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minchman

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 8, 2008
48
0
I was just visiting craigslist and noticed many people are buying up first gen iphones in bulk. They're also offering more than $199. Any ideas why this is happening???? I'm just curious.
 
they seem to think that there will be a huge market for the V1, because the new iphone is so lacking people will want to go BACKWARDS to less features:rolleyes:
 
As of now, it seems the new iPhone can't be bought without signing to a two year contract, which means unlocking would not be worth it. But with all of the unactivated 1st gen iPhones, they'll be the only unlocked iPhones out there.
 
in that case, it might be noteworthy to wait 'til all the details of activation on the new iphones come out. owners of old v1 iphones may have a gem on their hands.
 
not sure if i really understand the appeal to unlock a 3G iPhone, at least not here in the US. only ATT offers the a compatible 3G service so it isn't like you can get a better carrier deal with another carrier.

i understood why people would want an OG one unlocked because you could save on your service and not have to sign a contract

the market for an OG iPhone will be determined by how many people see 3G service as a significant enough upgrade to justify the increased service fee.
 
in that case, it might be noteworthy to wait 'til all the details of activation on the new iphones come out. owners of old v1 iphones may have a gem on their hands.
Exactly right. We KNOW that the v1 phones can be unlocked, and we know the price of the phones. A lot of people seem to be looking only at the initial cost of $199 and not realizing that over time it actually costs more than the v1 phone, not $200 less. Others realize that the $199 is only the start, but the required data plan is $10 more (plus $5 more if you want text messages). resulting in a final cost (compared to the v1 phone) of either $440 or $560, compared to $400 for v1. And to a lot of people 3G and GPS are not worth an upgrade (I am one of them).

Take all of that into consideration and you might just want to hold onto that v1 phone for a while longer.
 
the market for an OG iPhone will be determined by how many people see 3G service as a significant enough upgrade to justify the increased service fee.

Not entirely; since many of the current v1 iPhone owners utilize T-Mobile services. Many current iPhone users will want to continue with an unlocked and jailbroken iPhone, b/c they don't want to enter into a 2-year contract and they are satisfied with their current situation. The demand for v1 iPhones is evident by the way they are selling like "hotcakes" on CL and eBay, bought by people that want the iPhone experience but not the extra costs, (many aren't willing to pay for the subsidized 3G iPhones and their new data plan costs, so they are buying v1 iPhones) and some people won't benefit from the 3G coverage b/c they're without 3G coverage and would then have to depend on EDGE coverage. And remember, the 2.0 update due out July 11th. :cool:
 
Always remember that if you unlock it before selling it you can get about $100 dollers more.
 
Not entirely; since many of the current v1 iPhone owners utilize T-Mobile services. Many current iPhone users will want to continue with an unlocked and jailbroken iPhone, b/c they don't want to enter into a 2-year contract and they are satisfied with their current situation. The demand for v1 iPhones is evident by the way they are selling like "hotcakes" on CL and eBay, bought by people that want the iPhone experience but not the extra costs, (many aren't willing to pay for the subsidized 3G iPhones and their new data plan costs, so they are buying v1 iPhones) and some people won't benefit from the 3G coverage b/c they're without 3G coverage and would then have to depend on EDGE coverage. And remember, the 2.0 update due out July 11th. :cool:


isn't that what i said?

the market will be determined based on who sees 3G service as a big enough upgrade to pay for it.
 
Exactly right. We KNOW that the v1 phones can be unlocked, and we know the price of the phones. A lot of people seem to be looking only at the initial cost of $199 and not realizing that over time it actually costs more than the v1 phone, not $200 less. Others realize that the $199 is only the start, but the required data plan is $10 more (plus $5 more if you want text messages). resulting in a final cost (compared to the v1 phone) of either $440 or $560, compared to $400 for v1. And to a lot of people 3G and GPS are not worth an upgrade (I am one of them).

Take all of that into consideration and you might just want to hold onto that v1 phone for a while longer.
It's only $160 more for the new iPhone 3G contract. Which comes out $3.33 more a month.
 
It's only $160 more for the new iPhone 3G contract. Which comes out $3.33 more a month.
True, it's is not much more, and I'm OK with that, but it is certainly NOT $200 less as many people believe. And knowing that, the promise in the keynote that the iPhone was now cheaper sure sounds like a lie.
 
True, it's is not much more, and I'm OK with that, but it is certainly NOT $200 less as many people believe. And knowing that, the promise in the keynote that the iPhone was now cheaper sure sounds like a lie.

depends on how you are looking at it, the iPhone is cheaper, but the cost of using one went up. just depends on how you want to do the numbers, they are just playing the same numbers game that they do when they do Quarterly Reports
 
True, it's is not much more, and I'm OK with that, but it is certainly NOT $200 less as many people believe. And knowing that, the promise in the keynote that the iPhone was now cheaper sure sounds like a lie.
Well I guess the argument is that the phone itself is cheaper, although you're right that in the US the total cost of ownership over the lifetime of the contract is more. Here in the UK though, the O2 contracts are the same and the 8GB phone has gone down from £269 to £99 on the cheapest contract (and from £269 to £0 (ie free!) on the next contract up. So, Steve was telling the truth as far as the UK is concerned.
 
I think one thing some of these resellers are forgetting is the international market is going to change dramatically in the next month. While the iPhone has only been available in few countries so far, opening up many others to resale of the iPhone... with them selling in 70+ countries, the demand for V1 iPhones around the world is going to be significantly less.

Especially when you factor in the price aspect.

I think some people are miscalculating things, seeing that it will not be easy to get G3 iPhones to resell, meaning people will have to buy original iPhones. They just failed to realize that Apple will be selling G3 iPhones to those people now directly, so they won't need an unlocked original iPhone.
 
There was also an article online today that people were offering to sell bulk iPhones on Craig's List and when the people showed up to buy them, they were being robbed of their money. Literally robbed as it was all just a scam. So beware.
 
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