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Apple Turning Cell Phone Market Upside Down?
joek writes "This MacRumors analysis puts some of the iPhone/Cingular pieces together and suggests that Apple may be turning the the cell phone market upside down. Everyone assumed that Apple's $499/$599 prices for the iPhone was subsidized by Cingular. But, it appears that Apple is not allowing mobile carriers to subsidize the iPhone. Why? Because when Apple comes out with the Touch iPod, they don't want it compared in price to a discounted/subsidized iPhone. Add to that rumors that Cingular may heavily discount service (but according to a Cingular rep, they will not be giving away service, as previously suggested) to attract Verizon customers. Without kicking in $100-$200 against the price of the phone, Cingular can discount the service as an incentive. Other cell phone manufacturers will certainly be interested in the outcome of this new model."
Since the phone is not subsidized, there *should* be no 2 year contract requirement. That would really spur competition among the mobile carriers if people weren't forced to stick around for 2 years under penalty of paying full price for their phone. Of course the fact that some use CDMA and others use GSM complicates this a bit - we need phones that support both for true service portability. In fact, a *smart* carrier would offer either non-subsidized phones at a monthly service price of X, or subsidized phones at a monthly service price of X + Y (where Y basically recaptures the phone discount over the life of the contract).
The more you regulate a company, the worse its products become.
Because it's more or less guaranteed that somebody is going to be listening to your QSO on the radio, but less likely (not impossible) for them to listen to the cell phone conversation. Plus, 70cm (with typical power) is going to transmit a bit farther than a cell phone at a higher frequency and tens or hundreds of milliwatts.
I think phone patches are cool, though I've never used one (I am a ham). But I don't see them as any sort of replacement for mobile phones. Plus, you can't use amateur frequencies to run your business, so any type of commercial communication is right out. No profanity (on both sides), no commercial communications, absolutely no privacy whatsoever, half duplex, and you're still going to need a phone line at the other end to communicate on the PSTN. No, not a replacement.
The barrier to getting people to sign up for wireless service (or a lot of other subscription services) has always been equipment cost. Even though a customer is likely to pay $1k or more in service fees over the course of a 24-month contract, consumers focus on the $300 upfront for the phone, not the monthly fee. Cut the phone price, and more people sign up.
BTW, for you folks who don't want to sign up for a contract, you don't have to. Get your own phone (paying retail price), and Cingular or Verizon or Sprint will put you on a month-to-month contract, no problem. There's no way the economics work, though, to have free RAZRs and no contract.
I'd stay away from Cingular if I were you. I switched to T-Mobile, tried the new SIM on my old phone, and noticed that there was a noticeably better sounding voice on the other end when using T-Mobile.
Dropped calls means nothing if the conversation sounds worse than an AM radio. I've had two dropped calls in the last five months that I've had T-Mobile, one of which I suspect was my friend's phone (it sucks). When I was on Cingular I was using a particular word rather frequently..."What?"...I think I'll take a dropped call every five months over not being able to hear what the other person is saying.
In Europe this is 'standard' since most countries (I know for sure in Belgium and I think it's a European directive) banned giving away free phones with a x-year signup contract on cell phones. So you usually pay full price for your phone (maybe $10-50 rebate) but you can't get the phone for free. You can step in-and-out of a contract at any time though (no early-termination fee, just pay whatever you started that month) although if you stay longer, you'll save up rebates and freebies. The phones (GSM) aren't locked so you can keep your phone in whatever provider you go (provided that the frequencies are all supported, but the newer phones don't have that issue).
I think that's also why Apple went with Cingular/GSM technology. 1) there is only one phone they have to develop for both Europe and US since CDMA is nearly unexistant in Europe, and 2) you can just switch your SIM cards to get another provider, no lock-in possible.
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They provided the unlock code for my Razr V3 and were polite and friendly while doing it.
Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.
I see you chose to respond to this person's post, but ignored mine. The licenses are to separate those who are operating legally from those who are not. Your callsign is registered to a specific address, you have to pass a test to receive a license, and there are rules and regulations you must follow while operating your station. A lot of the requirements also change depending on the type of license.
So, on to the next part. Why is encryption illegal? That's simple. Because encryption hides what you're doing. When using amateur radio frequencies (or any frequencies, for that matter), you're utilizing a public resource. While utilizing this particular segment of the radio spectrum, there are rules on the content of your messages. If it's encrypted, it can't be determined whether or not you're following those rules. The FCC has been given the authority by the government to manage this public resource since the usable radio spectrum is finite. Radio stations, telivision stations, amateur radio operators, maritime radio operators, pilots, airports, companies that operate satellite equipment, cell phone companies, and more are all required to have licenses (whether via testing, purchasing, whatever) to operate on the public airwaves.
There are a few exceptions to the licensing rule such as part 15 devices, being a cell phone user, CB and FRS radio, etc., where a license for the end-user is not required. But, there are still rules you must follow when operating those devices as well, and they are much more strict.
Does it mean that people can't use the spectrum illegally? Nope. But laws don't ensure that people don't break them either. That's doesn't invalidate the reasons for having them, though.
Well, consider the monthly bill for a smart phone. A decent talk plan, a data plan, SMS, and whatever additional fees they tack on, can run you $100 to $150 a month. Although this might not bug certain enterprise users, for consumers who just now considering a smart phone, that monthly bill is going to be a shock.
If Apple can workout a deal to lower that ridiculous monthly bill, I would consider a nice phone that didn't sodomize my wallet once a month for 2 years. If they can't lower that talk + data plan price, well, you can count me out of the early adopter club.
All in all, if the gadget is cool enough, you can probably get away with charging more up front and less down the line. Heck, people were willing to pay a premium for the iPod when that first hit the market.
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