iPhone upgrading 3G to 3GS

[bartman1]

*^&% AT&T & Apple I can't upgrade without a big cost. (buy an iPhone = $600 or Cancel my contract and buy a new one = 179 + 399 = 578) NO WAY
I was with Alltel for 8 years and upraded phones yearly with little to no cost.
Maybe a max of $50 dollars for a palm but nothing like what Apple and AT&T have going. They are loosing my business. My cell and Home service with AT&T is history.
I have been a loyal proponent of Apple since the early 80's but I am starting to feel there is no loyalty anymore. They are just like all the other big corporations GREEDY

 

[Roessnakhan]

Its not greedy, you signed a contract and through that were able to buy a phone at a subsidized price. Deal with it.

 

[WPB2]

You can't really blame them for wanting to make a few bucks (can you?).
The fact of the matter is that at&t has a deal with Apple, and they are the only carrier with the iPhone. People ARE going to get the latest products from Apple, at whatever cost. I'm surprised they haven't taken advantage of this fact yet.

 

[TEG]

Its not greedy, you signed a contract and through that were able to buy a phone at a subsidized price. Deal with it.

Seconded. There is a huge subsidy on the phone, therefore you must at least be on for 18 months before the subsidy is paid off, and you can get another subsidized phone. iPhone EDGE users didn't have that problem because they bought it at full price. So if you get the 3GS at full price, then when the new one comes out next year, you can get it for the discounted price.

Alltel's upgrades were different too, because they based their subsidies on one year, and didn't have many high-end phones.

TEG

 

[bartman1]

I've stood behind Apple when everyone laughed at them I have used Apple products in TV Broadcasting for 29 years and used an Apple II before that. But in this time when companies need to sell things they should be offering incentives. The only reason I bought an iphone and gave up my palm and blackberry was because of loyalty now I don't see Apple or AT&T making efforts to be flexible and loyal to it's customers and to the person who said "deal with it", I'm a big boy I can deal with it. It's very disconcerting to spend a lot of money less than 3 months ago and now have to spend twice that much to buy from the same manufacturer and almost the same product, just to get a little improvement. Battery life is not much better (read specs at Apples own website) and the really only improvements are cut and paste and that comes with the 3.0, other than the video recording there's not much improvement. Also my AT&T signal strength is very poor, I'm not satisfied with that aspect either.

Have a nice day!

 

[TMar]

AT&T agreed to pay for part of your phone in return for you paying your bill for 18 months. Every one loves to complain when they can't get a new phone, but it's a great deal when a phone company is willing to pay half the price of the phone for you. Not to mention there is always the possibility that they will not be able to recoup that money.

 

[scaredpoet]

I've stood behind Apple when everyone laughed at them I have used Apple products in TV Broadcasting for 29 years and used an Apple II before that. But in this time when companies need to sell things they should be offering incentives.

Apple is doing quite fine and doesn't need to offer any incentives.

It also doesn't matter how loyal an Apple person you are. You still signed a contract. You still got a subsidy last time you bought the iPhone 3G. For AT&T to give you another subsidy would be to sell to you at a loss, and frankly, they are not prepared to do that. End of story.

For someone so loyal to Apple, you sure have a sense of entitlement. "In these times" companies need to make a profit, and they cannot do that by continuing to subsidize your phone purchases less than a year after they already gave you one.

It's very disconcerting to spend a lot of money less than 3 months ago and now have to spend twice that much to buy from the same manufacturer and almost the same product,

WHOA!!! You want them to subsidize you again after only 3 months?!

just to get a little improvement. Battery life is not much better (read specs at Apples own website) and the really only improvements are cut and paste and that comes with the 3.0, other than the video recording there's not much improvement.

Sounds to me like you just made a case for why you should be perfectly happy with your existing iPhone 3G. You're right, there's not much of a difference. So why even upgrade?

The iPhone you have was just fine for you three months ago. It should continue to fine now and for the next 15 months, at which point you'll probably be elligible to upgrade again.

Here's another option: you can sell your existing iPhone on eBay or craigslist. Some are selling there for more than you paid for it. It's unlikely you'll get all the cash you need to get a 3G S, but you can use the money you do get fromt he sale to help pay for it.

 

[TMar]

Let me try this again. Look at it like this..


You walk into a AT&T store and tell the sells person you want an iphone. He tells you "OK, your new around here. Give me $200, agree to pay your bill for 18 months and we will get this going." You hand him your money, then he reaches in his pocket and pulls out $300 and adds it to yours. The two of you walk over to the apple store next door. He hands the sells person the $500 he's holding and the apple guy hands him the phone, which he in turns hand to you. You say, "That's really cool, thanks!"

Now see, like most people you never see this sales person pull his $300 out of his pocket (he's tricky like that). Now you come back 3 months later and want him to spend another $300 on you. He tells you that you will have to wait until your 18 months are up again before you can give you another loan, like you agreed too. You call him a bad person and proceed to tell him how he's robbing you, when in fact it's you trying to rob him.

 

[JonboyDC]

I don't see Apple or AT&T making efforts to be flexible and loyal to it's customers

For big spenders, AT&T is giving a full subsidy on the 3G S way before you would normally be eligible. And even for the rest of us, there's a partial subsidy. (The $500 they'd charge an early upgrader for a 32 GB phone with a new 2-year contract is a lot cheaper than the $700 for a phone with no contract). That sounds fairly flexible to me.

 

[Gathomblipoob]

...same manufacturer and almost the same product, just to get a little improvement. Battery life is not much better (read specs at Apples own website) and the really only improvements are cut and paste and that comes with the 3.0, other than the video recording there's not much improvement

I guess you missed the improved camera with auto-focus, auto-white balance, auto-exposure and tap-to-focus. Not to mention a significant improvement in speed over the 3G. Oh, and what about Voice Control and the hardware compass for GPS?

AT&T doesn't owe you anything. You need to honor your contract.

 

[macfanboy]

but I am starting to feel there is no loyalty anymore. They are just like all the other big corporations GREEDY

why should AT&T treat iphone users differently from the rest of the cell phone users?

Move on people, just another baby complaining for special treatment.

 

[DiamondMac]

Why do people going back to this loyalty argument?

Stop saying loyalty and instead just admit you want free money when you all have no right to it.

 

[Wicked1]

Geez, I just bought mine because I am new to AT&T but not Apple, so next year when the new one comes out, I will not cry, I will understand that I chose to buy this year instead of next year. We all make choices, you have to live with the fact that you just got your phone and the new phones are full retail since you are in the begining of a 2-year contract.

Don't be foolish and say your done with both because then you wasted $ on the phone and AT&T will charge you to cancel your contract, just deal with the phone you have, it is still current technology.

Apple makes $200 on every phone they sell, AT&T pays Apple like $300 for every phone sold because AT&T gets a new contract like mine, then for the next 24 months I pay my plan and data, txt every month $90.00 X 24 $2,160.00 so yes they sub my phone, but in 2 years to win my business they will give me another discount and sub another phone say roughly the same amount so they can earn my Business again.

Goto Verizon or T-Mobile, it is the same wherever you go, my wife just bought a Curve for $149.00 and now they are $49 because the new one is coming out on Verizon, if she cried to them, do you think Verizon will give her a new phone that sells for $199 and sub her new phone pricing even though she is not signing a new contract, no way, good luck with any phone service if you want to be able to buy whatever you want and whenever you want do Pay as You Go.