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Factory-Sealed Original iPhone Sells for $55,000 at Auction
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What makes this different than a lot of collectables or art is the fact it has a battery in it that will (when not if) swell/expand/corrode and/or ignite and destroy the device. It is a hot potato in that regard. It appreciates in value in certain circles until it suddenly becomes worthless, possibly even dangerous.
Far better would be a like new, or unused, example with the battery expertly removed and a nice display made of the various materials. If collected, this class of device should be collected like a taxidermized animal, or better yet, maintained in a functional manner. Otherwise, rather than a preserved specimen, you eventually will end up with the digital equivalent of a putrefied animal carcass.
Far better would be a like new, or unused, example with the battery expertly removed and a nice display made of the various materials. If collected, this class of device should be collected like a taxidermized animal, or better yet, maintained in a functional manner. Otherwise, rather than a preserved specimen, you eventually will end up with the digital equivalent of a putrefied animal carcass.
yes
but you are
As many have told you, there was NO subsidy. Go back and watch Steve's introduction. $599 was the price. Apple's price. The actual retail price of the original iPhone. (and, yes, I bought one at Fashion Valley San Diego at 11:30pm on release day). The fact that AT&T required a contract was due to their exclusivity on iPhone and the fact that they could require it. It had nothing to do with a "subsidy" - $599 went directly to Apple. Two year contract with AT&T for the privilege of buying one.
I don't know, what about the battery? Has it ever been unboxed or looked upon, maybe with X-Ray imaging?
It could be swollen, which makes it unusable, I wouldn't pay more than $50, even less if it's sealed just because it could be damaged and I wouldn't know it.
It could be swollen, which makes it unusable, I wouldn't pay more than $50, even less if it's sealed just because it could be damaged and I wouldn't know it.
And “Apple’s price” later just magically changed to $200 on contract/subsidy? How do you explain that?
Products, especially Apple, are always MORE expensive on the first generation offering. They get LESS expensive later.
also, go back and watch events introducing the iPhone back when contracts was the norm… are they giving the unlocked price? No. They’re giving the $200 price. Because there was no separation between plans and phone costs before T-Mobile came along (this is in the US)
So educate me, please: we’re you able to buy the phone for $599 and then use it on any carrier you wanted to (I.e. unlocked?)
If no, then you were certainly paying for the phone through the “locked-in” price with ATT service monthly fee.
*edit I don’t think my point is clear. The $599 was a subsidized price, that makes it more expensive than the later $200 subsidized price. My $1049 actual “unlocked real” cost of the first iPhone still stands and is correct as far as the $450 assumption of subsidization is accurate.
I should start a poll in a new thread, to see who is correct.
It's NOT accurate. Apple stock closed at $122.04 on June 29, 2007 and had two stock splits since. The spit adjusted price is around $4.36. The current trading price is around $158 which means $600 invested in 2007 would therefore be worth around $21,743 today which is nowhere near a quarter million dollars.
What is being argued here is that "subsidies" came later. As I mentioned previously regarding the original iPhone, AT&T was typically giving customers $150 contract discounts on other smartphones at the time so with the iPhone they either kept the $150 for themselves (and iPhone buyers paid "full price" for a 2 year contract) or it was baked into the advertised price.
As I also mentioned, the contract/no-contract iPhone price differences did widen (to as much as $450) in later years. However, there's nothing to definitively show what it might have been with the original iPhone. I've been using $150 as that is what other smartphones were typically being discounted when purchased with 2 year AT&T contracts.
?? Separate iPhone contract/no-contract prices started to be promoted in 2008, well before T-Mobile became eligible (which wasn't until 2013) to sell iPhones in the U.S.
If you had invested $599 in AAPL
16 years ago, you would have $32,861.55 today.
So $54 904 was a good ROI.
16 years ago, you would have $32,861.55 today.
So $54 904 was a good ROI.
I think ATT was ripping people off then. Only offering $150 to not buy a phone on contract sounds like a bad deal.
Sorry, but I still think that there is no way that a first generation product from Apple would have “only” cost $599, or even $750 as you’re suggesting.
Apple was always about exclusivity and giving people better things but at a higher price tag. That $599 price tag was certainly in addition to more than $150 subsidy (more like $450).
Because if what you’re saying is true that $150 was the subsidy, then the iPhone at $200 two year contract was really in fact only $350. I want that deal!
I can't specifically speak to what AT&T and/or Apple were doing but given how much iPhone prices dropped in a little over a year, I would say the original iPhone launch "packages" (phone and 2 year contract requirement) were overpriced. An 8GB iPhone in June 2007 was $599, three months later it was $399, and then in July 2008 the next generation 8GB iPhone 3G was just $199 (all with 2 year contracts). A 2/3rds drop in price!
Correct! And that’s in line with the pricing of most first gen tech! (I.e. very high, then moves to lower after iterations.)
I stood in line for the 3GS's launch (maybe a few days later) and I overheard you needed your social security card and I didn't posses it as I was about 15 at the time and too nervous to ask my parents for it 😅
Let’s see how this $3000 VR/AR goggle set pans out 🤓
Probably not as bad as that first iPhone, but we did have the $25000 gold Apple Watch, that went away after one year, so… maybe 🤷♂️
1 of the first Apple 1 circuit boards hand soldered and signed by Wozniak himself selling for several hundred thousand I can understand, but this?