Your calculations may well be correct for the awful situation in the USA. In other parts of the world, this is drastically different! Please keep that in mind.
Ortwin On 6/11/08, ian douglas <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Robert Taylor wrote: >> Just compare equal things. > > We'll have to agree to disagree on the definition of "equal". > > Hear me out: > > By my calculations below, a consumer buying an iPhone or a Freerunner, > and using AT&T for a voice/data plan, is going to spend about $2600 over > two years no matter which phone they buy. > > Jorge's original posting in this thread said the following: > > the new iPhone 3G price was announced, and the 8 Gigas version will > > cost only $199 USD > and > > now the FreeRunner is less competitive than the iPhone in terms > > of price. > > He was asking about straight out-of-pocket expense, not about subsidies. > The end consumer is only going to see the price tag on the phone itself. > > The consumer will look at the iPhone and see a price of $199. > Then they'll look at the Freerunner and see a price tag of $399. > > If they choose the $199 iPhone, they get locked into a two year > contract, likely paying $100 per month for a voice/data plan. Over 24 > months, their total cost is going to be about $2600. > > If they choose the $399 Freerunner, they aren't locked into a minimum 2 > year contract, but they'll still need monthly service for the same > 24-month period. As I mentioned in a previous message, a plain > voice/data plan with AT&T is still going to cost $90 or more depending > on the plan you pick. After 24 months, they've still paid $2600. > > That looks pretty 'equal' to me, and *I* believe the average consumer > will feel the same way. If you don't agree with that, then you and I > simply don't agree on it, but that still doesn't warrant calling > someone's communication "nonsense" simply because you don't agree with them. > > The Freerunner would perhaps be cheaper if the consumer buys "pay as you > go" minutes/data instead of a monthly plan. > The Freerunner would *definitely* be cheaper if they buy the iPhone and > start buying applications through iTunes for their phone. > >> If you want to compare the total cost, compare the total cost of buying >> the new iphone UNLOCKED at retail cost (you can't) plus the data package >> and THEN we can talk. > > But the consumer isn't asked to pay the full unlocked price of the > iPhone. Just because AT&T subsidizes the phone by lessening the profit > they make on the $100/month you'll pay them for using their service, the > consumer isn't paying "more" for the phone since they'd still have to > pay for the same voice/data service to use a Freerunner. It just means > AT&T makes more profit on the voice/data plan because they haven't > subsidized anything. > > And you still haven't followed up with how you calculated the iPhone to > cost 'twice' as much as the Freerunner. > > _______________________________________________ > Openmoko community mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community > _______________________________________________ Openmoko community mailing list [email protected] http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community
