Question about Pricing

[rscott505]

Sorry if this seems a bit dense, but I'm trying to understand the United States mobile carriers' pricing policy.

I believe that I saw that both AT&T and Verizon are trying to lower the cost of the subsidy of the iPhone that they incur and will be charging an up front fee, and then a charge every month.

I certainly understand the business rationale behind this, however, at the Keynote Apple announced pricing for the phones that was consistent with past practices.

If someone can enlighten me about how this is going to work, I'd appreciate it.

 

[Adelphos33]

Sorry if this seems a bit dense, but I'm trying to understand the United States mobile carriers' pricing policy.

I believe that I saw that both AT&T and Verizon are trying to lower the cost of the subsidy of the iPhone that they incur and will be charging an up front fee, and then a charge every month.

I certainly understand the business rationale behind this, however, at the Keynote Apple announced pricing for the phones that was consistent with past practices.

If someone can enlighten me about how this is going to work, I'd appreciate it.

AT&T and Verizon would like to lower subsidy payments for iPhone but I don't believet hey have extracted those lower costs from Apple yet, so pricing remains the same.

 

[rscott505]

AT&T and Verizon would like to lower subsidy payments for iPhone but I don't believet hey have extracted those lower costs from Apple yet, so pricing remains the same.

Thanks. I thought I saw that they had switched to the method I mentioned. Hopefully that will not come to pass. If it does, I would hope that they do the same for all phones and not just Apple phones.

 

[Mrbobb]

The new monthly-payment thing is not a replacement for subsidy, it just something on the side something t-mobile started to set themselves apart from the other carriers.

Because one thing subsidized customers complaint is, they are locked to one carrier for the service. So t-M says OK, you don't have to be locked to us, but you still owe us for the full amount of the phone but we will let you pay it in 24 months.

Lots of business already do this, Apple.com has a financing plan where you can pay off you purchase in 6-12 months, no interest charged, as long as you have good credit. So even before t-m came up with this idea, you could have done something similar on your own. Buy an unlocked phone from whomever and ask if they have a non-interest financing plan.

No matter what, at the end you end up paying, there is no freebie.