Apple Considering $50-$150 Rebate on iPhone?

[Darkroom]

if this rebate happens (or even if it doesn't), i'd recommend to anyone buying an iPhone to use the saved money wisely and buy insurance for it... the iPhone is going to be a major target for theft, and it's going to be super easy to loose... a rebate wouldn't be much of a bargain if you loose the iPhone and still have 2+ years on the contract...

 

[shikimo]

This made me think two things:

1) I agree that rebates, while better than nothing, are never as simple as money in the bank, and

2) When was the last time Shaw Wu was right about ANYTHING??

 

[bigandy]

Meh. Good PDA type phones cost a lot on contract. Without the discount that I got for knowing the member of staff, my Orange SPV PDA phone would have been £200 + £50 a month on contract. For 18 months that they're pushing now, that would have been £1200 - or about US$2400.

And that's relatively cheap for a decent PDA phone here.

 

[ortuno2k]

Even though right now I'm hating Apple for delaying Leopard for the iPhone, and I hate the iPhone as it is, I may get one later; maybe 2nd gen, if this comes true.

 

[Data]

That would be great

Related to this, I just heard on CNBCW (world), Vodafone is the expected carrier in Europe and this news is taken quite positively by Mac geeks there. They too have reinforced the rumor of the cost offset offered by Apple on the phone.

Rocketman

Im in europe , and already with Vodafon , and i'll have to say that would be great, they are more expensive then most other companies, but i do always have reception on my phone, and like the carrier in the usa, vodafon also has there own chain of stores overhere, so it is likely ;-).

I'm all for it .

 

[HiRez]

Whoa, $75 to $100 per month? If that's the case, I'll stick with my simple does-nothing-but-make-calls cel phone (which was free) with the $34.95 per month plan. That's ridiculous.

 

[nagromme]

I'd rather pay full price than pay a significantly higher amount every month. Subsidies don't just devalue the hardware, they devalue my wallet I've never been a "pay the price later" kind of guy.

But subsidies or no, I would never pay over $40-$50 combined for voice and data. Which means, unless something drastic changes in the industry, it may not be time for me to get my first mobile phone But like broadband, such services will (I hope) eventually drop in price and become mainstream.

But I would at least consider paying for voice alone, and taking advantage of WiFi hotspots for the Internet. That could save a lot, if AT&T permits it.

 

[QCassidy352]

How nice of them

Data plans are such a rip, they should pay you to take the phone!

Whenever my business phone bill comes, I cringe. $125+/mo!

I agree. This is entirely underwhelming. I was anticipating a rebate/subsidy/discount somewhere along the way (phone/voice plan/data plan), and I thought it would be more like $200-250. A hundred dollar rebate when the cost per month is going to be that high? Gosh, they really went above and beyond on this one.

 

[job]

I honestly think the service plans are going to be the one downfall of the iPhone that prevents it from achieving the market penetration that the iPod did.

People forget easily that in order to have all the whiz-bang features that were demo'ed, you're going to have to pay $75-$100 per month for it. You buy an iPod, you can choose how many songs you buy off of iTunes. Don't want to spend $XX per month on music? You don't have to. The cost of operation for an iPod is miniscule compared to the projected annual costs for the iPhone.

Apple, or AT&T, or both, are going to be making money hand over fist on this thing if they can convince enough people to buy one.

Afterall, what good is an iPhone if you can't utilize all those cool and nifty features?

I think I'll wait for the early adopters to weather the initial costs so spendthrifts like myself can get one a few years down the road.

 

[Shagrat]

Well I don't think anybody will see this as bad news! Now we just gotta hope that when they come out in the UK we don't go getting ripped off

(yes, whining already)

Uber

Wanna bet? Rating (22 Positives; 10 Negatives)!

 

[JNB]

I think I'll wait for the early adopters to weather the initial costs so spendthrifts like myself can get one a few years down the road.

The problem is, if the early adopters are forking over wads of cash like mad, where's the motivation for AT&T to lower the plan cost?

As far as the data plans go, though, wouldn't that be for EDGE use only? Won't WiFi connections bypass the AT&T network entirely? I'm thinking that minimizing the web surfing and MR Forum trolling unless I'm in a hotspot should "ease the pain."

That's what I like about Sprint (about the only thing anymore): there is no "data plan". As a comparison, I pay $115 total for two phones, 2000 minutes, unlimited SMS & picturemail, up to 50% of my minutes roaming, and all the data & email I can d/l. Somehow I don't think AT&T's gonna match that...

 

[job]

The problem is, if the early adopters are forking over wads of cash like mad, where's the motivation for AT&T to lower the plan cost?

Touché.

As far as the data plans go, though, wouldn't that be for EDGE use only? Won't WiFi connections bypass the AT&T network entirely? I'm thinking that minimizing the web surfing and MR Forum trolling unless I'm in a hotspot should "ease the pain."

That's what I'm guessing. If you could pick up an iPhone+voice plan only, you could still use the built-in WiFi to get online, getting around the high costs of an EDGE data plan.

 

[jblodgett]

When I bought my Cingular 8125 phone last year - the phone came with a $50 rebate - but if I wanted the $100 rebate - then I had to sign up for the data plan. I would imagine the same will be true of the iPhone.

Cingular's data plan is $39.99 per month for unlimited data.

 

[TheAnswer]

Instead of a rebate, they should include coupons for $150 off the purchase of a Mac or a free upgrade to Leopard. That would take away the negative stigma attached to rebates, could encourage more switchers and would quench the blood-lust of some of the Leopard delay harpies.

 

[rxse7en]

I'm eligible, at the moment, for an "upgrade" from Cingular, which means a discount on their hardware for extending my contract. I wonder if I can get an extra discount upgrading to iPhone since I'm eligible for upgrade discounts now on top of the rumored rebates.

I need to spend money on hardware for tax reasons, but I don't want to do so when a deal can be had!

B

 

[job]

When I bought my Cingular 8125 phone last year - the phone came with a $50 rebate - but if I wanted the $100 rebate - then I had to sign up for the data plan. I would imagine the same will be true of the iPhone.

Cingular's data plan is $39.99 per month for unlimited data.

I really wish those data plans included minutes.

It sucks having to factor in another $40 plan if you want to use the device as an actual phone.

 

[bignumbers]

Contracts are the problem

The problem with the iPhone is the long-term contract. The iPhone is sure to be upgraded during the two-years following introduction. Faster data, more memory, faster processor, who knows what else. What happens when six months goes by and they have a new model with a feature I want? It might be worth the cost of a new phone (selling the old for peanuts on ebay or trading in) but not if I get stuck with a cancellation penalty.

Imagine if you bought an iPod Shuffle, then six months later decided you wanted more features and went to buy a 4GB Nano. "That'll be $199 for the Nano and a $499 cancellation penalty. Thank you."

That'll be my first question after introduction, how will they handle hardware upgrades.

Luckily the contract on my Treo 650 is up next month.

 

[vniow]

The argument goes that the subsidies devalue the hardware in the consumer's eyes.

Anyone else thing this is a load of crap? Getting something expensive for cheaper than usual certainly doesn't devalue anything in my eyes, it just means I get something for a better price. In fact I'm more likely to see it as getting more value out of it than paying higher for it.

 

[nagromme]

Anyone else thing this is a load of crap? Getting something expensive for cheaper than usual certainly doesn't devalue anything in my eyes, it just means I get something for a better price. In fact I'm more likely to see it as getting more value out of it than paying higher for it.

You may be misunderstanding what "devalue" means in this situation. It's a valid business phenomenon. Paying less for something makes people EXPECT to pay less it in future, while paying more for something makes people think it is WORTH more, psychologically. Strange but true.

 

[dante@sisna.com]

It does cost cash

I pay about $90 a month for a cingular 450 minute voice (free cingular mobile to mobile and nights and weekedns) with rollover, unlimited data (and phone can serve as modem for laptop, slow but works), and 450 text messages per month. Voice is $39, data is $29, text message is $9.99 plus lovely taxes.

Expensive, but no roaming ever. I use it on a blackberry pearl. I don't use the text or data much BUT it is work it to me to spend this kind of cash as I work for myself -- the value of total contact when I go camping is worth it right now.

I don't like the pearl. I want an iPhone on this plan.

 

[anamznazn]

i'm just wondering.

1. is the data plan "required"?! i was hoping to use the iphone AS a phone and an iPod.

2. what will i be missing out on if i didn't use the "data plan"? (i already have a $9.99 text and 1 meg data plan)

3. what's a voice plan? isn't that the same thing as how many minutes i have per month right now?

 

[BobbyDigital]

I sure hope they have plans for the iphone that are less than $75-$100.

 

[danielwsmithee]

Why not just do as earlier rumors suggested and build the subsidy into the calling plan itself?

Because that would be intelegent. A consumer does not think of the monthly fees they only care about the up front cost of the phone right. I would spend $500 on this device if my monthly bill with data service was less then $40 per month, but I guess that is a pipe dream.

 

[Maccus Aurelius]

The sidekick's plan is roughly $75/mo also for unlimited text and data and so on and so forth, but the phone itself was free after the full rebate.

I doubt very much anyone will feel as though the iPhone's being "devalued" because of a subsidy, as you still have to pay over $300 for either model. I'd love to see a voice only plan, though I don't imagine such a thing would happen for a device like this, so I'm gonna have to stick to my favored candy bar form factor makes-calls-n' takes pictures phone. I'm still with T-Mobile though, and I might just get a new SE to replace my dying T-610.

 

[Squonk]

1. is the data plan "required"?! i was hoping to use the iphone AS a phone and an iPod.

2. what will i be missing out on if i didn't use the "data plan"? (i already have a $9.99 text and 1 meg data plan)

3. what's a voice plan? isn't that the same thing as how many minutes i have per month right now?

I am with you on #1!!!

#2) Well, you won't be able to surf the web and you would not have the "video voicemail" functionality where you see your voice mails like you see the inbox in your email.

I am hoping that if you have an iPhone with a voice-only plan that you'd have "standard" voice mail. I could live with that. I don't get more than 2 voice mails a week.

3) Yep - voice plan is how many minutes of talk time you have (outside of the free nights/weekends) and if this is regional or national coverage in the plan.