It won't matter how much the price of the phone drops, it's the accompanying plan that is cost prohibitive for most people, and that will likely increase.
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AT&T Begins Selling $99 (Refurbished) iPhone
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I just called ATT (611 from my cell phone) and said, when I try to upgrade my phone to the iphone the $50 discount goes away when I sign in. The ATT rep. said well, I can't make it appear but I can credit your account the $50. No hassle at all.
Looks like it's not as obvious as you'd think.
On the contrary - it is VERY obvious what he said and what he meant. I cannot believe others are having such an issue with the comment. He is 100% correct and I agree with his comment regarding his assessment. If prices for something you use/want/need are lower, more people would be inclined to buy. Hard? No, easy - and basic economics. Thanks, though.
D
Chundles, i admire your tempered response to what i thought was an attempt at either rudeness or provocation. Are you a mediator in your other life?
I agree with Chundles original point, and his subsequent incredulity at the armchair economic insight that ensued. Does that clear it up?
Thanks, though.
fyi not sure if this has been mentioned but it's now possible to get a refurb iphone on o2 (8gb black) for free over the phone
http://forum.o2.co.uk/viewtopic.php?p=74768&sid=0d5730afe7f7081048191908d11501a8
edit: other successful reports of this suggest its only for existing o2 customers due for an phone upgrade.
tru dat
I would still save $100, refurb or new with the iPhone and the stories I have heard and as fickle as Apple and AT&T are being I wouldn't want to be without it. (AppleCare) You know be 19 months into a contract and have your phone die and have to pay who know what the price will be for what generation iPhone.
As far as the total cost of owner ship all the cell cos are screwing us. I have had a phone for sometime. Common sense says better tech and widespread use should drive the cost down. The opposite is happening. My bill has never bill higher.
Seems so. I'm curious if the iphone nano comes out, will it be exclusive to AT&T?
That is far from true. Only certain cards have warranty doubling/protection programs. Carefully read the T&C. Assume nothing. And where/on what card did you see anything about replacing the phone for $79 if the battery goes?
actually the contract isn't the issue in this case.
Verizon had a shot at this gig. They refused it. Rumor is that they refused to turn over final design approval to Apple -- They wanted the phone made the way they wanted. ATT gave Apple all control so long as it worked.
Also, there is not likely to be a CDMA iphone. It is a standard that is apparently not as dominate in the world market which is why Apple picked GSM over CDMA. They didn't want to have to bother with creating country by country phones which would be more costly.
or not.
there is a lot of talk around town, even on Capitol Hill, about price gouging in the cell phone market, especially over issues like SMS and data plans. Seems that someone called for a tech study that showed that the costs of such items is hardly what the companies want us to believe. Esp for SMS which costs them fractions of fractions of pennies to send a message and yet without a plan they are charging up to 25 cents a message.
so we may find in not so distant future that at the least SMS message plans go way down. Like unlimited for $5 as the only option, or even free if bundled with a data plan.
and then you have phones restricting you to wifi use for larger items like music file downloads etc. you aren't on the precious 3g network using up bandwidth and aren't allowed to be so usage isn't quite as 'unlimited' as they advertise. so their claims they need all that money cause of high bandwidth traffic might be a tad bogus.
IF there is ever an iphone nano and it is released before the contract with ATT ends, then yes, it will be exclusive to ATT. as evidenced by the fact that the 2nd generation iphone (ie, the 3g phone) was covered by the exclusivity within the contract. You can bet that the wording is such that all updated versions of the phone released during the contract period are covered, no matter their design etc.
correct. some have the price protection, even if the store also adjusted the price, some have accidental damage/loss coverage, some have both, some have none.
I don't think that is on any card. I believe that is an Apple thing. if your ipod or iphone is out of warranty they will allow you to buy a service part phone (the new one they would have swapped you for under warranty) for a reduced price if the issue is the battery reaching end of life before a reasonable time. The price depends on the device I believe, but seem to all run between $80-100
selling refurbs says nada about new items. it all says is that they don't want to toss working, current equipment into the landfills.
I would agree. When I worked in the retail market I did a lot of would with setting up sales and discounted "packages". A large discount on one item drove more sales then a smaller discount that was spread over more products. For instance. When I worked at the music store, offering some one $100 off a mixer did more to drive sales then offering someone 50% off $300 worth of cables to go with it. People will always look at the immediate first, so getting a $100 off an iPhone would be better then a smaller monthly bill. Also your not paying your bill right away when you go to pick up the phone, so that savings would not be immediate, and the consumer would have to spread the savings over 2 years.
Fyi
There is a catch that is supposedly a "glitch" in the AT&T web store. Apparently, you can purchase a refurbished iPhone from their website for $149 (until 12/31/08 then it goes back to $199.) However, you can not upgrade to one (new or refurbished) if you are already an AT&T customer. I'm told the inability to upgrade to the refurbished device is a glitch in the store as when you go to select a phone the iPhone disappears and even if you do some manipulation of the URL to get it to show the refurbished iPhone (or even the new units) it will not give you the option to add it to the cart. However, after speaking to a rep they said if you want the additional discount simply call in before the promotion ends and they will note your account and when you are able to order an iPhone in a few days (supposedly) they can/will credit your account for the promotion.
There is a catch that is supposedly a "glitch" in the AT&T web store. Apparently, you can purchase a refurbished iPhone from their website for $149 (until 12/31/08 then it goes back to $199.) However, you can not upgrade to one (new or refurbished) if you are already an AT&T customer. I'm told the inability to upgrade to the refurbished device is a glitch in the store as when you go to select a phone the iPhone disappears and even if you do some manipulation of the URL to get it to show the refurbished iPhone (or even the new units) it will not give you the option to add it to the cart. However, after speaking to a rep they said if you want the additional discount simply call in before the promotion ends and they will note your account and when you are able to order an iPhone in a few days (supposedly) they can/will credit your account for the promotion.
Yeahhh... I just called AT&T and the person I spoke with informed me that corporate was telling them explicitly that the refurb iPhone is for new customers or customers adding a new line only. Existing customers looking to upgrade don't even have the option of purchasing a refurb period, much less at the discounted price. And the new iPhone isn't discounted, either, of course.
The website makes it seem otherwise though. Such horrible policy.
Anyone able to actually upgrade to a refurb for $100 less anyway?
The website makes it seem otherwise though. Such horrible policy.
Anyone able to actually upgrade to a refurb for $100 less anyway?
Yes, I was able to. I can happily say that I was able to purchase the 16gb white refurbished iphone. Although the $50 had to be credited to my account because of some "glitch" on ATT's site. I have it in my hand, received it today. I know there was some question about warranty, but I checked that on Apple's site and I am able to have their warranty and add AppleCare even though it was refurbished and bought from the ATT site. I will have to send Apple my proof of date of purchase because the warranty is about a month short but they have a pretty straight forward way to do that right on their site.
