$199 is certainly a fair price for the IPhone. The problem is the AT&T data charge. If AT&T made the data charge optional I would by an IPhone in an instant.
They should have made a deal like RIM where the phone would be on sale with multiple carriers. I mean....DUH!
I have plenty of friends that would rather just stick with the black berry and verizon than switch to AT&T
The strange thing being that RIM are now reversing that strategy. For example, the Blackberry Storm is only available on Verizon (Vodafone in the UK) and the Bold is only available on AT&T (Orange in the UK).
There are a number of people who would like many of the iPhone's features, but not the added expense (which is probably closer to $40/month after taxes) of AT&T's data plan. Some posters here live in a strict black/white world where such a scenario is utterly inconceivable! I won't go into the details of why someone might want to carry one device with them rather than two or more, even if they don't require a full-time net connection.
I myself am waiting until MacWorld to see if there is anything new coming out. But regardless, I plan to buy a new iPhone and then immediately cancel the service with AT&T, while paying the cancelation fee. So what can I then do with an unconnected iPhone? I'll take the SIM from my existing AT&T/Nokia dumb phone and use it in the iPhone. Voila - cheap monthly voice plan, and no data plan. (And to really rub people's nose in it, I have a grandfathered $29/month voice plan.) This is known to work, and I tried it with a friend's iPhone and made/received calls.
So instead of a $200 iPhone with $2400 worth of service (after taxes), I'll pay closer to $500 for the hardware and $950 for two-year's worth of voice-only service (while living off WiFi everywhere else, including what I get nationwide as part of my AT&T DSL service). Stick that in your pipe and smoke it.
we as Americans bitch too much about everything, especially about price. You know the world pays more for almost everything, right?
I'm living in Japan and my iPhone data plan starts at $16 and increases until a max of $60. That's on top of a plan that probably gives me like 200 minutes max for over $50. I can't remember, but you have no idea how much I miss American cell phone prices. Free nights and weekends. Unheard of here.
As for the phone price itself, $200 and look what you are holding. It's a bit more than a phone people.
Further on that...an iPhone without a data plan...do you realize the point of the iPhone??? Steve probably sat someplace and thought, dammit, these wireless technologies and hot spots suck and are so limited, wait, wait, cell phones have wide-spanning networks and we can finally have a world where you are always connected. That's the power of the data. I'm getting email and facebook, surfing the web, all sorts of things every day. (If only I had battery power to keep it up as much as I'd like to)
Also...we have text messages in japan but...every cell company gives out email addresses and everyone uses email over the cell networks. Added bonus is that you can send to any email address and everyone has one, so if you have unlimited data, you email any phone and you don't pay per message like you do with texts.
I read the MS report and the major data point she cites is that in late Nov 08, 5% of people polled (of 2,500 via the Internet) indicated they were "extremely interested" in purchasing the iPhone. This is down from 7% in Feb 07 (4 months before the first iPhone was even released).
I explain the result like this: most likely all those people who were extremely interested back in Feb 07 already bought one. Huberty is such a friggin simpleton. Also, she probably only polled North Americans although the phone is available in some 70 countries.
Who takes the time to answer Internet polls anyway?
Further on that...an iPhone without a data plan...do you realize the point of the iPhone???
Last I checked, it has the word 'phone' in its name. I use them to make calls.
Let's ask this hypothetical; what if Apple made an iPod Touch with a built-in phone - but no 3G chip - and charged an extra $50 (while also tossing in a cheapo camera)? Would there be a market for such a device? According to many responses here, I would have to say yes.
I don't for one second deny that the net-connected features of the iPhone are great, but for me they're not $2400-great. I've lived this long without them, and can continue to do so. I don't understand why others are so upset with such a scenario.
The percentage of those showing very strong interest in buying an iPhone has also dropped significantly over time. Where as many as 7 percent of would-be buyers were very interested in the phone in February 2007 -- four months before the original phone and many of its final details were released -- 5 percent now show that same level of interest today.
*coff* That's called "sample error". I don't care what his sample size is, the accuracy is going to be less than 2%.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AppleInsider
According to Huberty, sales were half as strong during September and October versus the height of the iPhone's launch in July and September.
Is this supposed to be surprising?
Quote:
Originally Posted by AppleInsider
To spike sales, Huberty suggests that Apple should take a cue from recent rumors and halve the price to $100
People have been telling Apple to lower prices on just about every product they make. They're wrong every time.
It is inevitable that sales will drop because of the lack of carrier choice. Unless the iPhone is opened to others, like Verizon, iPhone sales will stagnate.
I do not have an issue with the purchase price of an iPhone being $200. My issue is with the AT&T contract rates.
I rarely use a mobile phone and so I do not want a contracted extortionate rate for phone minutes that I will never use. I want pay as you go. Were I want the iphone is for the connectivity to the internet but again the rates here are still too much. Still I might be more interested if I could get a pay as you use plan.
This is my problem with the iPhone as well. It's not the cost of admission, I'll gladly pay $299 for the 16G model, but I shudder at the monthly fees, where the lowest cost plan is $80 per month ($70 plus taxes and fees)!!! My current plan with Spirint gives me plenty of minutes and unlimited internet for $55... and its 3G...
Few actually object to the phone itself; only 11 percent disliked either the design or the feature set, the researcher says. About 31 percent objected to the iPhone's continued exclusivity with AT&T, which prevents subscribers to Verizon or other carriers from switching without added costs.
Huberty also takes care to dismantle notions that the resistance necessarily has its roots in preconceptions of Apple, noting that only 15 percent of the same overall group thinks Macs are overpriced.
It is hard to believe these people. They would likely advocate that BMW should lower their prices to ensure lower income folks can buy them too. Perhaps They think that BMW should take lessons from Yugo.
I'd be worried about a phone service plan (AT&T) that requires me to pay to RECEIVE calls and SMS messages. I'm sorry but f00k that. It's not within my control, so I'd never pay for that. The US carriers need a real kick up the ass, but whilst they have the major politicians in their pockets, I guess it'll never change.
Have you noticed that nobody in the US or Canada (which has the same kind of payment system) ever complain about that?
It gives you a clue that all those who complain about this are Europeans who have absolutely no ikea on how the real world works.
There is not much talk on the web about crank calls and spam sms messages in the US --- it is not a problem at all. And it is about the total cost of ownership --- who really cares that Americans get charged for incoming if they can get the number of minutes that is more than 1/2 the price per minute than the other countries who don't charge for incoming.
It is an analysis done to justifying shorting apple and trying to drive the stock down to make money on the down side in an environment which people are not banking on an upside.
Second, maybe the drop from 7 to 5% of people considering an iphone is due to the fact the other 2% already got their phone. This analysis is trying to say Apple might have sold a million more units this fall if the price was less, gee that was rocket science at its best, no kidding you can always sell more if the price was less assuming it was not garbage you were selling.
Face it and most all you know this, every time one of these kinds of reports come out the stock drops and reality come back and it raises back up. Take this for what it is worth, it is attempt to move the stock down to cover short calls using so call statistic and analysis as justification, otherwise it would be considered illegal.
What's the opposite of 46% think the price is too high? Why that would be 54% don't think the price is too high.
Until quarterly sales slow (for reasons other than seasonality) the price should not be lowered, when over half think its OK.
It is so hard to imagine that Huberty is a financial analyst of manufacturing stocks. A $100 haircut to the iPhone's price ALL COMES FROM GROSS MARGIN. Huberty would have you believe that market share is more important than profits, or conversely that profits are derived from market share. That's a fool's game (probably why she likes it so) and has been proven a failing business strategy countless times.
It doesn't say much for Morgan Stanley that they continue to employ her.
I agree completely with walshbj. It's not the price of the iPhone that is the problem but the $30 a month plan. Everyone I know wants an iPhone and have no problems paying $199 for it. However, it seems that $20 a month is the upper pain threshold for most people. Also, I can't believe we will have to pay ANOTHER $30 if we want to tether our iPhone to our laptops. AT&T is the problem, not Apple.
Quote:
Originally Posted by walshbj
I don't consider it even remotely overpriced.
Those old Wizard pocket organizers - the ones with tip calcualtors, remember? They were at least $200 unless you had a deal from a guy like Bob Sacamano. No wifi. No phone. No music, photos, or video.
Seriously - the purchase price should be of nominal importance to the consumer. The question is can you come up with the extra $30 a month for a data plan. And to me, $30 a month is about the most I'd want to pay. With a crappy device that made surfing hard I wouldn't want to pay it. With the iPhones ease of use it's far more easy to pay. $30 strikes me as a laptop data plan price. $20 for the iPhone would cut down on the protest.
My wife has a BB 88xx and I was shocked at the web browser. It looked like Pong. I haven't looked at many smart phones to see what the browsers look like. But this Blackberry is miles behind the iPhone.
The real thing to complain about with iPhone pricing is SMS plans. That business is criminal.
No 'Storm' yet here in Canada...but I did meet someone with an HTC Touch yesterday in an elevator....
I enquired how he was finding 'one of those new touch phones'...?
His reply:
"I'm really waiting and hoping this thing breaks soon...I'm so not happy with it...I really should've got one of those iPod phones (sic)...!"
I think for me, despite any perceived cost - it's the only one to get - and others are realizing the same too.
How is the Storm btw - anyone buy one yet?
(I didn't pull my iPhone out my pocket either :-) )
Re: BB Storm - Here's a quote from the telecom/IT administrator in my office:
"I saw this [a NY Times review] last week and turned down three users because of it. I did set one up yesterday for a person whose current Blackberry was worse than the review for the Storm so he said it has to be better.
By the time I was done setting it up, I had sore shoulders and needed a drink. It drove me nuts trying to press the various buttons; I kept hitting the surrounding options instead of the one I really wanted.
The browser was fast though, YouTube worked like a dream too. I think it is workable for someone who is willing to get used to it but it is definitely not user friendly."
My wife and I would both have an iPhone if AT&T weren't so damn expensive. I just can't justify it. We have tmobile and to switch we'd get less minutes and still pay more for the plan after adding txts. Then you still have to pay for the datapart. How txt is not included In the data plan is stupid. AT&T is basically robbing you in plain site. AT&T costs is the sole reason i don't have one! Then to be locks into that for two years! INSANE!
Us too. My wife and I would also have the iPhone if not for the fact that it would add about $50 per month in service fees. I actually use data very little and the data plan + $20 for text is just hard to justify with our usage.
I'm amazed at the analysis that says that the iphone sales would be so much higher if they lowered the price of the phone alone. Those who would make a decision based on $100 difference upfront are probably the same ones that also default on mortgage loans that are resetting because they did not bother to understand the agreement.
Comments
They should have made a deal like RIM where the phone would be on sale with multiple carriers. I mean....DUH!
I have plenty of friends that would rather just stick with the black berry and verizon than switch to AT&T
The strange thing being that RIM are now reversing that strategy. For example, the Blackberry Storm is only available on Verizon (Vodafone in the UK) and the Bold is only available on AT&T (Orange in the UK).
Utterly bizarre.
I myself am waiting until MacWorld to see if there is anything new coming out. But regardless, I plan to buy a new iPhone and then immediately cancel the service with AT&T, while paying the cancelation fee. So what can I then do with an unconnected iPhone? I'll take the SIM from my existing AT&T/Nokia dumb phone and use it in the iPhone. Voila - cheap monthly voice plan, and no data plan. (And to really rub people's nose in it, I have a grandfathered $29/month voice plan.) This is known to work, and I tried it with a friend's iPhone and made/received calls.
So instead of a $200 iPhone with $2400 worth of service (after taxes), I'll pay closer to $500 for the hardware and $950 for two-year's worth of voice-only service (while living off WiFi everywhere else, including what I get nationwide as part of my AT&T DSL service). Stick that in your pipe and smoke it.
I'm living in Japan and my iPhone data plan starts at $16 and increases until a max of $60. That's on top of a plan that probably gives me like 200 minutes max for over $50. I can't remember, but you have no idea how much I miss American cell phone prices. Free nights and weekends. Unheard of here.
As for the phone price itself, $200 and look what you are holding. It's a bit more than a phone people.
Further on that...an iPhone without a data plan...do you realize the point of the iPhone??? Steve probably sat someplace and thought, dammit, these wireless technologies and hot spots suck and are so limited, wait, wait, cell phones have wide-spanning networks and we can finally have a world where you are always connected. That's the power of the data. I'm getting email and facebook, surfing the web, all sorts of things every day. (If only I had battery power to keep it up as much as I'd like to)
Also...we have text messages in japan but...every cell company gives out email addresses and everyone uses email over the cell networks. Added bonus is that you can send to any email address and everyone has one, so if you have unlimited data, you email any phone and you don't pay per message like you do with texts.
I explain the result like this: most likely all those people who were extremely interested back in Feb 07 already bought one. Huberty is such a friggin simpleton. Also, she probably only polled North Americans although the phone is available in some 70 countries.
Who takes the time to answer Internet polls anyway?
Further on that...an iPhone without a data plan...do you realize the point of the iPhone???
Last I checked, it has the word 'phone' in its name. I use them to make calls.
Let's ask this hypothetical; what if Apple made an iPod Touch with a built-in phone - but no 3G chip - and charged an extra $50 (while also tossing in a cheapo camera)? Would there be a market for such a device? According to many responses here, I would have to say yes.
I don't for one second deny that the net-connected features of the iPhone are great, but for me they're not $2400-great. I've lived this long without them, and can continue to do so. I don't understand why others are so upset with such a scenario.
The percentage of those showing very strong interest in buying an iPhone has also dropped significantly over time. Where as many as 7 percent of would-be buyers were very interested in the phone in February 2007 -- four months before the original phone and many of its final details were released -- 5 percent now show that same level of interest today.
*coff* That's called "sample error". I don't care what his sample size is, the accuracy is going to be less than 2%.
According to Huberty, sales were half as strong during September and October versus the height of the iPhone's launch in July and September.
Is this supposed to be surprising?
To spike sales, Huberty suggests that Apple should take a cue from recent rumors and halve the price to $100
People have been telling Apple to lower prices on just about every product they make. They're wrong every time.
Maury
Is this supposed to be surprising?
I'm convinced that Huberty is the yen to Munster's yang.
I do not have an issue with the purchase price of an iPhone being $200. My issue is with the AT&T contract rates.
I rarely use a mobile phone and so I do not want a contracted extortionate rate for phone minutes that I will never use. I want pay as you go. Were I want the iphone is for the connectivity to the internet but again the rates here are still too much. Still I might be more interested if I could get a pay as you use plan.
This is my problem with the iPhone as well. It's not the cost of admission, I'll gladly pay $299 for the 16G model, but I shudder at the monthly fees, where the lowest cost plan is $80 per month ($70 plus taxes and fees)!!! My current plan with Spirint gives me plenty of minutes and unlimited internet for $55... and its 3G...
Few actually object to the phone itself; only 11 percent disliked either the design or the feature set, the researcher says. About 31 percent objected to the iPhone's continued exclusivity with AT&T, which prevents subscribers to Verizon or other carriers from switching without added costs.
Huberty also takes care to dismantle notions that the resistance necessarily has its roots in preconceptions of Apple, noting that only 15 percent of the same overall group thinks Macs are overpriced.
It is hard to believe these people. They would likely advocate that BMW should lower their prices to ensure lower income folks can buy them too. Perhaps They think that BMW should take lessons from Yugo.
I'd be worried about a phone service plan (AT&T) that requires me to pay to RECEIVE calls and SMS messages. I'm sorry but f00k that. It's not within my control, so I'd never pay for that. The US carriers need a real kick up the ass, but whilst they have the major politicians in their pockets, I guess it'll never change.
Have you noticed that nobody in the US or Canada (which has the same kind of payment system) ever complain about that?
It gives you a clue that all those who complain about this are Europeans who have absolutely no ikea on how the real world works.
There is not much talk on the web about crank calls and spam sms messages in the US --- it is not a problem at all. And it is about the total cost of ownership --- who really cares that Americans get charged for incoming if they can get the number of minutes that is more than 1/2 the price per minute than the other countries who don't charge for incoming.
I enquired how he was finding 'one of those new touch phones'...?
His reply:
"I'm really waiting and hoping this thing breaks soon...I'm so not happy with it...I really should've got one of those iPod phones (sic)...!"
I think for me, despite any perceived cost - it's the only one to get - and others are realizing the same too.
How is the Storm btw - anyone buy one yet?
(I didn't pull my iPhone out my pocket either :-) )
The overall 2 year cost went up by around $160.
People who believe this kind of "half" crap are part of the reason we're in this economic mess.
"Common Sense", where is Thomas Paine when you need him? It's certainly lacking with the outgoing and incoming governments.
http://www.ushistory.org/paine/commonsense/
Second, maybe the drop from 7 to 5% of people considering an iphone is due to the fact the other 2% already got their phone. This analysis is trying to say Apple might have sold a million more units this fall if the price was less, gee that was rocket science at its best, no kidding you can always sell more if the price was less assuming it was not garbage you were selling.
Face it and most all you know this, every time one of these kinds of reports come out the stock drops and reality come back and it raises back up. Take this for what it is worth, it is attempt to move the stock down to cover short calls using so call statistic and analysis as justification, otherwise it would be considered illegal.
What's the opposite of 46% think the price is too high? Why that would be 54% don't think the price is too high.
Until quarterly sales slow (for reasons other than seasonality) the price should not be lowered, when over half think its OK.
It is so hard to imagine that Huberty is a financial analyst of manufacturing stocks. A $100 haircut to the iPhone's price ALL COMES FROM GROSS MARGIN. Huberty would have you believe that market share is more important than profits, or conversely that profits are derived from market share. That's a fool's game (probably why she likes it so) and has been proven a failing business strategy countless times.
It doesn't say much for Morgan Stanley that they continue to employ her.
I don't consider it even remotely overpriced.
Those old Wizard pocket organizers - the ones with tip calcualtors, remember? They were at least $200 unless you had a deal from a guy like Bob Sacamano. No wifi. No phone. No music, photos, or video.
Seriously - the purchase price should be of nominal importance to the consumer. The question is can you come up with the extra $30 a month for a data plan. And to me, $30 a month is about the most I'd want to pay. With a crappy device that made surfing hard I wouldn't want to pay it. With the iPhones ease of use it's far more easy to pay. $30 strikes me as a laptop data plan price. $20 for the iPhone would cut down on the protest.
My wife has a BB 88xx and I was shocked at the web browser. It looked like Pong. I haven't looked at many smart phones to see what the browsers look like. But this Blackberry is miles behind the iPhone.
The real thing to complain about with iPhone pricing is SMS plans. That business is criminal.
EDIT : The Wizard went for over $600 in 1993
No 'Storm' yet here in Canada...but I did meet someone with an HTC Touch yesterday in an elevator....
I enquired how he was finding 'one of those new touch phones'...?
His reply:
"I'm really waiting and hoping this thing breaks soon...I'm so not happy with it...I really should've got one of those iPod phones (sic)...!"
I think for me, despite any perceived cost - it's the only one to get - and others are realizing the same too.
How is the Storm btw - anyone buy one yet?
(I didn't pull my iPhone out my pocket either :-) )
Re: BB Storm - Here's a quote from the telecom/IT administrator in my office:
"I saw this [a NY Times review] last week and turned down three users because of it. I did set one up yesterday for a person whose current Blackberry was worse than the review for the Storm so he said it has to be better.
By the time I was done setting it up, I had sore shoulders and needed a drink. It drove me nuts trying to press the various buttons; I kept hitting the surrounding options instead of the one I really wanted.
The browser was fast though, YouTube worked like a dream too. I think it is workable for someone who is willing to get used to it but it is definitely not user friendly."
My wife and I would both have an iPhone if AT&T weren't so damn expensive. I just can't justify it. We have tmobile and to switch we'd get less minutes and still pay more for the plan after adding txts. Then you still have to pay for the datapart. How txt is not included In the data plan is stupid. AT&T is basically robbing you in plain site. AT&T costs is the sole reason i don't have one! Then to be locks into that for two years! INSANE!
Us too. My wife and I would also have the iPhone if not for the fact that it would add about $50 per month in service fees. I actually use data very little and the data plan + $20 for text is just hard to justify with our usage.
I'm amazed at the analysis that says that the iphone sales would be so much higher if they lowered the price of the phone alone. Those who would make a decision based on $100 difference upfront are probably the same ones that also default on mortgage loans that are resetting because they did not bother to understand the agreement.