Agreed.
In Australia you could get an iPhone 32gb on an $82 month plan over 24 months with Telstra (major telco) vs buying it outright for $1000 + going on a $19 a month plan. You're about $500 ahead after 2 years. Not much money? Thats probably 6 months of groceries, a set of new tyres for a standard car, etc, etc...
But hey, who am I to dish out financial advance, I'm just some random on the internet.
That's a huge saving to buy the phone outright!
Why don't people just save up the au$1000 beforehand?
T-mobile in addition to the no-contract shadow plans (most owned by big companies) in the US is putting a crack in the subsidized plans.