How will Apple stores manage the subsidy?

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
If AT&T are going to pay a $200 subsidy on each phone, it will be interesting to see how Apple will handle the subsidized prices.



a) Apple Store prices will be subsidized, equal to AT&T prices

b) Apple Store will remain full-priced, but you get a $200 rebate on registering the Phone.

c) Apple Store will sell only full-priced unlocked devices.





C.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 15
    bavlondon2bavlondon2 Posts: 694member
    How will they manage? Yeah its a real tough situation for a company that is so greedy.



    Um maybe they can manage in the same way every other single phone company does.
  • Reply 2 of 15
    carniphagecarniphage Posts: 1,984member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bavlondon2 View Post


    How will they manage? Yeah its a real tough situation for a company that is so greedy.



    Um maybe they can manage in the same way every other single phone company does.



    Chavlondon,

    Do you have a problem with companies that are profitable? Or are you some sort of socialist?



    Presumably you don't have an income?



    C.
  • Reply 3 of 15
    bavlondon2bavlondon2 Posts: 694member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Carniphage View Post


    Chavlondon,

    Do you have a problem with companies that are profitable? Or are you some sort of socialist?



    Presumably you don't have an income?



    C.



    Tisk tisk you live in England so you should know thats how it works. This greedy game was never going to be a long term plan. Any tom dick and harry could have told you that. Just like anyone could have told Steve Jobs that a GSM iphone wouldn't go down well over here.



    Or are you just sour you lot missed out on promotion again this year? lol
  • Reply 4 of 15
    carniphagecarniphage Posts: 1,984member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bavlondon2 View Post


    Tisk tisk you live in England so you should know thats how it works. This greedy game was never going to be a long term plan. Any tom dick and harry could have told you that. Just like anyone could have told Steve Jobs that a GSM iphone wouldn't go down well over here.



    Or are you just sour you lot missed out on promotion again this year? lol



    What *are* you on? Apple have managed to scare the living shit out of Nokia Sony E. and Rim and did it all sponsored by AT&T and O2. Now they have proved their case they can slot into the subsidy model alongside the others. Suddenly, who is gonna pay for a Nokia when you can get an iPhone for the same money? Priceless!



    You think Apple made a mistake? I think Apple launched a full scale war on the Mobile phone business and charged it to someone elses credit card.



    Me, I run my own business. Why be a sheep when you can be a wolf?



    C.
  • Reply 5 of 15
    samabsamab Posts: 1,953member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Carniphage View Post


    What *are* you on? Apple have managed to scare the living shit out of Nokia Sony E. and Rim and did it all sponsored by AT&T and O2. Now they have proved their case they can slot into the subsidy model alongside the others. Suddenly, who is gonna pay for a Nokia when you can get an iPhone for the same money? Priceless!



    You think Apple made a mistake? I think Apple launched a full scale war on the Mobile phone business and charged it to someone elses credit card.



    Me, I run my own business. Why be a sheep when you can be a wolf?



    C.



    Nokia got hit by LG, not by Apple. RIM was scared by Apple one bit.



    Proof of what --- AT&T no longer provides activation numbers and O2 never did.



    You will never pay for a Nokia for the same money --- because once they release BB6 simlocking technology (remember BB5 took about 3 years to crack), the carriers can drastically subsidize a Nokia than an iphone (which doesn't have a track record with their simlocking technology).
  • Reply 6 of 15
    bavlondon2bavlondon2 Posts: 694member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Carniphage View Post


    What *are* you on? Apple have managed to scare the living shit out of Nokia Sony E. and Rim and did it all sponsored by AT&T and O2. Now they have proved their case they can slot into the subsidy model alongside the others. Suddenly, who is gonna pay for a Nokia when you can get an iPhone for the same money? Priceless!



    You think Apple made a mistake? I think Apple launched a full scale war on the Mobile phone business and charged it to someone elses credit card.



    Me, I run my own business. Why be a sheep when you can be a wolf?



    C.



    Yes they definatley shook up the industry and its evident as now everyone is trying to release a touch screen phone as good. None however have managed to match it. But your right exactly they can sell more which is why they should have gone down this route from day one. However the fella above me has a point too.
  • Reply 7 of 15
    carniphagecarniphage Posts: 1,984member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bavlondon2 View Post


    Yes they definatley shook up the industry and its evident as now everyone is trying to release a touch screen phone as good. None however have managed to match it. But your right exactly they can sell more which is why they should have gone down this route from day one. However the fella above me has a point too.



    Apple certainly could have gone down a different route. They could have immediately adopted the subsidized model from day one. And it's quite possible that by now, there would be more iPhones in the market.



    You think it was a mistake, I think it was incredibly smart.



    Rembember back in 2007, Apple were a non-player in world cellphone industry. In June they will make a pan-global launch of iPhone2. And now everyone in the industry will see Apple as a serious contender.



    That is astonishing.



    They went from nothing, to a leading position in a year, and they did by spending very little of their own money.



    Yes, they could have entered the market by starting at the bottom. But the whacky pricing and lock-in deals meant they started at the top. It might have cost Apple sales, but it bought them visibility.



    This June is when the real fun starts.



    C.
  • Reply 8 of 15
    bavlondon2bavlondon2 Posts: 694member
    I really hope so. I have resisted buying iphone until now and have instead opted for the touch in the hope that the 2nd iteration will be a better all round device. But you cant say they are at the top based on visibility alone. Apple are so good at marketing that iphone was always going to the at the top of any pile. They will only truley be on top when they show they can eat the share of Nokia and Samsung who were recently confirmed more or less as No 2 in the world.
  • Reply 9 of 15
    staedtlerstaedtler Posts: 21member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by samab View Post


    You will never pay for a Nokia for the same money --- because once they release BB6 simlocking technology (remember BB5 took about 3 years to crack), the carriers can drastically subsidize a Nokia than an iphone (which doesn't have a track record with their simlocking technology).



    You forget that SIM locking is unlawful in many nations. Additionally it is a turn off for many potential customers, especially ones who travel.



    The only real functional model would be full priced sales at Apple retailers with a signing subsidy upon proof of purchase during a contract application.
  • Reply 10 of 15
    carniphagecarniphage Posts: 1,984member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Staedtler View Post


    The only real functional model would be full priced sales at Apple retailers with a signing subsidy upon proof of purchase during a contract application.



    I agree.

    Obviously Apple secretly wants to continue to sell full-priced hardware to unlockers.

    ( but does not want unlockers to steal the subsidy)



    C.
  • Reply 11 of 15
    samabsamab Posts: 1,953member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Staedtler View Post


    You forget that SIM locking is unlawful in many nations. Additionally it is a turn off for many potential customers, especially ones who travel.



    The only real functional model would be full priced sales at Apple retailers with a signing subsidy upon proof of purchase during a contract application.



    The iphone's European launch has proven that simlocking laws are crap.



    Simlocking is only outright illegal in ONE country --- Belgium.
  • Reply 12 of 15
    icfireballicfireball Posts: 2,594member
    Or...



    D) All carriers and Apple sell the iPhone at the full price with a $200 rebate on the plan/2yr contract.
  • Reply 13 of 15
    carniphagecarniphage Posts: 1,984member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by icfireball View Post


    Or...



    D) All carriers and Apple sell the iPhone at the full price with a $200 rebate on the plan/2yr contract.



    It's possible.

    Although recently in the UK we saw Apple stores selling full-priced (269UKP) phones and O2 stores selling 100UKP cheaper.



    I get the impression you could not leave the O2 store without first signing the contract.





    C.
  • Reply 14 of 15
    bavlondon2bavlondon2 Posts: 694member
    Really? So have they abandoned the policy of just paying for the handset and they doing the contract stuff over itunes?
  • Reply 15 of 15
    carniphagecarniphage Posts: 1,984member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bavlondon2 View Post


    Really? So have they abandoned the policy of just paying for the handset and they doing the contract stuff over itunes?



    Nope, I am wrong! You can't get the *additional* £100 Quidco moneyback without signing a contract. But you can walk out of an O2 store with an uncontracted iPhone for 169UKP.



    At least you could before a million unlockers bought out all the stock.



    C.
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