Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Factory-Sealed Original iPhone Sells for $55,000 at Auction
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Totally unfair. The Ballmer years at Microsoft, from a product standpoint, were horrible. Cook is doing an infinitely better job.
Hardware-wise, Apple's product quality is not lagging. Software quality has been getting spottier for years, but I also think we have a tendency to see the past through rose-colored glasses. Bugs have always existed and I'm not convinced that Apple's software is truly any buggier today than it was 10 or 20 years ago when you consider how much more complex everything is today. We're definitely far less buggy than during the Classic macOS days!
I also think it's quite unfair to say that innovation is lagging. Apple Silicone is a huge innovation. Whenever I see people complain about Apple not being innovative, I have to ask who is more innovative in tech today? What company is producing more innovative products? I also think a lot of people have a tendency to view Apple and Jobs as, frankly, more innovative than they were. It's not like every product under Jobs was a massive innovation.
Apple has essentially had three truly Earth-shifting innovative products, the Mac, the iTunes Store, and the iPhone. The Mac changed the desktop computing paradigm, the iPhone changed the mobile phone paradigm, and the iTunes Store revolutionized buying music (and paved the way for the digital media economy in general).
Everything else has been an improvement over what already existed in the market. Some of those things, like the LaserWriter, were HUGE improvements, while others, like the iPod, weren't quite as huge, but successfully addressed the biggest pain points in the product category. MP3 players existed before the iPod and the iPod didn't radically change the MP3 user experience in the way the iPhone changed the mobile phone experience. The iPod did, however, address the major shortcomings with MP3 players and that made it a huge hit.
Under Cook's tenure, we've seen the Watch, AirPods, HomePod, HomeKit, ARKit (and the upcoming headset), Apple Silicone, Apple Music and other services, as well as massive overall improvements to iCloud. I don't think Apple is any less innovative under Cook than it was under Jobs. Jobs was, however, a much better showman.
I always wonder this stuff too. I assume they destroy excess inventory for tax purposes or something IDK
$55k is quite literally nothing to many people.
And in inflationary times people are looking to put money ANYWHERE. Take a look at eye-watering fine art prices, for example. Far better to hold an asset than depreciating cash.
It’s not at all about wasting money; it’s about preserving it.
Hell No. You can waste your money all you want on so called "Charity Groups", I do give my money MYSELF to the people that need it most and believe me is not hard to find them.
Same. Although I will say my box has some of the smells like it did back when I openned it in 2007. Hmmm
I also never understood that coin collectors value coins that were sealed immediately after production. A coin is such a physical item that feels great in the hand, but you can never touch those sealed coins.
Collecting art becomes more and more of a problem, because more and more art is collected by investors and than put into closed boxes, where it can't be by real people. The only intention for displaying it to the public once in a while is drawing the attention of rich collectors to it. Usually those huge art collections are in climate controlled buildings in custom free areas next to an airport. Even Iran owns an art collection that is worth billions and stored somewhere in an underground bunker. I do not think the artist, who usually is already dead, wanted his art become an asset for investors hidden in a bunker.
Even many expensive apartments in New York City are just investments an nobody will ever live there except the investor when he visits the city once a year. At least that development generates a lot of taxes for the city.
Isn't it somehow said that there is a poor iPhone that is sitting in a box forever without ever being used? And isn't it very absurd for the buyer that he buys something that he will never see unless he uses an x-ray machine?
Collecting art becomes more and more of a problem, because more and more art is collected by investors and than put into closed boxes, where it can't be by real people. The only intention for displaying it to the public once in a while is drawing the attention of rich collectors to it. Usually those huge art collections are in climate controlled buildings in custom free areas next to an airport. Even Iran owns an art collection that is worth billions and stored somewhere in an underground bunker. I do not think the artist, who usually is already dead, wanted his art become an asset for investors hidden in a bunker.
Even many expensive apartments in New York City are just investments an nobody will ever live there except the investor when he visits the city once a year. At least that development generates a lot of taxes for the city.
Isn't it somehow said that there is a poor iPhone that is sitting in a box forever without ever being used? And isn't it very absurd for the buyer that he buys something that he will never see unless he uses an x-ray machine?
I know a woman who had bought the first iPad used years after it was released. It sounded like a good deal, but the problem was that almost all apps on the app store were not compatible any more with the first iPad. So she was pretty much limited to browsing in the internet with an already outdated browser.
Which ever telco's had the contracts for the first generation iphones will probably have a number of them still factory sealed in a storage container somewhere, forgotten about, collecting dust. I used to work for a consumer electronics manufacturer who made mobile phones, video recorders, satellite dishes and receivers, fax machines, printers, computer monitors and much much more and when a product became 'end of line' due to a new version coming out, due to the way contracts are drawn up between the manufacturer and the customer, the customer pays for x amount of the product to be made and when the product 'end of line' deadline approaches, the customer always makes sure they have a few extra made to cover any last minute rushes on consumers purchasing the product. Many times these 'rushes' do not occur so the customer is left with x amount of 'end of line' products which whilst maybe still sitting in the manufacturers warehouse, is returned to the customer because it is their stock that they paid for. The ONLY products that the manufacturer keeps is the faulty stuff that they have not had time to repair. There are times where a customer will tell the manufacturer to destroy what stock is remaining. I've personally seen it happen, the end of line of a product has passed, there are pallets of brand new stock in the warehouse waiting to be shipped to the customer and the customer has turned round and said they no longer need the 'old' product and to break them up. Yes, i've seen the warehouse guys smash up brand new working products fresh off a pallet and dump them smashed up in skips because the customer no longer wants the remaining stock because they cannot sell it because consumers want the new product so rather than have unused stock sitting in a storage facility costing the customer money in storage fees, they would rather have the unused stock smashed up and thrown away. I've seen it happen to mobile phones, video recorders and monitors.
Maybe the same thing happens with Apple's manufacturers, they are told to smash up excess stock rather than the customer having to pay for storage.
Maybe the same thing happens with Apple's manufacturers, they are told to smash up excess stock rather than the customer having to pay for storage.
For everyone saying the battery is probably swollen - I don’t think so. Without going through any charge/discharge cycles, it’s most likely in its original form.
Oh I’m sorry. You mean all these posts below?
Just because you want me to be wrong, doesn’t mean I am 😘
I disagree with the $150 discount subsidization: I believe it was much higher.
I don’t think $150 was accurate. I am using this data from how the iPhone 4 was treated on Sprint: $200 subsidized on a two year plan, or $650 unlocked.
I hope the buyer gets the box x-rayed/scanned to see if the contents inside the box is what should be in the box because it is far too easy these days to reseal boxes in the wrapping manner they was done way back when.
The pokemon fraud is what would prevent me from buying something being advertised as 'factory sealed' hence the tags of 'rare' and 'on of a kind'
www.thegamer.com
If Logan Paul had never opened the box and done what most collectors do which is leave the item sealed and stored away for the next generations, his future generations would have had a box that was actually worthless. Therefore it certainly makes me wonder about these original first gen iphones that have been starting to appear on the auction circuit.
The pokemon fraud is what would prevent me from buying something being advertised as 'factory sealed' hence the tags of 'rare' and 'on of a kind'
Logan Paul's $3.5 Million Pokemon Card Box Is Fake And Full Of G.I. Joe Cards
Collectors suspected it was fake all along, but Paul remained hopeful.
If Logan Paul had never opened the box and done what most collectors do which is leave the item sealed and stored away for the next generations, his future generations would have had a box that was actually worthless. Therefore it certainly makes me wonder about these original first gen iphones that have been starting to appear on the auction circuit.
My $150 figure came from what AT&T was typically giving as 2 year contract discounts in 2007 when the original iPhone launched. Although AT&T didn't show contract discounts for the iPhone, it had been marketing other smartphones like BlackBerry, Palm, etc. with a "regular" retail price and then a 2 year contract price which was usually $150 less.
The contract/no-contract price differences did widen in later years especially after Verizon and then Sprint became eligible to sell iPhones.
haha, this is so good! I do have some old iPods, still in use to this day. Yes, just to avoid crappy apple music and spotify.
Completely plausible, although hard to believe
One if the posts I linked was a breakdown of what ATT was charging for plans. $80 was one number that stood out, and I remember thinking blackberry and iPhone owners were so rich because of what the monthly plans cost (in 2007 mind you!)
$150 subsidize perk just sounds too low… but I could be wrong of course and it really was only 150 bucks to be locked into a 2 year plan. Sounds like a bad deal, which is why I suspect that the subsidization was higher and hidden in the cost of the plan.
On a related note (and progressed further) I knew that splitting the cost of the phones and the cost of the plan up like a decade ago would lead to higher prices for cell plans: no subsidization anymore but full price AND $80 plans for single people…. But you can get three year “credits” on your bill worth ~$800-$1000 if you trade in a smartphone, which pretty much makes it a three year lock in 🤷♂️ it all circles back around, ha.
According to ChatGPT, $600 invested in AAPL in 2007 would be worth more than a quarter million dollars today.
The cheapest AT&T plan for an iPhone in 2007 was $59.99/month which included unlimited data but was limited on talk (450 weekdays, 5,000 nights and weekends) and text (200). Adjusting for inflation, $59.99 is over $86 in today's dollars. Plans at the time could get ridiculously expensive if you added more texts and weekday minutes. You can get unlimited plans for much less than even $86+ today.
Carriers largely got rid of "contracts" years ago and replaced them with inflated trade-in programs which, as you suggested, are pretty much like contracts as you need to stick with a plan for the full term (usually 2 to 3 years) in order to get the full credit. They also usually require one of the carrier's higher priced plans which may have features you don't need.
Great for repair and durability. User experience not so much, especially the mute switch. If the haptic feedback is implemented well, which they absolutely are capable of seeing the force trackpad and Touch ID implementation , 75% probably do not even care. Hope they implement some sort of LED on the mute switch for visual conformation. Like the old school MBP battery indicator.