening with the partnership with the carrier, and it's happening with the 82% of the folks that are "Very Happy" with the device. Those are incredible numbers for a company's first product in a tech niche. Google "iPhone disruptive technology" if you don't believe that there's a LOT of talk about that very issue.
Having said that, I'm sure most people are super duper rainbow power happy snappy about their precious little iPhone.
Tonton sorta hits the nail on the head. While most of my friends here in Europe love my iPhone and want one too, the whole "exclusive carrier" thing and possibly 700-800 euro price tag for an unlocked version just doesnt jive.
Apple wants to impose it's walled garden approach to the whole world. You DO realize this right? You are actually happy that you have to pay to add a custom ringtone? You're actually happy that you can't transfer files or not even sync with the crippled bluetooth? You're happy that you can't use another carrier?
It really seems that the whole culture of "obey and don't ask questions" that has been imposed on US Citizens in the last half decade or so is even more pervasive than I dared imagine. And you know its bad when the company that keeps saying to everyone to "think different" is happy and pushing towards a walled garden approach (which should be, ironically enough, the other way around).
Don't fool yourself. Stop drinking the kool-aid. Even Apple is trying to tighten the noose on user choice and freedom.
The iPhone is a melding of an iPod and a phone. You believe it could be "SO MUCH MORE!™" ... well, buy stock in Microsoft. Their software always has the kitchen sink, the basement, the water filter and the whole-house humidifier. AND, since it does everything, it doesn't do any ONE thing terribly well. It's called "Feature creep" and it kills usability.
"The iPhone is the best iPod we ever made" according to the CEO of the company. At some point you'll stop trying to force kool-aid down everyones throat just to validate your position. The fact of the matter is, people know what the device is and they feel it's the best available.
Have you ever used a Smart Phone before? Wether Nokia, a Windows Mobile based one, or whatever? Heck, even a Newton or a Palm? I think you probably have and you can't tell me that any of these devices can't do more or even just ALLOW the end user to do more?
Lets take a Newton from more than a decade ago... even that old hunk of junk can 'do more' than an iPhone
Call it whatever you want, "Well thought out" or not, Apple is pushing a 'walled garden' system. Walled garden approaches have NEVER worked in the long run and Apple, for some weird reason, thinks it can beat the odds.
We'll see in the next 6 months what Apple does (once the SDK is finally out and a few months have settled) to see what's really going on. So far, Apple is trying to control every single aspect of the iPhone, and I (and many thousands of others) don't like that approach.
Also, most people who have been buying the iPhone are "early adopters" and what not. Adoption rates are already starting to trail off...
Lets see what REALLY happens in the next year or so.
Nokia makes a huge chunk of its cash with low end handsets, the "Smart Phone" market is relatively small compared to that and most "smart phone" users tend to be more tech savvy. Will be fun to see what happens when everyone will start to brush up their UIs as well and start getting their acts together.
If anything, I'm happy because HTC, Samsung, Nokia, etc are getting their act together too because of the iPhone.
Oh, and going back to the original post... 750euros (1000usd) for some slick looking 2 year old technology is extortion no matter which way you try and paint it
Please tell me you work for Apple
There it is again - your attempts to force others to drink kool-aid to justify your position.
If you want to sound less like a whiner you need a better argument. Accusing people of perfidies is incredibly lame.
When you actually post a better argument we'll talk again.
Please tell me you work for Apple.
Have you ever used a Smart Phone before? Wether Nokia, a Windows Mobile based one, or whatever? Heck, even a Newton or a Palm? I think you probably have and you can't tell me that any of these devices can't do more or even just ALLOW the end user to do more?
Lets take a Newton from more than a decade ago... even that old hunk of junk can 'do more' than an iPhone
Call it whatever you want, "Well thought out" or not, Apple is pushing a 'walled garden' system. Walled garden approaches have NEVER worked in the long run and Apple, for some weird reason, thinks it can beat the odds.
We'll see in the next 6 months what Apple does (once the SDK is finally out and a few months have settled) to see what's really going on. So far, Apple is trying to control every single aspect of the iPhone, and I (and many thousands of others) don't like that approach.
Also, most people who have been buying the iPhone are "early adopters" and what not. Adoption rates are already starting to trail off...
Lets see what REALLY happens in the next year or so.
Nokia makes a huge chunk of its cash with low end handsets, the "Smart Phone" market is relatively small compared to that and most "smart phone" users tend to be more tech savvy. Will be fun to see what happens when everyone will start to brush up their UIs as well and start getting their acts together.
If anything, I'm happy because HTC, Samsung, Nokia, etc are getting their act together too because of the iPhone.
Oh, and going back to the original post... 750euros (1000usd) for some slick looking 2 year old technology is extortion no matter which way you try and paint it
Zo, I would say to you 'stop drinking the feature koolaid'. While I haven't had a 'smartphone' prior to the iPhone I have had a large number of PDA from the newton to the palm. And I can easily say that I never used those because of the difficulty in using them. I do use the iPhone, all of the function, constantly. I had given up buying PDA like devices because, while I could use them they were more trouble than they were worth.
I watched my friend, who just bought a brand new, top end blackberry, and he tried to show me a photo - this took almost 5 minutes of fumbling around. This is after about 2 months of using the phone. Yes, I know the balckberry is not a nokia, but if I described something about a nokia i'd get '...but a blackberry..'. I know the feature lists are not on par.
As far as 'extortion', the use of these pejorative terms, 'extortion', 'monopoly', etc. in these discussions is ridiculous. This is a purchase of a luxury device from a minority player in the mobile market. None of these terms apply in any way, shape, or form.
As far as 'extortion', the use of these pejorative terms, 'extortion', 'monopoly', etc. in these discussions is ridiculous. This is a purchase of a luxury device from a minority player in the mobile market. None of these terms apply in any way, shape, or form.
Pejorative terms, accusations of perfidious behavior, if you haven't got a good argument, attack the poster.
Well, when in Rome...
As for the iPhone, I have an interesting anecdote. My grandnephew turned 2 this weekend and I attended a birthday party for him. I've got some pictures of my new puppy on my iPhone that I was showing him, and the kid pointed at the puppy pic and said "puppy!" ... and he noticed that when he moved his finger the picture would move ... and when he slid his finger it would change pictures...and he proceded to change through all the pictures on my iPhone.
The kid "got it" all by himself in about 15 seconds. That doesn't happen on other phones.
As for the iPhone, I have an interesting anecdote. My grandnephew turned 2 this weekend and I attended a birthday party for him. I've got some pictures of my new puppy on my iPhone that I was showing him, and the kid pointed at the puppy pic and said "puppy!" ... and he noticed that when he moved his finger the picture would move ... and when he slid his finger it would change pictures...and he proceded to change through all the pictures on my iPhone.
The kid "got it" all by himself in about 15 seconds. That doesn't happen on other phones.
That story makes the iphone sound like a Nintendo Wii... Very cool looking. Extremely gentle learning curve. Adults are intrigued by it, kids are amazed by it. Found a profitable niche among tough competitors in a savage industry. Thats where the similarities end for now... A year later, nobody cares about the Wii. The games are elementary, and the graphics are circa 1999. All but children have kicked it to the curb. Hardcore gamers wouldn't touch it. Sales of XBOX 360s have surpassed Wii sales again, and PS3s are gaining momentum with time.
Takeaway: Apple has developed a fantastic niche product that is easy on the eyes and very simple to use. It does what it does brilliantly. But going forward, there must be a push to add content, enhance features, and make it generally more appealing to more users. Niche appeal will always be there (as with all Apple products) but I believe its Job's intent to make this attractive to all cell phone users, not remain a niche player in a huge field.
Obviously many buyers are content with the quality and quantity of features on the iPhone. But as a stockholder, I definitely would like to see the product addressing some of the shortcomings addressed here and in other threads. I think Apple can do so without compromising the cell phone/ipod features, and in the process drive strong growth in sales for years to come.