QotD: On The iPhone...
Over a million iPhones have been sold. Have you: bought one, considered it, or decided it's not for you?
Wow... I am shocked that Vox even posed this as a "Question of the Day"! I'll go over the 90 day "evaluation" of the state of iPhone related affairs as well as answer the "Question of the Day".
With the 90 day time frame basically upon us, there has been lots of hot-button issues with regard to the iPhone. Things like hackers unlocking the iPhone for free, lawsuits over a "defective battery design" or "diminished resale value of the 4GB model being discontinued", to even the latest one on bans of cash sales of the iPhone... The device has stirred up the market and, dare I say, in an impactful way. You have makers who've basically taken apart their ideas of what a user interface should be and then revamped it to much more promising things. Notable manufacturer on this forefront being HTC with their new TouchFLO interface for the Windows Mobile 6 operating system. But at the same right, there are also manufacturers competing on a beautifully crafted shell. Noteworthy names being LG's Prada phone or Motorola's complete revamp of a mainstream sensation, the RAZR2. There were naysayers saying "No one will ever buy up into the gimmicky touch only bit!" But when you have to note that millions of the iPhone have been purchased, the numbers don't lie... If Apple makes it, people will come.
On the technological side of issues... AT&T has their panties in a wad all from the whole unlocking of the iPhone away from their network due to the minuscule profit margin they earn, unlike the one Apple gains from the sale of the device. AT&T pays Apple $18 per iPhone on their network, so to "recoup" their losses. They profit money from the sign-up of contracts and subscribers locked into their plans. But they do have a right to get their selves in a "tizzy" over it, because they can't subsidize the cost of the iPhone unlike like say... a RAZR V3. Here's an example of subsidizing phones:
Phone: Motorola RAZR V3
AT&T Store's List Price: $250
2 Year Contract Price: $100
After Diccounts and Rebates: FREE!
(AT&T's possible invoice price on the phone $5 - $20)
Zero's Note - I don't know the exact number, my figure of AT&T's invoice is an estimate. Take my number with a grain of salt.
Prices from the AT&T Wireless site
The iPhone, because it is made by Apple does not give AT&T this luxury to slash the price of the device as they please because Apple makes the device at a much higher cost than ordinary cell phones or smart phones. I would estimate that the iPhone's "cost" is about $150 - $180, invoice probably at $250 (AT&T's "buy-in price") while retailing at $400. Talk about getting the short end of the stick for AT&T. It's rather a steep deal and I can see why AT&T is mad as hell. The same right though, people saw it coming... Because Apple fans will stop at damn near nothing to get their hot hands on one of their new devices. The fact of the matter that the iPhone had few exclusive technologies specifically to AT&T had almost made it a target of hackers, unlocking chop-shops, and various retailers... If there were tons of things that required AT&T, I could see it being a better cash cow. But with the news that Orange France will be releasing an unlocked model for the European market... It may just serve to enrage AT&T even further when you have unlocked phone shops importing these unlocked models to the American market place.
As far as the iPhone, It's not for me because I need a robust and powerful device. With the iPhone for my friends, my opinion is more in favor of telling ones who have not jumped on board with it... I would recommend that they wait before buying in. Apple submitted their patents for an iPhone "Nano" to the US Patent Office and some analysts say that it could be about November for a second generation iPhone. Europe's Vodafone has advocated that the iPhone must have 3G or it is useless for their advanced network. So much new possible innovations for the iPhone as a platform, but just time is the factor of all things.
