VZW/Customer Divorce

[Diseal3]

Its all speculation cause obviously none of us were around for example when Sprint signed a $15 Billion dollar iPhone deal with Apple.
You say that they pay Apple $600 per base model iphone I tell you that doesn't make any sense. You have to be really gullible to buy the bs that carriers say about they are losing money and that they need to pass on the $36 upgrade fee and other nonsense. You are their wet dream of a customer

+2. People cannot actually believe carriers pay the same as consumers when they order in bulk. Some people just don't understand business.

 

[charlituna]

A bunch of BS excuses from Verizon why they have to charge you a fee on top of locking you into a 2 year contract.

Yep. That $35 was basically covering the costs of letting you upgrade 4 months early. Maybe back in the day some of it was for the Joe that filed the paperwork that showed you upgraded but now it's all by computer in the blink of an eye and with an iPhone all the 'hard work' is often done by someone at an Apple Store. Even in house it can't be more than $5 work.

With no longer letting us upgrade early there's no need for the extra $30 for sure.

As for support, what support? You call they say its your phone and for iPhones they tell you to go to Apple. That's perhaps 25 cents in labor.

 

[Applejuiced]

I forgot, you are the expert in everything, so you don't need do back up anything you say. You must be a politician.

You just need common sense not evidence about something so obvious genius
Not an expert or politician either. I dislike politicians in general.

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Yep. That $35 was basically covering the costs of letting you upgrade 4 months early. Maybe back in the day some of it was for the Joe that filed the paperwork that showed you upgraded but now it's all by computer in the blink of an eye and with an iPhone all the 'hard work' is often done by someone at an Apple Store. Even in house it can't be more than $5 work.

With no longer letting us upgrade early there's no need for the extra $30 for sure.

As for support, what support? You call they say its your phone and for iPhones they tell you to go to Apple. That's perhaps 25 cents in labor.

I agree on that.
I just plug in my iphone to iTunes and its activated. No support or anything like that. They really need to charge me $36 for that or for signing a 2 year contract with them?

 

[darster]

+2. People cannot actually believe carriers pay the same as consumers when they order in bulk. Some people just don't understand business.

Again, they are not when it comes to the big 3. They make you pay $199 for the phone. Read my earlier post. Their real cost is $400 to $450. That sounds like a good discount to me. How is that hard to understand. They pay full price for accounting purposes, charge the individual $199, and in essence get a 30% discount from Apple off the price of the phone. Why is that so hard to understand?

 

[Applejuiced]

Again, they are not when it comes to the big 3. They make you pay $199 for the phone. Read my earlier post. Their real cost is $400 to $450. That sounds like a good discount to me. How is that hard to understand. They pay full price for accounting purposes, charge the individual $199, and in essence get a 30% discount from Apple off the price of the phone. Why is that so hard to understand?

Because you claim that they take your $199 and then they pay the rest $400-450 to Apple to equal full price what anyone can buy it.
And that is nonsense.
That's what we are all trying to tell you but you don't get it. They pay less than $400-450 to Apple to subsidize it.
Anyway, you don't get it or don't want to get it.

 

[darster]

Because you claim that they take your $199 and then they pay the rest $400-450 to Apple to equal full price what anyone can buy it.
And that is nonsense.
That's what we are all trying to tell you but you don't get it. They pay less than $400-450 to Apple to subsidize it.
Anyway, you don't get it or don't want to get it.

Guess you don't understand big business. How do you think Wal Mart does so well? They sell many items at near cost to get you into the store to buy more. Big profits with low margins. You don't think the mobile carriers do the same thing? They get you in with little profit margin on the phones, get you to sign a contract, you pay ridiculous amounts for data, texts and voice. You end up paying close to $2400 over a 2 year contract for something that costs them less than $1000. Even subtracting $400 to $500 for the phone, they are clearing $1000 per person over 2 years. That's how you make money. I didn't say they pay apple $400 to $500 for the phone. I said they pay full price to Apple. They can use that as an accounting gimmick, then charge you $199 for the phone. The actual cost of that phone for the carrier is now $400 to $450 for the phone, exactly what you are claiming they pay for the phone. Some people just cant understand.

 

[Truefan31]

Again, all the US carriers, Verizon, Sprint, AT&T pay the same costs for iphones as consumers or near retail. They do not get some magical big discount on the phone. They use the phone as a vehicle for you to use their service, preferably a 2 year agreement. They get the money back they used to buy the phone, plus a whole lot more. This is not hard to understand, and it's the reason Apple has well over 100 billion cash on hand. They do not need to discount their merchandise to carriers b/c they know it's the most popular phone in the world, and they know carriers will pay pretty much whatever to carry it. It costs Apple about 200 to make an iphone, why would you think they would discount anything off the retail price of 650 when they know demand is at an all time high.

I've talked to master agents, regional and corporate reps for all big 3 carriers, there is no magical discount given. Please try to understand that.

 

[tardman91]

For what it's worth, a friend of mine runs a small business and when he purchases iPads in bulk (not to resell them) he gets a 10% discount (which is similar to what Apple's education discount was before they just went for the straight $100 off on select products). If we use that logic on the iPhone, a 10% discount on a $650 phone is $65 which brings the price down to $585 (nearing T-Mobile territory). I think it is reasonable to assume that a multi-billion dollar corporation that buys hundreds of thousands/millions of iPhones gets a much (probably not all that much) more favorable discount than a small business that buys a hundred or so iPads a pop. Maybe 15%? I think 20% might be pushing it?

 

[Wicked1]

Left them in 2008 after really bad customer support issues, went to iPhone 3G and AT&T and never looked back.

I would love it if AT&T offered what they have now and something like what T-Mobile is offering, I would have no issue keeping my phone a little longer and paying full price, if my monthly was lower.

 

[Applejuiced]

Guess you don't understand big business. How do you think Wal Mart does so well? They sell many items at near cost to get you into the store to buy more. Big profits with low margins. You don't think the mobile carriers do the same thing? They get you in with little profit margin on the phones, get you to sign a contract, you pay ridiculous amounts for data, texts and voice. You end up paying close to $2400 over a 2 year contract for something that costs them less than $1000. Even subtracting $400 to $500 for the phone, they are clearing $1000 per person over 2 years. That's how you make money. I didn't say they pay apple $400 to $500 for the phone. I said they pay full price to Apple. They can use that as an accounting gimmick, then charge you $199 for the phone. The actual cost of that phone for the carrier is now $400 to $450 for the phone, exactly what you are claiming they pay for the phone. Some people just cant understand.

You clearly don't understand big business and simple economics.
I buy one device for $649 and someone else is buying $135 Billion dollars worth of iphones and pays the same price or just $49 cheaper than me?
That's what you are claiming.
And for Tmobile to be selling it for $580 according to you then they are losing money on it. Do you even read what you post?

 

[CEmajr]

You guys who think these carriers are paying $649 per iPhone must be clueless on business. Like said above, Tmobile is charging $580 for the iPhone 5 and not locking people into contracts. At $580 and no high priced subsidy plan, if they were paying $649 then they would be taking a total loss on the phone and not even gaining anything from the rate plans. Just a total loss all around since the customers aren't locked in. Also they would refuse to sell phones outright to customers if they didn't make at least a small amount on the full retail price. They're probably making between $30-50 per phone but no one knows the true terms of the deals except Apple and the carriers. Trust me they are not selling them at a loss. Businesses get discounts on goods for buying massive quantities of stuff. That's how Walmart gets their goods so cheap.

 

[darster]

This discussion on whether or not the carriers get a discount is getting beat to death. Some will believe they do, others not. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and without real proof (actual corporate documents), it will just be hearsay by all, incuding myself.