No, you are paying it back. AT&T is covering $400 of the phones value, you pay the $200 up front, and AT&T recoups the $400 over those 2 years. Thus, you can early upgrade after 1 year for $400 ($200 for the phone + $200 you didn't pay back for the second contract year).
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AT&T has 48 hours to answer iPhone pricing complaints
- Thread starter jjk454ss
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No, you are paying it back. AT&T is covering $400 of the phones value, you pay the $200 up front, and AT&T recoups the $400 over those 2 years. Thus, you can early upgrade after 1 year for $400 ($200 for the phone + $200 you didn't pay back for the second contract year).
Well, people got the first subsidy so that they would be loyal for 2 years... But only one year has gone by, so it doesn't make sense that they would give another subsidy if people haven't honoured the first one.
isn't one of the paramount principles of business "the customer is always right"? for without customers, there is no business. if and when att lose their exclusivity on iphone they will have a lot of annoyed customers to try to keep
Correct, AT&T does have overhead, salaries to pay, etc., but this still does not explain the inflated ownership costs of the iPhone. Take Customer A who gets a free phone and pays a monthly bill of $40 vs Customer B with an iPhone who pays $100 per month. Why the big difference? Besides data, it seems that the cost of making a phone call would be the same for both customers. With a free phone and $40 monthly bill, is Customer A even contributing to at$t's overhead? Why does the majority of overhead costs have to be carried by the iPhone owners? And, we do not even get to enjoy MMS, which most of us are already paying for via our texting plans.
It does if they've recouped the cost of the subsidy, which depending on your monthly bill, happens within either 12 or 18 months.
Oh god, are you going down that road? The customer is always right thing is utter crap. I can't walk into Ford and demand a 2010 vehicle for a discounted price because I already own a 2009 vehicle. No matter what, they will not cave in. You have no idea what you are talking about. If you think Apple expects AT&T to cave in, you are living under a rock. Apple understands business just as much as AT&T.
That sounds like you've never dealt with "customers" as a business owner.
The way people act now, if the customer was always right, no businesses would ever make any money.
The inflated cost of ownership doesn't really exist. I used this example before, and will toss it out again. The Motorola Q9h smart phone is $10 less a month to own than the iPhone 3G. Both have data, and there is a $10 difference. $240 across 2 years. WOW.
And MMS wasn't even in the OS to be supported by AT&T until 3.0 thanks to Apple. Not to mention the iPhone taxes the network much more than any other phone because it has more access to network related content.
No, we are not "paying back" anything. If that was the case, customers buying their cellphones at retail (unsubs) pricing would have lower monthly bills (since they shouldn't have anything to "pay back"). The only difference between a contract customer and a noncontract customer is that the contract customer has an ETF. The ETF must be the subsidy. If you void your contract early, you repay them back via the ETF.
Yep, I guess your right. That never even crossed the minds of the business strategists at either company.
Or, hey, they could just sell the iPhone for 57 cents! Think about it - every single person on the planet would buy it and sign a contract. Man, they are losing so much money.
Please explain how the cost of ownership of the iPhone is any different from any other brand of AT&T PDA/Smartphone.
$30 = cost of unlimited data, regardless of the brand of PDA/Smartphone
$5,$15,$20 = cost of SMS, regardless of the brand of PDA/Smartphone
The cost of ownership of an iPhone is the same as a Blackberry .. as a Palm .. as a Windows Mobile...
You are paying them back plus giving them a profit. You think they just break even with every phone they sell and never make a profit?
A bigger bunch of whiny, stupid people I have never seen before.
I can't believe that with the lack of critical thinking skills that a lot of the posters here demonstrate, they are even able to hold down a job long enough to actually pay their iphone bill.
Do they pay overtime and McDonald's?
I can't believe that with the lack of critical thinking skills that a lot of the posters here demonstrate, they are even able to hold down a job long enough to actually pay their iphone bill.
Do they pay overtime and McDonald's?
How is this not "honoring" the contract? These people are not bailing out of their contract, but are actually showing even more of a committment by adding an additional 2 years (from expiration date of first contract). I personally wouldn't do it, but AT&T could really tie some people up for life.
If you weren't "paying back" the subsidy, then AT&T wouldn't care how long you kept service with them.
If you got a subsidized phone, then are essentially "paying them back". So much so that they put you in a contract to guarantee that you stick around to pay them back (or if you quit early, you give them the EFT, which essentially pays them back).
Kas... if a customer buys a phone at retail, they are eligible to get ANY phone they want at the subsidized price still. If they chose not to do that, then they are not paying anything back. But if they chose to get the cheap phone, they are paying it back. Nobody I know skips the discounted phone, thus its paying it back...
Exactly its the same, or minimally different (mere dollars a month).
Thank you, and exactly.
Its mind boggling isn't it?
And skipping a year of the contract is what everybody? Bailing out on that year!! Ding ding ding, we have a winner! They still don't get that $200 from the year they missed.
Kas, based on your logic, I could, DAILY, ask AT&T to renew the contract for 2 years so I can keep getting new phones. Sweet yeah?
If you go to AT&T's website and add a Moto Q (the only Q I see that they sell) to your cart, the only option for a data plan is the $30 one that have to get with an iPhone.
No they wont... LOL T-mobile and Verizon will do the same pricing model.. They wont give one year up graders same price as new customers.. LOL...
If you go to AT&T's website and add a Moto Q (the only Q I see that they sell) to your cart, the only option for a data plan is the $30 one that have to get with an iPhone.
Ah looks like they changed it, or I got a FAN discount. So then there is absolutely a $0 difference in ownership costs.
Correct, which is why I was wondering what kas23 meant when he said "the inflated price of owning an iPhone".
Maybe he meant "the inflated price of owning any PDA/Smartphone", as the total cost of ownership appears to be the same, regardless of brand/model?