Michael Scrip
macrumors G3
That's pointless if they still need to get a separate cell phone.
I'm assuming people need a cell phone before they need an iPod Touch with data.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Analyst Claims Apple May Release $349 iPhone for Prepaid Markets This Year
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
That's pointless if they still need to get a separate cell phone.
I'm assuming people need a cell phone before they need an iPod Touch with data.
andiwm2003
macrumors 601
because so far the 3GS was not sold unlocked. if the 3GS was $349 unlocked I would have bought one a year ago (even considering that I own a locked 3GS already).
many people need an unlocked iPhone but can't get it right now unless they pay $700 or more. and I don't need all new features. i need a phone that I can use as a smartphone, not just as a iPod touch and that doesn't force me to carry two phones and chargers around as soon as I leave the country.
Pre paid option + unlocked = great for traveling, vacation and for tossing a phone to the kids without financial worries 🙂
yeah but they just started selling the iphone 4 unlocked. My point was, the 3gs is still available via AT&T, that doesn't mean the iphone 4 is now not selling bc the 3gs is only $49 with contract. having a cheaper option isn't going to kill the better model. buy a 3gs from newegg and jailbreak it.
0098386
Suspended
Yeah, the folk I know with prepaid phones don't fall into that category. But a lot of them do a lot of business and travelling around Europe so I guess that's a reason to avoid contract.
Sim cards for each country, it's a winner.
bushido
Suspended
Yea me too. The touch has always lagged the iPhone in specs so buying the lower cost iPhone with no contract is not that much a jump and then you do get GPS an location services. I think a lot of people would prefer the phone over the Touch with that scenario.
And how do you sell the existing $650 iPhone alongside this '$400' iPhone, if the former only has a slightly better display and body? The trick is to figure out a way to sell this $400 iPhone without impacting too much on the sales of the $650 iPhone.
I don't know a single pre-paid plan that has a lower bang for the buck then a post-paid (Belgium). But still, in the States, people using an iPhone spend a 17" MBP every two years, just for a phone and a connection. I mean damn ... Still don't see a reason why the iPodphone wouldn't cannibalize iPhone sales. Like women or not so tech savvy persons, that want to be trendy, don't have an bottomless pocket and call a lot and are now an 110$/month plan ... why would they use a regular iPhone? Or kids who's parents use an iPhone and decide to buy them a new phone. Where it would've been an iPhone (something they now is decent and Apple is easy on but really fast with within warranty repairs), it's now a iPodphone (illustration: there are four kids in my sisters class (15) that own an iPhone - it's legally forbidden to work until the year you become 16 here in Belgium, so how do you think they payed for it?)
You could go back to original resolution screen for the cheap one, that would save a lot on the screen cost and still give plenty of motivation to the tech savvy users to upgrade. Also use a smaller battery and go back to the curved plastic back. I guess it would be a lot like a 3GS.
It's funny the way some people who say "who would buy the more expensive iphone" are the first to say they wouldn't buy the cheaper one if it were basically a 3GS.
This cost reduced iPhone is clearly not going to have all the premium features that the techies love but it probably would be "good enough" for a lot of people. It would be perfect for parents to buy for their kids because of the "find my iphone" feature so they can track them. They will be not buying a new Touch then for them. If Apple does bring this to market this Fall a big chunk of the Touch market is going away and it will too soon after.
Last edited:
Exactly that is why they sell currently the unlocked iPhone 3GS 8 GB for $568 (pre-tax, UK price) and not for $350 and the iPhone 4 16 GB for $677.
Last edited:
Reach9
macrumors 68020
The pricing is sound. But it would be like so..
iPhone 4: 16GB, A4, 3G, 5MP camera, $99 on contract
iPhone 4S: 8GB, A5, 3G, 3MP camera, $299 contract free
iPhone 5: 16GB, bigger screen, changed design, A5, 3G, 8MP Camera, $199 on contract
Apple releasing an iPhone 4S, and an iPhone 5 could make the contradicting rumors legitimate.
Also, this way they wouldn't be fragmenting the devices either, since the only thing that might change with the iPhone 5 is a bigger screen.
Ugg
macrumors 68000
We should be so lucky. Mobile contracts in the US are a total ripoff. Virgin Mobile and PCS are the only two that offer reasonable no-contract plans.
Americans just love paying $1000+ per year for their cell phones. And then they wonder why they are all in debt. Couple that with a daily $4-5 Starbucks drink and you have roughly $2.5K for an iphone and coffee for ONE YEAR. Over 40 years, that comes out to be $100,000 for a cell phone and a daily morning coffee. That's just stupid.
Last edited:
bushido
Suspended
it's not like there are many options in the USA to where people just flock to the contract for an iphone. There are ZERO options here unless you're tech savvy to figure out things on your own.
i agree, paying over $100/month for a cell phone is crazy, but sadly there aren't many options here in the US unless you go with Virgin Mobile etc.
Ugg
macrumors 68000
It's time for some anti-trust action. If ATT is allowed to buy T-Mobile, the US wireless market is doomed.
Westside guy
macrumors 604
We paid for a monthly "family plan" for several years before realizing none of us make many phone calls anymore - as a group, we were under 100 minutes pretty much every month. So a few months ago we switched to prepaid plans, and I got a smartphone - an LG Thrive (Android) phone - for $149. I put my own 32GB microSD card in there, so I guess you could say the price was about $210. And as far as the monthly fees go... even with my daughter's unlimited texting and my data plan (small, since I'm around wi-fi 95% of the time), we're well under $50 a month for the three of us.
I'd prefer an iPhone, but if they're going to strip it down to get it to that price point that'd pretty much kill the deal. With my current phone I've got 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and true GPS - all of which work pretty darn well. The Google apps integration is basically seamless (better than on my iPod Touch). Google's beta voice navigation program is amazing! I definitely see a falloff in quality when it comes to generic apps on the Android Store versus on Apple's App Store, and while I have a workable music/podcast solution it's not as nice as Apple's; but it's not enough to make me want a dumbed-down iPhone at a significantly higher price.
Somehow or other companies like LG manage to get all the pieces you want in there for a significantly lower cost than Apple does. You can argue about the quality of the "ingredients" - something I've done when it comes to my Mac laptops - but, at least with this phone, the components certainly seem good enough. The screen hasn't scratched, the touch interface is responsive, and it feels solid; most everything works the way you'd expect.
I'd prefer an iPhone, but if they're going to strip it down to get it to that price point that'd pretty much kill the deal. With my current phone I've got 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and true GPS - all of which work pretty darn well. The Google apps integration is basically seamless (better than on my iPod Touch). Google's beta voice navigation program is amazing! I definitely see a falloff in quality when it comes to generic apps on the Android Store versus on Apple's App Store, and while I have a workable music/podcast solution it's not as nice as Apple's; but it's not enough to make me want a dumbed-down iPhone at a significantly higher price.
Somehow or other companies like LG manage to get all the pieces you want in there for a significantly lower cost than Apple does. You can argue about the quality of the "ingredients" - something I've done when it comes to my Mac laptops - but, at least with this phone, the components certainly seem good enough. The screen hasn't scratched, the touch interface is responsive, and it feels solid; most everything works the way you'd expect.