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AT&T Raises Subsidized iPhone 3GS Price to $0.99
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I fail to see how "buying for a dollar" implies additional future payments more than "free". Both are statements about right now, not the future. Of course, the law usually doesn't make intuitive sense.
AT&T most likely discovered that zero amounts caused red flags among sales execs which in turn forced them out from behind their desks to approve each and every sale.
Highly unlikely since they have sold tons of other phones free-with-contract for years.
Its like imagine getting an Xbox 360 for free.
Then imagine someone selling you an Xbox 360 for $1. What would you brag to your friends more about?
Obviously you would be filled with joy in both instances, but I think you would feel more excited about buying one for $1 because it feels like you got something huge in return with your small investment.
Then imagine someone selling you an Xbox 360 for $1. What would you brag to your friends more about?
Obviously you would be filled with joy in both instances, but I think you would feel more excited about buying one for $1 because it feels like you got something huge in return with your small investment.
Its still a bargain...but really AT&T? You needed that .99 on top of your decreasing data plans? FAIL
only
Now available at the low, low price of 99 cents, you can have your very own iPhone for the same cost as a single song on iTunes!
Now available at the low, low price of 99 cents, you can have your very own iPhone for the same cost as a single song on iTunes!
Wait - AT&T is evil because they charge $.99 for a phone.
I'm certainly neither a defender nor a fan of AT&T, but how does charging $.99 for a phone make them evil??
They're not evil for this one instance, but yes they are evil.
Doesn't matter if it's dropping unlimited data, dropping text choices, dropping calls, or charging .99 for a phone. Evil is evil.
The popularity of the 3GS shows how many people are bad at math.
Oooh I save $200 up front for a phone that retails for $300 less.
Now my payments after 2 years are ~$2400 instead of ~$2600 and after 2 years I will have a phone worth ~$300 less just for the privilege of using a slower older phone with much worse camera.
Or for those that want to remain optimistic about the human race:
Maybe they are smart. And realize they lose or damage their phone every 6 months and will save more than $1000 over 2 years from having to only replace a 3GS instead of a 4S a handful of times.
Oooh I save $200 up front for a phone that retails for $300 less.
Now my payments after 2 years are ~$2400 instead of ~$2600 and after 2 years I will have a phone worth ~$300 less just for the privilege of using a slower older phone with much worse camera.
Or for those that want to remain optimistic about the human race:
Maybe they are smart. And realize they lose or damage their phone every 6 months and will save more than $1000 over 2 years from having to only replace a 3GS instead of a 4S a handful of times.
I agree...ATT (and other carriers) have LONG had free phones...for decades...and those free ones were okay (except for maybe a crazy Black Friday 1-day special on a great model). Most likely ATT is simply losing more money when folks grab a free iPhone. Or, maybe ATT's other vendors are ticked off that ATT is now giving the iPhone away for free. ATT thus probably told the other vendors "ok, we won't give it away for free...we will charge" and that charge is now $.99.
Although I agree with 1 of the other posters about Free=garbage in the minds of consumers, I don't think that is the case with the iPhone or smartphones at this stage of the game. 10 years from now when everything is a "smartphone", yes, I will bet the free ones are complete garbage.
Sarbanes Oxley
Understand i am FAR from being an accountant, but it was discussed not too long ago on TWIT.
This is likely be to be in accordance with the Sarbanes Oxley accounting laws.
At it's most basic level, if something OF VALUE is given away for free the company technically has to account for that value as a loss on their balance sheet.
If anyone understands these laws more please feel free to chime in.
Eliot
Understand i am FAR from being an accountant, but it was discussed not too long ago on TWIT.
This is likely be to be in accordance with the Sarbanes Oxley accounting laws.
At it's most basic level, if something OF VALUE is given away for free the company technically has to account for that value as a loss on their balance sheet.
If anyone understands these laws more please feel free to chime in.
Eliot
Wait - AT&T is evil because they charge $.99 for a phone.
I'm certainly neither a defender nor a fan of AT&T, but how does charging $.99 for a phone make them evil??
Because it comes off as spiteful more than anything else. Everyone is talking about how the average consumer can surely afford .99, but conversely giant motherf-ing ATT can afford .99 as well. This comes across as taking someone's ice cream and then licking it once before giving it back. It basically feels rude. "We agreed to a free pricing structure, we let Apple tout it as a free pricing structure, but now we're gonna tack on the measly sum of .99 because we're ATT and we can." If ATT had a history of doing what's right for the consumer and not engaging in petty pricing games, I suspect people would be more likely to be ok with it. However, ATT has a history of engaging in very anti-consumerist behavior just because they can. They've earned the ill will that is directed at them.
Anyone who is not wealthy that spends thousands of dollars over a 2 year contract on a phone is a complete idiot. If he was not an idiot, he would deposit that $100 a month into a retirement fund and realize that at retirement in 35 years, assuming an annual return of 6.5%, he would have $168,000 in his account. Or he could be clever like you and get the 4s instead of the idiot who got the 3g, and have zero in his account, but such fond memories of pinching and scrolling!
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Or it could be a genius marketing ploy. I asked my elderly, non techno-equiped father what he would rather buy, the Free Iphone with monthly plan, or the 99 cents iphone with monthly plan. He told me he would get the 99 cent phone, because "nothing is free, so they are obviously hiding something when they tell you the phone is free"
I suppose that this was done so that AT&T can't say that they didn't even see a penny due to Apple making the 3GS free.