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."

Comments

Unlocking Your Phone

[Kozar_The_Malignant]

T-Mobile will unlock your phone for free:

1. If you bought it from them
2. If you have a T-Mobile phone number.
3. If you have a contact name and email address
4. If your account has been active for 90 days or you have canceled your T-Mobile service less than 90 days ago.
5. They will provide one unlock code per active line every 90 days

They provided the unlock code for my Razr V3 and were polite and friendly while doing it.

Low cost data plan

[Aqua OS X]

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.