One-Third of U.S. High School Students Now Own an iPhone

[mdriftmeyer]

I've considered that, but I was unsure of how AT&T would respond to me circumnavigating their "data plan required" policy. Hmmm...

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My high school has a bunch of AP courses that are on a 5.0 scale and provide a GPA boost (I'm currently taking 4 AP's out of my 5 academic courses). I guess it varies by school district.

Good for your high school's need to pad your ego and give you `extra credit' grade scales.

Universities don't.

It's an insult to any educated person and explains greatly how come the US is so embarrassingly far behind.

If I got perfect marks on my Differential Equations final I don't get 110%. I get an A at 100%. You'll discover [if you take a difficult degree] that even if you get a 96% that can actually become a B+ due to a curve where your class can be full of 100% students. No class is ever 100%+ in any respected and ABET accredited University.

 

[Mainsail]

A lot of assumptions here, but they're not always applicable.

It all depends on how the student acquired the device. If it was new from the carrier and subsidized, I agree that's a big 2 year commitment - $1,200 or so if the line is on a family plan, even more if not.

But if a parent upgrades to a 4S, gives their 3GS to their kid, and adds a new line for it to their contract... well, the picture changes a bit.

At AT&T, that new line is about ten bucks, plus a one-time activation fee, and a data plan (So assuming 3GB of data, maybe $50/month total with tax).

That's not beyond the resources of a student with a part time job.

And.. because the device is a hand-me-down, there's no subsidized phone, no 2 year contract, no ETF. The line is month-to-month, cancel anytime. It's more affordable than people think, if done right.

I think you nailed it. A lot of parents have reached the end of their contracts and are upgrading. Why not give their teen the old iPhone. Heck, if the two year contract is over, they don't even need to pay for a data plan....just use wifi. It's cheaper than buying a new dumb phone plus an iPod touch for your kid.

 

[iZac]

It's mostly embarrassing is when I see ten your old kids with better phones than me.

 

[Jaredly]

Where are the old timers?

"When I was in school, there was only one phone on the entire campus for students, the pay phone by the principals office".

Don't forget that in order to get to the principals office you had to walk up hill in the snow. (and it always snowed). Oh and you guessed it to get back to class they had to walk up hill again.

 

[fruitycups]

crazy figures once more.

 

[charlituna]

Wirelessly posted

That number really is disgusting. I'm all for success, but not a monopoly.

The numbers are hardly a monopoly and even if they were, so what? It isn't like these kids and their parents don't have other choices. They have dozens but they picked the iPhone and iPad.

 

[charlituna]

Wirelessly posted

There is obviously a lot of people, especially that one, that has no clue what an monopoly is.

But what's scary is that we are moving towards something similar to a monopoly due to just a superior product(s) that no one can seem to compete with.

Sooner or later, someone is going to 'edit' the term monopoly to change what it means so Apple can't dominate.

Not something similar. IF everyone decides the iPhone is the best and it leads the pack by a huge margin the way the first two iPads did them it IS a monopoly.

But there is nothing wrong with that. Mknopolies aren't evil or illegal. Only how you got there and what you do afterwards is the issue.

 

[vartanarsen]

Represent!! (senior and yes, i pay for it)

No, you dont pay for it. Try paying rent/mortgage, and bills. Then come an say you pay for it

 

[faroZ06]

maybe you need to go back to high school yourself because 33% marketshare doesn't even come close to any legal or dictionary definition of "monopoly."

monopoly power occurs when one company has enough control of a particular market that it can squelch competition and consumer choice. 33% marketshare means 66% of students use something else which would indicate there is plenty of competitors and that people are opting for them.

33% + 66% = 99%

 

[Mr. Gates]

And 99% of those spoiled little brats drop them within the first month BECAUSE THEY ARE TOTAL IDIOTS .

Almost as dumb as mommy and daddy who bought them.

I really hate kids today.

Skrillex ????? Get the F out of here with that garbage !

Yeah , break a $600 phone because "It's all chill yo".......


I guarantee you I would never hate just because I don't like. I have reasons.

These kids today don't need an iPhone , they need electric shock treatment

 

[28monkeys]

How is that a monopoly? I am confused. The iPhone only counts for three out of hundreds of smartphones on the market. You can easily choose to get an Android phone, WP7, BlackBerry, etc. Just because it's popular doesn't mean it's a monopoly.

ignore him. Just another hypocrite

 

[Peruna]

34%? Really?

Me doubts this claim. I would have to look into their methodology for this surgery. Was it done across a representative socio-economic field? Was it normalized? How were the sample students chosen? At first glance, 34% seems more than a bit high. As an Apple loyalist I'm happy about us cornering the high school market, I just have serious doubts the numbers are statistically valid.

 

[liavman]

I was at the Apple store. Dad was buying his middle school daughter a 3GS. She could not contain herself with excitement. The min AT&T plan is ( voice 40, data 20, messaging 20 ). I do not know if messaging is mandatory or not but what will a teenager do without SMS! That is $80 plus taxes a month for a middle school kid. She had a dinky feature phone before.

I wonder if there is a cheaper plan for ( 450 minutes, 300 MB, unlimited SMS ) with any other carrier with any other phone.

 

[StyxMaker]

Wirelessly posted

Kids are so lucky these days. When I was in high school, the most advanced Apple product was the G4 Cube.

When I graduated from high school Jobs was still in grade school.

 

[Winni]

How is that a monopoly? I am confused. The iPhone only counts for three out of hundreds of smartphones on the market. You can easily choose to get an Android phone, WP7, BlackBerry, etc. Just because it's popular doesn't mean it's a monopoly.

Microsoft tried that line of defense when they were accused of abusing their operating system monopoly. "How is it a monopoly? There is the Mac. There is Linux." Somehow, the courts did not really buy it.

That being said, it is very obvious that Apple customers no longer "think different". They rather obviously think the same (while waiting in line to "upgrade" their gadgets.)

 

[faroZ06]

And 99% of those spoiled little brats drop them within the first month BECAUSE THEY ARE TOTAL IDIOTS .

Almost as dumb as mommy and daddy who bought them.

I really hate kids today.

Skrillex ????? Get the F out of here with that garbage !

Yeah , break a $600 phone because "It's all chill yo".......


I guarantee you I would never hate just because I don't like. I have reasons.

These kids today don't need an iPhone , they need electric shock treatment

It's a generalization. I have an iPhone. Sure, I don't need it, but I'm not one of those brats who break it. I keep it better protected than anyone I have ever met: it's in a case in a box. My parents gave it to me as a gift, but I'm perfectly fine with just a Gameboy Color and no cellphone (I never answer calls on my iPhone anyway).

Some kids do drop their iPhones. A lot of people at my school have iPhones with cracked screens. Most of them broke over the camping trip when those fools brought iPhone 4s without cases, and the phones got cracked in the bags that were tossed and smashed.

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It's mostly embarrassing is when I see ten your old kids with better phones than me.

It's kinda sad how spoiled kids are today by their parents. My cousin was 7 years old when he got an iPod touch, which he lost . His sister, a couple of years older, had an iPhone 3G. At that time, I was using an iPhone 1 that my brother found in the trash. I was fine with it (it was jailbroken and had a lot of cool things on it), but my parents got me an iPhone 4, so I stopped using it.

 

[Michael Scrip]

I was at the Apple store. Dad was buying his middle school daughter a 3GS. She could not contain herself with excitement. The min AT&T plan is ( voice 40, data 20, messaging 20 ). I do not know if messaging is mandatory or not but what will a teenager do without SMS! That is $80 plus taxes a month for a middle school kid. She had a dinky feature phone before.

I wonder if there is a cheaper plan for ( 450 minutes, 300 MB, unlimited SMS ) with any other carrier with any other phone.

In that particular case... the dad would already be paying $60 a month for voice and SMS on a flip-phone... what's another $20 for data on a more advanced smartphone?

Maybe a middleschooler doesn't need a mini-computer in her pocket with GPS and all that jazz... but why not?

(we might be forgetting about family plans... that reduces the price a bit. Have any carriers started family data plans yet?)

 

[Rodimus Prime]

Me doubts this claim. I would have to look into their methodology for this surgery. Was it done across a representative socio-economic field? Was it normalized? How were the sample students chosen? At first glance, 34% seems more than a bit high. As an Apple loyalist I'm happy about us cornering the high school market, I just have serious doubts the numbers are statistically valid.

Honestly I do not doubt the claim at all. First off because some of the first hand observations I have made and I have access from directly from HS teachers seems to support this number in a ball park range. Plus in terms of techology like Cell phones High school tends to follow the general population pretty well in terms of market share. Mind you I find their are more followers of what is trending and less "free thinking" in high school age kids compared to adults. This mostly because I have seen High School kids are still trying to define ones self. Later on in life most people grow out of it and become content with who they are and do not fight their own personal style.

 

[faroZ06]

In that particular case... the dad would already be paying $60 a month for voice and SMS on a flip-phone... what's another $20 for data on a more advanced smartphone?

Maybe a middleschooler doesn't need a mini-computer in her pocket with GPS and all that jazz... but why not?

(we might be forgetting about family plans... that reduces the price a bit. Have any carriers started family data plans yet?)

SMS is totally retarded. It's a humungous scam that should be destroyed. You're paying way extra to send a tiny bit of data. It's 10000X as expensive per byte than a data plan according to a quick search, but of course, it depends on your plan. It's 30 cents per text without a plan... and it forces you to pay when someone messages you.

For SMS, just use Google Voice if you don't want to pay for that stupid garbage. In reality, everyone should just use email, but this is (sadly) not the case.

I hate the SMS system more than I hate Windows Vista...

 

[Springroll]

Actually it's not that strange. Most of us have owned an older model of the iPhone and upgraded. My daughter (10) got my old 3GS when I upgraded to the iPhone 4 and my wife got that when I upgraded to the 4S
Most of the kids in her class have "touch" mobile phones, the phone to have is the iPhone though...
Here in Stockholm, Sweden I would say that the iPhone-Other brands percentage is 75% just judging on the ones I see when commuting.
I actually contemplated changing phone just because Apple had lost that unique status But I couldn't find an alternative that I liked better

 

[marksman]

Wirelessly posted

Kids are getting smarter.

Wirelessly posted

That number really is disgusting. I'm all for success, but not a monopoly.

How is that a monopoly? I am confused. The iPhone only counts for three out of hundreds of smartphones on the market. You can easily choose to get an Android phone, WP7, BlackBerry, etc. Just because it's popular doesn't mean it's a monopoly.

To be fair wikus is one of the in house apple haters here. He can't accept that apple might create really desirable product and has to make reaching claims that apple only succeeds through nefarious means.

Wirelessly posted

Wow. Now assume that everyone who buys a smartphone never goes back to not having a smartphone. So as these kids get older, are we going to get the point where 30% or 40% of all of the U.S. is an iPhone user? And they are replacing their phone every three years? Hmm, quick calculation . . . So Apple could be doing 30 or 40 million in iPhone sales just in the U.S. each year.

With similar uptake in other rich countries, we could be looking at hundreds of millions of iPhones sold each year. Presumably the other companies will eventually make a more compelling phone. But if they don't, I think this is where we are headed. People want smartphones. The market is as large as the entire human population which has the necessary disposable income to buy quality technology devices. If Apple continues to dominate this market, it will hit $1,000 per share price.

The really interesting thing to watch is when today's teenagers are in their 20s and have 10 plus years of buying into the apple ecosystem. It will be prohibitive for people to even switch.

Wirelessly posted

The financial ignorance this implies is deeply disturbing. That the down-payment for an very high priced device has encouraged so much wasteful spending should bother us all. That this is happening to our children is atrocious.

Unfortunately, advertisements as well as this forum, continue to obscure the true price paid for Apple's iPhone by ignoring the monthly loan payments incorporated in the carrier's bill.

As you may have read, the iPhone is no where near as popular in Europe where carrier subsidies are rare and users have to pay for the phone upfront.

The iPhone is excellent technology, but it does come at a real price. Obscuring its price adds to Apple's sales but hurts our fellow citizens and, in this story, our children.

You realize apple is not the only one who sells subsidized phones right?

Also a kid is likely on their patents plan which is $10 a month plus data charges. What bothers me more are people who make these big sweeping claims about real costs without understanding them.

 

[cambox]

Two thirds of smart phones in US schools are not iphone Perhaps this is the headline? Or we could have this one? iphones not found on moon! The bait is the word iphone.. Mac rumours just loves to wind you up with anything mac related and you discuss it

 

[marksman]

Wirelessly posted

A lot of assumptions here, but they're not always applicable.

It all depends on how the student acquired the device. If it was new from the carrier and subsidized, I agree that's a big 2 year commitment - $1,200 or so if the line is on a family plan, even more if not.

But if a parent upgrades to a 4S, gives their 3GS to their kid, and adds a new line for it to their contract... well, the picture changes a bit.

At AT&T, that new line is about ten bucks, plus a one-time activation fee, and a data plan (So assuming 3GB of data, maybe $50/month total with tax).

That's not beyond the resources of a student with a part time job.

And.. because the device is a hand-me-down, there's no subsidized phone, no 2 year contract, no ETF. The line is month-to-month, cancel anytime. It's more affordable than people think, if done right.

Bad math is bad. Your math is really bad.

Wirelessly posted

This is cool and all but wouldn't the money spent on iPhones be better spent on some good books, indy movies and documentaries, or art classes( ex: photography- learning to develop real film in a darkroom, figure drawing, printmaking, etc...)? playing angry birds on the iphone is cool but it doesn't compare to learning how to etch on copper. Even setting up the chemicals to develop B&W film is infinitely more interesting than logging in to update ones facebook status. IMO, learning technique and skill is best done at a young age and i just think some of these kids might be missing out on some hands on learning while playing with their iphones.​

I remember the highlight of my teenage years was finally being able to afford to buy some Koh I Noor pens and a set of 120 prismacolors. It sounds lame but man was I happy.

That's great but most of those things are not more interesting, entertaining or useful to most people. Especially with the technology era being able to create on your iPad will likely be much more beneficial than etching copper.

 

[marksman]

Wirelessly posted

Uh, actually no. What you were so poor in high school that you couldn't afford a $200 phone? I got my first iPhone in 7th grade (iP4) and paid for it without any problem. Just because you're poor doesn't make everyone around you poor.

Lol....it's not the subsidized phone itself, it's the $1200+ contract that comes with it.

You obviously have no grasp on how much these things actually cost.

___________________________________________________________________

Yet dropout rates are still extremely high and kids, on the whole, are a lot dumber.

I have noticed that the "smarter" kids are the ones without the smartphones. No, seriously. All the people I know with GPA's over 4.0 don't have smartphones. I'm rather proud of my 4.8 too. Maybe it's a sign!! LOL.

Just my experience in my twisted little world.

Most people have cell phones so costs are entirely relative.

The cost to buy an iPhone on a family plan is not 1200.

You get a 3GS for free. You are on a family plan with a 10 a month line charge. That charge exists for any phone so it is not relevant. Then you pay for data. Well you use the data and pay for it. There is no magic data rate for having another phone.

Not to mention the massive utility the device offers. So the actual cost to buy an iPhone is $0. The cost to USE on is $30 a month. The cost to use an iPhone over a dumb phone is $20 a month. Most teenagers spend much more on clothes, music and going to movies each month.

Given what you can accomplish on a smartphone $20-$30 a month is a very good deal.

Using ridiculous voodoo math to claim phones cost 1200 to buy is very 2008. Please catch up with the times. Your logic is like saying that my $150 bookcase cost me $5000 because i bought books for it.

The cost difference between an iPhone and a dumb phone over two years is $480. That is a very good value. You would have to be kind of dumb not to get it because it would probably provide you or your kid way more than $500 of value or worth over that time.

Can we please just be done with the bad cellphone math from 2007-2008?

 

[Marcus-k]

Two thirds of smart phones in US schools are not iphone Perhaps this is the headline? Or we could have this one? iphones not found on moon! The bait is the word iphone.. Mac rumours just loves to wind you up with anything mac related and you discuss it

They never mention how many students actually have other smartphones, they only say that one third of the students own an iPhone. The other 2 thirds could have another phone, or no phone at all.