Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Texas04

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 2, 2005
886
1
Texas
Around the 4:50 mark Steve Jobs actually said that "as the years go on, and we are able to bring the price down, I don't see why everyone wouldn't want one".


I thought this was a very BIG thing for Jobs to say...

EDIT: Didnt notice i posted wrong link.. looking for interview (it was a news story)
Edit 2: Link posted
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mY4EIS82Jw
 

emptyCup

macrumors 65816
Jan 5, 2005
1,482
1
Around the 4:40 5:00 mark Steve Jobs actually said that "as the years go on, and we are able to bring the price down, I don't see why everyone wouldn't want one".

Economies of scale are true of any product that catches on. It was true of the TV, the VCR, DVD players, the original 128K Macintosh and the 5 GB iPod. It will be true of the iPhone too if enough people buy the early models.
 

kwikdeth

macrumors 65816
Feb 25, 2003
1,136
1,706
Tempe, AZ
i'll be interested the moment you can get one without being bound to cingular. absolutely worthless cell phone provider. "least dropped calls of any network"... yeah, the trick is getting the call to go through in the first place.
 

Mal

macrumors 603
Jan 6, 2002
6,252
18
Orlando
i'll be interested the moment you can get one without being bound to cingular. absolutely worthless cell phone provider. "least dropped calls of any network"... yeah, the trick is getting the call to go through in the first place.

That does seem to be the way they get to the "fewest dropped calls" stage: prevent the network from being overloaded by not allowing connections once it nears capacity. No better than getting to make a short call and then getting dropped, really.

And to the OP, yes, it's obvious that the price will come down. Everything does. Of course, the original iPod was around the same price as the top models today, but it held less than some that are cheaper, and was significantly less technology than any that are out today (except arguably the Shuffle). I'd look for it to drop $100 to $200 within the first year or two.

jW
 

dongmin

macrumors 68000
Jan 3, 2002
1,709
5
2001 iPod-------2006 iPod
$399-------------$249
5 GB-------------30GB
10 hr battery-----14 hrs

Hopefully the iPhone will see more dramatic drops in price and increase in battery life and capacity.
 

evoluzione

macrumors 68020
absolutely worthless cell phone provider.

why do people rag on certain providers? do you not realise that every provider is terrible in certain places? and yes, some are "great" being that they are the only ones that work in other areas...as far as i'm concerned, they're all worthless, and should be much much better than they are, but they don't need to be as the general public are all about the "cool features". personally, i want a phone that makes phone calls, i could care less about whether i can access myspace from it.

back on topic, of course it'll come down in price, it's technology, it'll get better, maybe smaller, and also cheaper...that's what happens in the computer/tech world.
 

aquajet

macrumors 68020
Feb 12, 2005
2,386
9
VA
2001 iPod-------2006 iPod
$399-------------$249
5 GB-------------30GB
10 hr battery-----14 hrs

I think the difference becomes slightly more dramatic if you upgrade to the TOTL model and consider the additional features.

2001 iPod-------2006 iPod
5GB-------------80GB
10 hr------------20 hr
monochrome---color
music-----------music, photos, video
$399------------$349
 

dejo

Moderator emeritus
Sep 2, 2004
15,982
452
The Centennial State
Around the 4:40 5:00 mark Steve Jobs actually said that "as the years go on, and we are able to bring the price down, I don't see why everyone wouldn't want one".
Around what mark? And are you watching the iPhone Introduction stream or the entire keynote stream? I couldn't find anything like that around the 5-minute-mark of either.
 

Texas04

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 2, 2005
886
1
Texas
Around what mark? And are you watching the iPhone Introduction stream or the entire keynote stream? I couldn't find anything like that around the 5-minute-mark of either.

Sorry.. I copy pasted the wrong link.. the link is now updated at the top. Thank you for saying something :eek:
 

4np

macrumors 6502a
Feb 23, 2005
972
2
The Netherlands
2001 iPod-------2006 iPod
$399-------------$249
5 GB-------------30GB
10 hr battery-----14 hrs

Hopefully the iPhone will see more dramatic drops in price and increase in battery life and capacity.

Actually, my iPod 2nd generation, 20Gb was € 649,-. Quite an expensive gadget but I loved it :) I still do actually ;)
 

clevin

macrumors G3
Aug 6, 2006
9,095
1
yeah, everybody know after 5 years, price will drop, lol, meaningless. u won't wait 5 years for that.
 

gavd

macrumors 6502a
Jan 30, 2006
602
2
Doesn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary to me. Products like this will always get better specs / cheaper over time.
 

Texas04

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 2, 2005
886
1
Texas
Doesn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary to me. Products like this will always get better specs / cheaper over time.

Over time but the way he said it sounded like he wanted to do it as soon as possible.
 

clevin

macrumors G3
Aug 6, 2006
9,095
1
Over time but the way he said it sounded like he wanted to do it as soon as possible.

yeah, thats business marketing, Jobs didn't lie, he just simply trick u, price drop? sure, but sorry, actually he can't control the price, price drop have to wait until hardware price drop, which is ...

predicable, but, uncontrollable.
 

HowEver

macrumors 6502a
May 10, 2005
841
336
Toronto
Of course the price will drop after a few years!

That will be the time you want to sell your model and buy a new one. The one you have will be worth squat.

Welcome to Apple.*




*I love Apple, but...
 

MacsAttack

macrumors 6502a
Jul 2, 2006
825
0
Scotland
Perhaps people missed one important point that was made during the Keynote.

"...there is a lot of custome silicon in here..."

The cost of designing custom chips really drives the price up. But if you an use that chip in lots of devices economy of scale kicks in. So IF Apple can acheive those big sales they are after by the end of 2008, then they will be in a position to slash proces.

Of course, SJ talked about 1% market share of the entire phone market, but what the iPhone is pitched at is the smartphone market, which is a much smaller chunk - 0.1% more like. Apple HAVE to get the price way down if they want that 1%...
 

jmsait19

macrumors 6502
Jan 26, 2004
378
0
MO
i'll be interested the moment you can get one without being bound to cingular. absolutely worthless cell phone provider. "least dropped calls of any network"... yeah, the trick is getting the call to go through in the first place.

that is the most accurate complaint against cingular i have read on the forums yet... i have the exact same sentiment...

its like you can't make a call unless you have full signal, so of course calls aren't dropping...

anywho... not trying to fire up a cingular debate, just wanted to validate the post.
 

California

macrumors 68040
Aug 21, 2004
3,885
90
Perhaps people missed one important point that was made during the Keynote.

"...there is a lot of custome silicon in here..."

The cost of designing custom chips really drives the price up. But if you an use that chip in lots of devices economy of scale kicks in. So IF Apple can acheive those big sales they are after by the end of 2008, then they will be in a position to slash proces.

Of course, SJ talked about 1% market share of the entire phone market, but what the iPhone is pitched at is the smartphone market, which is a much smaller chunk - 0.1% more like. Apple HAVE to get the price way down if they want that 1%...

I can't understand what you are saying because of punctuation/spelling errors. What?
 

California

macrumors 68040
Aug 21, 2004
3,885
90
that is the most accurate complaint against cingular i have read on the forums yet... i have the exact same sentiment...

its like you can't make a call unless you have full signal, so of course calls aren't dropping...

anywho... not trying to fire up a cingular debate, just wanted to validate the post.

I've had cingular and the only trick I know is that during rush hour high call times -- you have to dial even your OWN area code prefix to dial in the same area code. Otherwise, busy circuits. But other providers have same problem, especially in LA with the mountains, etc. No way around geographical limitations, so who cares?
 

gmoney23

macrumors newbie
Jun 16, 2007
2
0
Are you guys really going to be able to wait a full year before the prices drop? I'm defintetely not. They also probably won't come out with a new model for a year, which will be cheaper, so I'm guessing that people will buy this expensive model and later but a cheaper better model in a year.
 

zap2

macrumors 604
Mar 8, 2005
7,252
8
Washington D.C
Thats how it works..pay more to get it sooner.

Video game system can never meet demands on launch, yet with in 2 year the price will drop for sure. With in 5 years the price can drop up to 66%


Not expecting a 66% drop in the iPhone...more like a few 100, and new specs over time
 

iMichael72

macrumors regular
May 19, 2007
192
0
Maryland, U.S.A
Every now and then I see reports about the price of the PS3 being reduced.

But, I bought it about a month after it came out, and I plan on buying the iPhone on the 29th.

I'm impatient!!
 

mashinhead

macrumors 68030
Oct 7, 2003
2,954
821
does there really need to be a thread about how over time technology gets cheaper, better, and faster? Isn't that an obvious conclusion that has applied to everything and will, as it stands to reason also happen to the iphone? Do you need Steve jobs to tell you this?
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.