There are just far too many capable mid-range Android phones selling for 140-190 EURO/GBP... unlocked, that are more than enough for most people's needs.
These phones are coming with 600-1GHz single Cpu avg 512 ram, 5 mpx cam, flash, gmaps, navigation, angry birds, facebook, twitter, broswer.. by brands like HTC, Samsung who make very tidy hardware even at these price ranges.
What more do most people need?? Not much evidently.
All the snobbish comments from some make me sick on here.. would you rather these people have none of these capabilities? get out loans, work 3 jobs just to pay for the holy iPhone- which isnt even all that much better??
I say God Bless Google, even if it wasnt purely altruistic on their part, but choosing their model does mean more people can have better things than the elite few.
People need to look at the big picture and stop worrying about Apple's profts. Open sourcing and allowing OEMs to add their own UX's etc means that we will see more innovation than if just from the one vendor. and it can all get fed back into the source. Its fantastic.
Its not about poor people, its about not wasting money. How the hell is 140-200GBP viewed as cheap anyhow, and 500GBP, more than quite a few laptops (except macbooks of course) viewed as a "fair"/respectable price. That shows you how good Apple marketing is worked on some of you.
Highly telling that U.S and U.K big spenders, they are also the economies that led to the crisis, spending money they can in no means pay back.
I heard that more and more students are turning to the adult industry/prostitution to pay tuition fees in the UK. Now thats f*cked up.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-16157522
Also software updates? fragmentation? AT these prices you can afford to upgrade yearly and just get the version (most normal people havent even heard or care about) out then. Not at iPhone prices.
iPhone does not even dominate high-end anymore. That is Samsung too (GS2).