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The REAL reason for no unsubsidized price...

Mad Mac Maniac

Mad Mac Maniac

macrumors 601
Original poster
Oct 4, 2007
4,808
2,110
A little bit of here and a little bit of there.
So, I was thinking about why they won't allow for the uneligible people to buy an unsubsidized version of the iphone for a couple hundred more, and I think I just realized why.

Apple.

Part of Apple's big promotion for this iPhone was affordibility. Getting the cost down was one of their major goals. And that's why Jobs announced a maximum price of $199 around the world. That's why they can't sell them for more, because Jobs claimed they wouldn't be. Then if people realize that the retail price is $500 have have to start buying them for that amount, then suddenly the iphone has lost that large component of their campaign.

No longer can they say "Maxiumum of $200!" but they will need to say "as low as $200 for eligble persons. All others must pay an arm, 2 toes, and $500"

I agree it's a silly reason to not allow an unsubsidized price.. But I think that's why.

Any thoughts?
 
It'll probably be cheaper to cancel your contract for a Maximum of 175 anyway.
I'm due for an upgrade on 9/10, but I should be able to get the iphone on 7/11 given that I've paid my 200 dollar family plan bill on time every month for the past 1.5 years...and it's only 2 months away.
 
For starters, the 16GB iPhone will be more than $199. I think it's a ploy to deter unlockers anyway.
 
If you are not eligible for an upgrade you can still get a $199/299 iPhone.
Step 1 Cancel current contract, depending on the length left on it you may pay substantially less then $175.
Step 1a As mentioned already you may still get a sub`d iPhone depending on your history with AT&T despite not appearing eligible.
Step 2 Buy an iPhone for $199/299
Option 1 wait 31 days someone will sell you one for $399/499 minimum
 
benmrii said:
The specific unsubsidized price hasn't been announced yet, but it has been announced that there will be one.

Front page article last night:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/503225/
Click to expand...

Oh really? Here is the at&t response when someone asked if they were elegible for an iphone.

"I have reviewed your account information. Our records show that in order
to purchase a new 3G iPhone you must be eligible to upgrade on the
service. The system shows that you purchased a phone for the
number on 5/15/2007 at a discounted price with a two year
service commitment which is still in effect on the service. This
prevents you from being eligible to upgrade on the account and will be
prevent you from being eligible to purchase the new 3G iPhone. At this
time, we are not offering the 3G iPhone at a no-commitment or
non-upgrade pricing. In order to purchase the phone, you must be
eligible for a standard upgrade on the account. "

Interesting...
 
As others pointed out, an unsubsidized cost WILL be announced.

But I agree Jobs made a huge mistake in his annoucement, making it seem like the 8gb iPhone will be $199 no matter what. He could have easily worded it a different way, that got the same point across (iPhone now affordable!), but that wouldn't backfire on him later on ("I have to pay a termination fee/unsub'ed fee to get an iPhone?? What happened to $199? Apple's a bunch of liars!").
 
and true, it is probably going to be cheaper to cancel your current plan than to buy an unsubsidized version, but it still is interesting that there isn't that option.

like you can't buy it for a pre-pay phone or anything like that... I mean of course you could always buy and then cancel after 30 days, but the people who don't look into things very much like the convenience of just being able to do things how they want to without trying to get around the system. haha
 
Rojo said:
As others pointed out, an unsubsidized cost WILL be announced.
Click to expand...

Ok, so where are all your sources which claim that there WILL be an unsubsidized price? This has never been officially stated. In fact, at&t has said quite the opposite.

Sure there is speculation that there will be an unsub'ed price, but that could be more wishful thinking than anything.
 
Mad Mac Maniac said:
Oh really? Here is the at&t response when someone asked if they were elegible for an iphone.

"I have reviewed your account information. Our records show that in order
to purchase a new 3G iPhone you must be eligible to upgrade on the
service. The system shows that you purchased a phone for the
number on 5/15/2007 at a discounted price with a two year
service commitment which is still in effect on the service. This
prevents you from being eligible to upgrade on the account and will be
prevent you from being eligible to purchase the new 3G iPhone. At this
time, we are not offering the 3G iPhone at a no-commitment or
non-upgrade pricing. In order to purchase the phone, you must be
eligible for a standard upgrade on the account. "

Interesting...
Click to expand...

If you believe that, after reading the front page story there is nothing else to say.
 
Mad Mac Maniac said:
Ok, so where are all your sources which claim that there WILL be an unsubsidized price? This has never been officially stated. In fact, at&t has said quite the opposite.

Sure there is speculation that there will be an unsub'ed price, but that could be more wishful thinking than anything.
Click to expand...


Might not be "official" but close. Read the previous posts and this
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/503225/ .
 
I think people shouldn't speculate so much and stop reading into things.

Everyone should just wait until July 11th or a closer date when all this information is confirmed. Then we can start discussing ATT's policies.
 
There is NOWAY that there will not be a non subsidized price. You can't refuse to sell a product to some that has the money. It would be foolish for Apple/at&t to not sell iPhones to people that want them.

Isn't apples goal to sell like 8 million iPhones or something? Think about it.

How about this:

People who are ineligible for the subsidized price can certainly buy an iPhone for the "unsubsidized price," Siegel said. What that is, however, has yet to be determined. AT&T will release that price sometime before the iPhone goes on sale.

Read this: http://www.informationweek.com/news...ml?articleID=208700177&subSection=All+Stories

Do we need to discuss this anymore until the price is released?
 
Mad Mac Maniac said:
Ok, so where are all your sources which claim that there WILL be an unsubsidized price? This has never been officially stated. In fact, at&t has said quite the opposite.

Sure there is speculation that there will be an unsub'ed price, but that could be more wishful thinking than anything.
Click to expand...

Now it's on the MR front page, but the unsubsidized price is only for AT&T customers not eligible and under a current contract.

Unlockers will still be detered as you cannot leave the store without signing some sort of contract with AT&T.
 
Mad Mac Maniac said:
Ok, so where are all your sources which claim that there WILL be an unsubsidized price? This has never been officially stated. In fact, at&t has said quite the opposite.

Sure there is speculation that there will be an unsub'ed price, but that could be more wishful thinking than anything.
Click to expand...

As Benmrii stated above, Information Week has an article stating just that. Here is the quote (speaking with AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel):

"People who are ineligible for the subsidized price can certainly buy an iPhone for the "unsubsidized price," Siegel said. What that is, however, has yet to be determined. AT&T will release that price sometime before the iPhone goes on sale."


EDIT: ^^ I see several of us were posting the same thing at the same time. :) GMTA!
 
Mad Mac Maniac said:
Oh really?
Click to expand...

Yes, really.

An AT&T spokesperson has already been quoted stating there will be an unsubsidized price but that they haven't announced it yet.
previous thread • source

An AT&T executive, Mark Siegel, has said, "People who are ineligible for the subsidized price can certainly buy an iPhone for the unsubsidized price." This article is linked in the thread two of us have already provided for you.
previous thread • source
 
I bought an iPhone in September and was on the iPhone plan for several months. I eventually needed to receive my corp exchange mail and switched my sim to a PPC. When I did I could not get voicemail correctly and no MMS. So I called at&t and told them of my problem. They put me on a PDA plan which would let me use my PPC and my iPhone without visual voicemail. All was good. Used this for about 4 months.

With the announcement of the 3G iPhone and its pricing I thought i was out of luck and would have to pay the higher price. So the thread prompted me to call at&t today and investigate. After a 10 minute conversation about the about above issue. She noted my account that I'm a iphone user with a PDA plan due to needing exchange mail and swapping sim's. She said I should be able to get the subsidized price if I renew my contact.

She also said at&t would soon announce the non subsidized price which anyone not eligible could use to purchase the new 3G iPhone.

I will still take it with a grain of salt but at least my account is noted. I will call CS later to see what note was added.
 
verks said:
I bought an iPhone in September and was on the iPhone plan for several months. I eventually needed to receive my corp exchange mail and switched my sim to a PPC. When I did I could not get voicemail correctly and no MMS. So I called at&t and told them of my problem. They put me on a PDA plan which would let me use my PPC and my iPhone without visual voicemail. All was good. Used this for about 4 months.

With the announcement of the 3G iPhone and its pricing I thought i was out of luck and would have to pay the higher price. So the thread prompted me to call at&t today and investigate. After a 10 minute conversation about the about above issue. She noted my account that I'm a iphone user with a PDA plan due to needing exchange mail and swapping sim's. She said I should be able to get the subsidized price if I renew my contact.

She also said at&t would soon announce the non subsidized price which anyone not eligible could use to purchase the new 3G iPhone.

I will still take it with a grain of salt but at least my account is noted. I will call CS later to see what note was added.
Click to expand...

I can imagine how crazy the call center is for AT&T right about now with customers asking for the same thing. Then I can imagine how even crazier it's gonna be on the 11th when there is a customer in line arguing over the fact that a rep notated their account to be elgible for an upgrade and the sales rep looks at the line and decides that it wouldn't be in their best interest to research this matter :eek:
 
Flhusky said:
If you are not eligible for an upgrade you can still get a $199/299 iPhone.
Step 1 Cancel current contract, depending on the length left on it you may pay substantially less then $175.
Step 1a As mentioned already you may still get a sub`d iPhone depending on your history with AT&T despite not appearing eligible.
Step 2 Buy an iPhone for $199/299
Option 1 wait 31 days someone will sell you one for $399/499 minimum
Click to expand...

And for all you know AT&T will tell you are not eligible as you are nto a new customer and have to wait 90 days to come back as a new customer to get the iPhone.

If people think it is going to be that easy, I just warn them I have a sneaking suspicion there will be polciies in place that make this much less attractive.
 
Going to be really tough to find iphones for sale from now on. Supply and demand could inflate open mkt prices substantially.

When people start getting their iphones on the street ripped from their
ears by thieves, you'll know the demand is huge.
 
benmrii said:
Yes, really.

An AT&T spokesperson has already been quoted stating there will be an unsubsidized price but that they haven't announced it yet.
previous thread • source

An AT&T executive, Mark Siegel, has said, "People who are ineligible for the subsidized price can certainly buy an iPhone for the unsubsidized price." This article is linked in the thread two of us have already provided for you.
previous thread • source
Click to expand...

So, does this mean I could get an iPhone and use it with a different carrier? I've seen some comments that AT&T is the only provider that has this type of 3G right now.

Problem is I would love to have an iPhone but can't afford AT&T's prices - with my 4 phone family plan, they would charge me over $60/month more than Sprint. I don't dislike AT&T, but that's just too much $$$.

Over $700 more per year, EVERY year, just to have an iPhone is really hard to justify.
 
cube said:
What SJ said was that it would sell for a maximum of $200 in most of the 22 countries at launch. Watch the keynote.
Click to expand...

no he didn't, i just checked and i quote "i'm really happy to tell you that the iphone 3g is gonna sell for 199. at just 199 we think the iphone 3g is going to be affordable to almost everyone." then stuff about 16gig being 299 and white back "but of course the big news is 399 to 199. and we think we can check off more affordable."

nothing about "most of the countries", nothing about subvention. $199 unconditionally.
 
icewing said:
So, does this mean I could get an iPhone and use it with a different carrier? I've seen some comments that AT&T is the only provider that has this type of 3G right now.

Problem is I would love to have an iPhone but can't afford AT&T's prices - with my 4 phone family plan, they would charge me over $60/month more than Sprint. I don't dislike AT&T, but that's just too much $$$.

Over $700 more per year, EVERY year, just to have an iPhone is really hard to justify.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure if you meant to quote/ask me as I don't see the connection in what you're asking with what I posted, but there are a number of threads and news articles that address that AT&T will do everything they can to ensure that you are using their service, including forcing you to sign up with AT&T as a necessary step in the process of purchasing the phone from either an Apple or AT&T store.

The subsidized cost of the iPhone has everything to do with having AT&T as a carrier since they are the ones eating the cost difference. And while AT&T's unlimited 3G data plans are the same cost (or better) than every other US mobile phone carrier I wasn't aware that the family plan was so much more expensive.
 
sjo said:
no he didn't, i just checked and i quote "i'm really happy to tell you that the iphone 3g is gonna sell for 199. at just 199 we think the iphone 3g is going to be affordable to almost everyone." then stuff about 16gig being 299 and white back "but of course the big news is 399 to 199. and we think we can check off more affordable."

nothing about "most of the countries", nothing about subvention. $199 unconditionally.
Click to expand...

WRONG.

01:40:12
 
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