It's funny that they are advertising them as unlocked as the AT&T iPhone 4S are already unlocked. If you purchase them "handset only" with no contract they will work on any GSM network.
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Apple Begins Offering Unlocked iPhone 4S in U.S. Online Store
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Didn't want to go OT on this but don't try and spin numbers. Yes it might be higher per GDP but we are not even as big as some of your states. If you look at the actual amount of monetary debt the US is in versus the UK it is colossal!!
Plus a lot of our debts are LOANS to banks that are to be repaid.
Plus a lot of our debts are LOANS to banks that are to be repaid.
You better look up UK's numbers first, bro.
US debt = 62.3% of GDP
UK debt = 79.9% of GDP
So, what were you saying?
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Nope. A high-end unlocked Android phone usually is in the same price-range as an unlocked iPhone.
You just answered your own question. The other reason is that some carriers are not nationwide and don't have roaming agreements. So even if you travel within the country, an unlocked phone can be advantageous.
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5 - 10%, usually.
US GDP is colossal, compared to UK GDP. Your point?
P.S: There's a reason why debt is measured in percents of GDP. Let me give you an example: thousand dollars are big money for a hobo, but chump change for Bill Gates — capiche?
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You are better of with AT&T GO Phone sim card, $50 for unlimited talk and text, no requirement to get data.
Debt as a % of GDP takes the different sizes of the economy into account.
Please stop before you embarrass yourself.
and people paid $4000 dollars for a PC 25 years ago, what's your point? See here a similar phone for a good $300 less. Throw in a 32 gb micro sd card for $60 and you've got a phone with double the storage for around $240 less. I know iOS is considered a premium so I could see a 16 gb going for maybe $600, but these prices are ridiculous..
edit: I was looking at the price of the 32 gb and thought it was the 16 price. These prices are in no way bad at all
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Technically they won't. Yet it is a great solution for anyone who just needs a phone. I have a friend who absolutely LOVES my old iphone 3G. He doesn't need data, email, or apps (which of course, I do). But he wants a phone. Period. And the iPhone with a GoPhone card is a great solution.
I believe Apple is under-estimating the number of people who just need a basic phone. I submit that a cheap, even more stripped down 3GS would sell well in the Pre-Paid market.
My point quite simply....
US Debt = $ 14.9 trillion
UK Debt = $ 1.5 trillion
Where most of the debt is loans that will be repaid....
US Debt = $ 14.9 trillion
UK Debt = $ 1.5 trillion
Where most of the debt is loans that will be repaid....
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You aren't seriously comparing cheap SD cards with on-boad flash memory, are you?
Doesn't matter about the size of an economy.
You have a pot of debt, yes you can scale it to reflect for the size of your country and as such per capita UK debt is larger... point being monetary wise its far lower and consists mainly of loans we will get back with interest. In fact the government is talking of giving the public back a big chunk of money since we have had to foot the bill. I seem to remember £1,000 per person being thrown around a few months back. What will you get back of your 14 odd trillion?
EDIT: I get the point your making re Tramp and Bill Gates but I am talking on a country level of debt.... and the only way this is affecting anyone in the UK on a personal level is the fact that we are actually repaying any debt owed at a significant rate so it is hitting us slightly harder in the pocket.
You have a pot of debt, yes you can scale it to reflect for the size of your country and as such per capita UK debt is larger... point being monetary wise its far lower and consists mainly of loans we will get back with interest. In fact the government is talking of giving the public back a big chunk of money since we have had to foot the bill. I seem to remember £1,000 per person being thrown around a few months back. What will you get back of your 14 odd trillion?
EDIT: I get the point your making re Tramp and Bill Gates but I am talking on a country level of debt.... and the only way this is affecting anyone in the UK on a personal level is the fact that we are actually repaying any debt owed at a significant rate so it is hitting us slightly harder in the pocket.
Can't say if you're troll or just plain stupid. No offense, but don't they teach basic economy in UK?
Amazon sells the Galaxy S2 for $569. Amazon is also a discounter, as the MSRP is $899 for that phone. Even at $569 for the 16GB model, it shows that Apple's prices aren't too out of line for high-end phones.
That said, Apple does get about an extra $100 for the phone than Android manufacturers do. That's why their margins are so high and why they have over half the profits in the mobile phone industry with less than 5% market share. Samsung is next with about 20% profit share.
They sell them to the carriers at that price all day long so not sure why they'd discount them for individual customers. The original 8GB iPhone (also sold locked, but unsubsidized in the U.S.) was $599. So the price is really on-par with Apple's long term pricing pattern of upgrading hardware but keeping prices constant.
Waaah? That makes zero sense. All debt is borrowed. As for the repay part, the bond ratings of both the US and UK are still pretty decent. No evidence a default by either country is near.
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If you can afford it, over a 2 or 3 period, its cheaper to buy the iPhone outright than via contract.
Personally, I've only bought smartphones out of contract - flexible for travelling ( SIM unlocked ) and change providers and port phone number at will. Don't see the point of being ripped off via Contracts. Expensive up front for more flexibility over the long term.
Don't be surprised at the price of the phone, your paying full price. No different to any other phone and the iPhone is still competitively priced ( considering you have the option of the 16GB ).
Personally, I've only bought smartphones out of contract - flexible for travelling ( SIM unlocked ) and change providers and port phone number at will. Don't see the point of being ripped off via Contracts. Expensive up front for more flexibility over the long term.
Don't be surprised at the price of the phone, your paying full price. No different to any other phone and the iPhone is still competitively priced ( considering you have the option of the 16GB ).
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Say what you want, the American price is still cheap compare to Australia.
(Keep in mind 1AUD is about 1USD)
16GB
USD649 x sales tax(9%)= USD707
AUD799
32GB
USD749 x sales tax = USD816
AUD899
64GB
USD849 x sales tax = USD925
AUD999
The Americans can complain all they want. Those USA prices are what Australians are dying for.
(Keep in mind 1AUD is about 1USD)
16GB
USD649 x sales tax(9%)= USD707
AUD799
32GB
USD749 x sales tax = USD816
AUD899
64GB
USD849 x sales tax = USD925
AUD999
The Americans can complain all they want. Those USA prices are what Australians are dying for.
1/ I'm English
2/ The scaling does matter. Comparing raw figures is meaningless
3/ Unfortunately only a small amount of debt consists of bank shares that can be sold at some point
4/ If you think the government is going to give you a refund you must be smoking something pretty strong
5/ Please cite the newspaper you got your £1000 quote from
I think eenuuk was off sick from school that day.
I've always thought that if you are going to pay $6.25 per GB to upgrade from a 16GB to a 32GB iPhone or iPad (16GB more for $100) that it makes even more sense to pay $4.17 per GB to upgrade from a 16GB to a 64GB (48GB more for $200). And yet, the margins on the 64GB model are still the highest if I am not mistaken.
I hate it when I start pushing the limits of my device and have to start picking and choosing what to sync to it. For those who think "limited local storage + online cloud storage" is the best thing out there, then you are paying for your space and data access annually instead and you end finding that your stuff is not always available when you need it.
To me, local storage is very important -- especially on the iPad (so I don't have to pay for the data access) or on the iPhone if you have one of the new limited data plans. The more things that are local to the device with the ability to sync to online storage when available, the better.
On a similar topic, Siri's biggest flaw in beta is the fact that it does nothing when their servers are unavailable -- it should fail-over to standard "Voice Control" which was always done locally on the device. Siri should answer "I'm sorry, the servers are not available right now" when you try to do something requiring the servers but should seamlessly make the phone call or control your iPod locally if that is what you are asking it to do. I get it if some advanced voice processing on the servers is required for dictation and such, but for heaven's sake let me say "call my wife mobile" and have it pickup the relationship in my contacts list, find the phone number and make the call. If Siri still can't handle it locally it should say "Sorry, I cannot connect to the server right now, but you can retry with basic requests such as voice dialing or iPod control. I can do these without the server."
The "full" price might look very high, but the discounted price assumes a 2-years contract lock-in. If you don't need such contract and go pre-paid the full price might very well be cheaper, considering 2 years' worth of fees.
Even if you need a contract, it might make sense to buy full price. I have a contract already and have the option of extending a 2-years lock to get the phone cheaper, but I decided to buy the iPhone full price (so that I can unlock it immediately) and will buy a Samsung with discount for resale. I will end up with almost the same discount but an unlocked phone. The Samsung comes unlocked in any case so will be easier to sell.
There are even providers offering discounts on the monthly fee instead of a discount on the phone which are even more interesting.
Even if you need a contract, it might make sense to buy full price. I have a contract already and have the option of extending a 2-years lock to get the phone cheaper, but I decided to buy the iPhone full price (so that I can unlock it immediately) and will buy a Samsung with discount for resale. I will end up with almost the same discount but an unlocked phone. The Samsung comes unlocked in any case so will be easier to sell.
There are even providers offering discounts on the monthly fee instead of a discount on the phone which are even more interesting.
Yes, that's it in a nutshell. If you aren't a frequent traveler its not worth it at all. I travel overseas maybe once every 3-4 years and I stay for about a week--I think I can live without a phone for that period.
However, if you do travel you can rack up 1 or 2K in roaming charges easily in a single short trip. That would make even the unlocked price a very good deal.
Does anyone know if they are selling the factory unlocked phones in apple stores across the US?Coming home to Chicago next Wednesday, and going to be there for 17 days, and am looking to score a factory unlocked or the at&t iphone 4s device only so i can bring it back to Europe with me...The 64gb is going for over a thousand Euros here where i live that comes to about 1377 USD... that is about 400 dollars more than what I can buy it for in the States...Will it be possible to reserve a factory unlocked iphone 4s online and come and pick it up the next morning in the store?
You make it sound as if those with unlocked phones are to going to have to pay for their monthly service. Most folks will still want monthly access to data, rather than having data only some months and not others. In the USA the carriers don't give you a discount on the monthly service if your phone is not subsidized by them. They don't say "oh hey, we don't have any subsidy to recover from you, so you can pay less for your voice/data plan". Nope.... they just reap all the profits as you pay them the $15 to $45 per month (depending on your plan/carrier).
So if the carrier is offering a subsidy, then buying the unlocked is certainly not a way to save money. The only advantage to an unlocked phone is to use it on a carrier that does not offer the subsidy or to avoid being locked into a contract for 1.5 to 2 years without the ability to upgrade. But if you plan on sticking with your current carrier, then buying an unlocked phone in the USA holds no financial reward except for the carrier itself.
UPDATE:
Who? Which plans? I'd love to see this -- it would rock.