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Wrote a letter to Steve Jobs about 999 euro iPhone

Dear Steve,

Please leave money on the table in Germany. Please makes LESS money then you do in the states on unlocked phones you sell in Germany.

You know, just 'cause.

I know you are a company and rely on profits and such but for some reason which I can not define, you should make less money in Germany.

You know, just 'cause.

Thanks,

A German Citizen.


P.S.

I have not sent emails to Nokia and all the other phone makers who sell phones in Germany. You know, just cause.
 
Where can I get the $100 BMW M5's?!?

I think that's a great idea!

Just like the T-Mobile has the the right to sell the phones for 999 Euros, the consumers have the right to write letters to Steve Jobs. Good luck on getting that to change. You might as well tell him to get rid of the black turtlenecks.
 
Sobe said:
Re-read what you wrote. To any normal analysis that is exactly subsidized.

A phone with a plan is cheaper than one without and in either case they make roughly the same amount of money.

In one case, they take less money up front for more money over the life of the contract. In the other they take all the money upfront with no future revenues guaranteed.

Maybe it's not precisely how other cell phones in the past were subsidized, but that's rather immaterial to the point at hand.

The bottom line is that the contract is worth something to Apple. It could be for pure greed, it could be to finance iPhone v2.0, it could be to pay for Jobs' next Ferrari -- doesn't really matter except that there is a difference in the price because the contract has a monetary value to Apple and that value is reflected in the price Apple asks you to pay when you purchase the iPhone.

A fact that people who unlock the phone seem to manage to completely ignore.
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T-Mobile has decided this price not apple, i do wish people would read properly. Yes part of T-mobiles price probably has something to do with Money they owe Apple per phone but to be honest another point as to why they have charged that money is that every iPhone they sold would give them a customer on a 24month contract worth a minimum of around 1100 euros over two years.

They are very much within their rights to charge that much for the phone, there is no subsidies being made currently on the iphone. What is essentially being done is they are recouping costs for customers that don't pay in for 24months. It's a cost that has been made to probably pay Apples fees, recoup lost contract cost and to comply with the law whilst taking the piss significantly enough that no one is likely to purchase at that price. Dam good move i'd say by T-Mobile
 
Archie- said:
Its exactly that monetary drain which unlockers prefer to avoid. Apple obviously has not made a compelling case as to why they deserve to be paid for more than the hardware. No-one else has either.
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Since when does a company have to make a case for what they charge for their product?

Either you like the item at the price offered or you don't.

Do you log onto Mercedes message boards and gripe about the cost of a C-class or how they run their business?

What is it about this little piece of technology that incites such opinions?
 
Sobe said:
no I'm suggesting that the contract has a monetary value that is reflected in the price of the phone when you purchase it for $399.
Click to expand...

But that's not true. Consider that an iPod Touch is $100 cheaper, and is basically the same thing without a speaker, bluetooth, or the cell phone component. The iPod Touch is sold for a profit; thus it is likely the iPhone is too.

Rather, I suspect the iPhone is locked to a contract because the provider, in exchange for the contract, gives Apple so much control (Cingular gives Apple control over contract pricing, runs their Visual Voicemail servers, etc, etc).
 
GFLPraxis said:
But that's not true. Consider that an iPod Touch is $100 cheaper, and is basically the same thing without a speaker, bluetooth, or the cell phone component. The iPod Touch is sold for a profit; thus it is likely the iPhone is too.

Rather, I suspect the iPhone is locked to a contract because the provider, in exchange for the contract, gives Apple so much control (Cingular gives Apple control over contract pricing, runs their Visual Voicemail servers, etc, etc).
Click to expand...

Could be, but I feel the contract revenues were a long term business model for Apple, guaranteeing them continued revenues regardless of how well the iPhone sold.

Obviously the better the phone sells, the less important those contracts become, but it's a nice insurance policy.
 
Sobe said:
Since when does a company have to make a case for what they charge for their product?

Either you like the item at the price offered or you don't.

Do you log onto Mercedes message boards and gripe about the cost of a C-class or how they run their business?

What is it about this little piece of technology that incites such opinions?
Click to expand...

I've read many of these "everything 'open-market' is good" posts. The major underlying problem is that Apple has made this mistake before and it nearly sunk the company. At this point, Apple should be doing everything possible to sell MORE iPhones. The Mac platform almost died when Apple said "you cannot run anything on our overpriced paper weight". The iPod would have failed at first if Apple said "only plays songs bought from iTMS". And the iPhone would have done much better (even if more expensive) sold unlocked around the world (and avoided all the legal fees, overtime for Apple coders making updates that brick phones, etc.).
 
Sedulous said:
I've read many of these "everything 'open-market' is good" posts. The major underlying problem is that Apple has made this mistake before and it nearly sunk the company. At this point, Apple should be doing everything possible to sell MORE iPhones. The Mac platform almost died when Apple said "you cannot run anything on our overpriced paper weight". The iPod would have failed at first if Apple said "only plays songs bought from iTMS". And the iPhone would have done much better (even if more expensive) sold unlocked around the world (and avoided all the legal fees, overtime for Apple coders making updates that brick phones, etc.).
Click to expand...

Then it is on Apple shareholder's dime for those mistakes. So far Apple shareholders doubled the stock price of Apple because of this closed up iphone business model.
 
samab said:
Then it is on Apple shareholder's dime for those mistakes. So far Apple shareholders doubled the stock price of Apple because of this closed up iphone business model.
Click to expand...

The stock had already doubled by the time iPhone was announced. But yes, if I had stock in Apple, I would be disappointed that history seems to be repeating.
 
Sedulous said:
The stock had already doubled by the time iPhone was announced. But yes, if I had stock in Apple, I would be disappointed that history seems to be repeating.
Click to expand...

The iphone was announced in January when Apple stock was in the $85 range. It's now in the $170's.
 
TheSpecialist said:
Thread title:cool:

Does anyone like me has sent a letter to Stevie about the ridiculous 999 euro price for the unlocked iPhone in Germany? I hope Steve does something about it!!!

Greetings.
Click to expand...

I'd suggest you get yourself on a Tmobile contract! :) It's worth it!
 
Sedulous said:
I've read many of these "everything 'open-market' is good" posts. The major underlying problem is that Apple has made this mistake before and it nearly sunk the company.
Click to expand...

You don't seem to get that what YOU think they should be doing, or what YOU think history demands that they learn, means nothing.

They are charging what they want for the product that they invented. They are doing the same thing for th iPod Touch. Not because the iPhone has $600 more in parts inside, but because it's WORTH $600 more to every person who buys it at that price. See how that works?
 
Sedulous said:
The stock had already doubled by the time iPhone was announced. But yes, if I had stock in Apple, I would be disappointed that history seems to be repeating.
Click to expand...

Funny, when I look at the Apple stock in my portfolio, disappointed is one emotion that doesn't come to mind.
 
There's one point that everyone seems to have missed. The mobile phone market has never been free. There has awakys been a cost relationship between networks and manufactures, most evident in subsidies and "free" phones, but also in the way the phone companties persuaded Nokia to delay the introduction of wifi, and other restrictive practises.

Apple needed a network partner. An unlocked iphone would have been too much of a threat to the manufacturers and the telcos. They'd have closed ranks and sqeezed Apple out of the business. Eventually Apple and there partners will be forced to unlock the iphone but by then it will be established inthe marketplace, and other telcos will be happy to agree terms.

Here's a thought, what if the most innovative thing that comes out of the iPhone revolution is that manufacturers start charging real prices for their phones?
 
Sobe said:
What is it about this little piece of technology that incites such opinions?
Click to expand...

A good question, really. IMO...

1) It's partly because Apple cultivated an aura of being a nice-guy company. Yet they have taken the low road at nearly every iPhone turn.

On their own forums they play 1984, deleting and modifying any critical messages. They outrageously overcharged early buyers. They ticked off developers with the web junk. They locked their phones to a carrier. They take extra monthly money with little sign of return on neat apps so far. Their only upgrades deal mostly with keeping their income going.

2) It's partly because Jobs claimed a breakthrough device... yet left out so much that would help it be so. There wasn't anything new at all in their UI besides some glitz.

Where's the amazing stuff, like the tests being done now with location and context aware phones? For example, phones that learn your daily routine. If you're out of the office during lunchtime, it suggests restaurants that you like near your location. At night, it automatically shows your TV schedule or suggests movies near where you are. Etc. This is true breakthrough stuff that's coming on other phones.

The iPhone is nothing but a simple launch icon matrix of mostly separate apps. How mundane can you get?
 
I don't see the problem, it's not cheap but it's not out of line with top of the range smartphone/PDA devices when they're new on the market.

I guess the only thing is that after a few months normally a device drops in price, I imagine that the iPhone price will remain as it is.

This whole locking thing is a pile of crap though, for sure...
 
Archie- said:
Its exactly that monetary drain which unlockers prefer to avoid. Apple obviously has not made a compelling case as to why they deserve to be paid for more than the hardware.
Click to expand...

Because people will pay more to use good software, and have hardware that is well-designed and innovative? Apple doesn't have to make an "argument". Either buy it or don't. You're not Robin Hood.
 
Lycanthrope said:
I don't see the problem, it's not cheap but it's not out of line with top of the range smartphone/PDA devices when they're new on the market.

I guess the only thing is that after a few months normally a device drops in price, I imagine that the iPhone price will remain as it is.

This whole locking thing is a pile of crap though, for sure...
Click to expand...

The problem is that whilst the price may be in line with top of the range smartphones, the functionality is miles behind. What the iPhone does give you is a fantastic UI that is miles ahead of the competition, but beyond that the basic functionality of the device is several years behind other devices. Here is just a small list of what's missing from the iPhone:

No GPS
No Java
No Flash
Limited Bluetooth
No MMS
Very limited SMS client
No video recording
No official 3rd party apps (yet)
No document editing
No ability to save files from web pages
limited attachment capability on e-mails
no wireless syncing of calendar, contacts, etc
No 3G / HSDPA
No tethering

The functionality of the iPhone does not justify the price tag IMO, and that's the reason I won't be getting one. What I don't understand though is people complaining about the price: If you think it's worth it, buy it. If not, don't. Simple, really, isn't it :)
 
Phobophobia said:
Because people will pay more to use good software, and have hardware that is well-designed and innovative? Apple doesn't have to make an "argument". Either buy it or don't. You're not Robin Hood.
Click to expand...

The point is, unlike when pirating software or songs, unless Steve delivers greatly on his "subscription model", I'm not going to feel guilty about unlocking the iPhone and 'robbing' him of $400, no matter what Sobe says, and I think no-one is the general public will either.

This $1500 unlocked iPhone wont do anything to help the perception thats he's only a turtle-neck wearing money grubbing robber baron either.

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notjustjay said:
And, frankly, I think they're committed to this whether they like it or not. Imagine that Steve Jobs takes sympathy and gives us our best-case scenario: from now on, all iPhones are sold unlocked at the same prices as before. You all saw the uproar when the prices were dropped. He'd be lynched! Apple can't win either way.
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Yeah, it's a little bit like the catholic church. They can't admit that they've made a wrong decision when they announced that women should not be allowed to become priests, that gay people will burn in hell, etc. Therefore, let's just keep the status quo, hmm?

Apple has made a wrong decision when forcing its customers to use a single provider. They've already revised their decision to not allow third party applications (though, we'll only know to what extent once the development kits are out). They'd better open up the iPhone completely. Imagine the uproar if Microsoft had released a product with a similar policy.
 
TheSpecialist said:
Thread title:cool:

Does anyone like me has sent a letter to Stevie about the ridiculous 999 euro price for the unlocked iPhone in Germany? I hope Steve does something about it!!!

Greetings.
Click to expand...

I hope you paid a little bit more attention to grammar in that letter.. I'm not sure whether Steve takes advice from illiterates.
 
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