Nope,
http://www.play.com/Mobiles/Mobile/...locked-Touch-Screen-Mobile-Phone/Product.html
They're alot cheaper now, but look at the RRP, £899.99. That's what they were selling for when they were first made available last July.
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The U.K. iPhone 4 Thread
- Thread starter CD3660
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Nope,
http://www.play.com/Mobiles/Mobile/...locked-Touch-Screen-Mobile-Phone/Product.html
They're alot cheaper now, but look at the RRP, £899.99. That's what they were selling for when they were first made available last July.
Thing is though, the iPhone isn't subsidised on Pay As You Go.
On a contract it's subsidised, which is why they can give you it for less provided you take a certain value of contract.
The SIM free cost isn't the "actual price" of the phone set by Apple, and the PAYG price isn't the subsidised cost.
The actual cost of the iPhone on PAYG is what Apple set it at. SIM free sellers are doing nothing but profiteering.
Ah thought so, thanks. Seems pretty daft to buy a SIM free for that much when (hopefully) all the UK carriers will eventually offer it on PAYG
It is that's why when you buy the phone you have to do a £10/£20 top up straight away so they can get some money back.
PAYG phones are subsidised, hence why the phones are very often locked to specific networks. The PAYG iPhones with O2 came with 12 months unlimited data, but were restricted to that network and O2 were refusing to unlock the phones. This policy guarantees owners will top up using O2, meaning they can offset the price to make it more attractive.
I believe, if you damage your phone, need a replacement and don't have insurance O2 charge a fee considerably more than the PAYG price.
i have booked the 24th and 25th off work
It was already booked where I work with people going out for the World Cup matches on the 23 >.<
I don't believe that, for the simple reason that rather than getting the overpriced replacement you could just go into an apple store, get another PAYG phone (even if you need to pay the £10 topup), flush the new PAYG sim down the loo and just put your old sim into the new handset. That being true, why on earth would anyone pay £900 for a replacement from O2?
That's not what I was told by a numerous Apple employees at the Glasgow store.
By your reckoning then, the SIM free cost is the actual price of the iPhone on PAYG, but the carriers subsidise it to bring it down to the £449/£589 (using old 3GS 16/32GB prices here).
If SIM free was the actual cost of the iPhone as set by Apple, then it would be a purchase option, which it never has been.
i have booked the 24th and 25th off work
Me too! Gonna pre-order it tomorrow and have it delivered to home maybe with a dock. I can then head down to the Apple store to have a look at the bumper cases on the Friday.
So what you're saying is that O2 subsidise PAYG iPhones by anything up to £400 (based on the SIM-free prices being quoted on here) but then will let people unlock them after a couple of months, getting back only a couple of topups and a £15 unlocking fee and making a net loss of about £350 per handset? Can you say "commercial suicide"?
Well if those PAYG prices are subsidised someone is ripping someone off somewhere. Look at the price of a 3G iPad unlocked, and that has a lot more gubbins in it!
Thats the joys of my dept! theres only 3 of us in my team, and only one needs to be here at any one time, so long as one of the other two are here, i can have whatever days off i like!
I'm considering it but I'll be so tired for work tomorrow..it's only once though
i have tomorrow off work too
although im going to alton towers thats why lol
So what you're saying is that O2 subsidise PAYG iPhones by anything up to £400 (based on the SIM-free prices being quoted on here) but then will let people unlock them after a couple of months, getting back only a couple of topups and a £15 unlocking fee and making a net loss of about £350 per handset? Can you say "commercial suicide"?
That's how it works, but if you look at the percentage of people who actually know about unlocking an iPhone officially is very small. o2 don't tell there customers about it as they want too keep them obviously.
So what you're saying is that O2 subsidise PAYG iPhones by anything up to £400 (based on the SIM-free prices being quoted on here) but then will let people unlock them after a couple of months, getting back only a couple of topups and a £15 unlocking fee and making a net loss of about £350 per handset? Can you say "commercial suicide"?
the sim free prices aren't the 'real' prices. they are overcharged by apple to force people into going through a network. o2 make a small mark up on all the payg phones, and apple make a profit on the handset.
Particularly when the bill of materials and manufacturing costs to make an iPhone is around £120
http://www.isuppli.com/News/Pages/i...ufacturing-Cost-iSuppli-Teardown-Reveals.aspx
Would you think £899.99 is a fair markup?
Well, I doubt the sim free cost to a consumer is the same as the wholesale cost by Apple. The seller needs to make a profit remember! Apple will be charging an wholesale amount that is around the PAYG price, and I seriously doubt it's anything close to the sim free price. Nowhere did I say this is what Apple charges, I simply pointed out the retail cost of a sim free phone!
Sim free sellers will be profiting massively, but that's to be expected. People who buy sim free, are those not wanting to be tied to a particular network/contract for X amount of time. Flexibility always comes at a higher price.