Hey, Google might be shaking things up big time with their affordable pricing, open platforms, free services, but... what was I saying again?
Oh yeah, the iPhone, at least the 16GB version, is priced in line with other high-end phones (Galaxy S3, Note 2, One X etc.) None of them should cost as much as they do, but the market is willing to pay it, and has been for a long time. I bought a Nokia N93 for ~$800 in late 2006.
For some idiotic reason though, the unlocked iPhone 5 price in Canada went up $50 to $699, with tax, thats close enough to $800!
Apple is a luxury brand. They price accordingly. Apple only plays in the luxury market. They freely state this themselves. Any item they produce, is always the most expensive in the category. Their ipad Mini is cheaper, but it's easily the most expensive smallish tablet. They won't do anything different and likely never will.
Whether this premium is worth it is up to the buyer. I suspect that as time goes on, it won't be to most buyers b/c the cheaper alternatives are getting MUCH better relative to iOS-based devices. But hey, it's not Apple's fault that Amazon and Google are willingly selling devices at cost or at a loss. It's more like the disparity between an Amazon or Google device (no profit or neg profit) vs Apple (super high profit margin) that drives everyone batty. A prospective customer would be right to go "what? why is the iphone 5 so much more expensive than everything else out there?"
A Nexus 4 should not cost $300; it should cost much more. An iPhone 5 should not cost $700, it should cost much less. One would not think that the iPhone could sustain these large price premiums forever, but so far this logical assumption has proven highly illogical. Everyone keeps buying iPhones.
