I can't believe Cingular, or AT&T, or at&t, of Cellular One, or whatever the hell these people are calling themselves today, has the audacity to actually demand a two year contract for a phone which they subsidize nothing.
The subsidized phone is supposed to be the great appeal to signing up for a contract - you get a phone that normally costs a few hundred dollars for nothing, or, at the very least, for a significant discount. While I did read they (Cingular - at the time) wanted to subsidize the phone, and it was Jobs who wouldn't allow it, that still does not justify such a steep price tag, while at the same time locking you into a contract you cannot get out of for a few years.
I worked at Cingular as a sales person a few years ago when the Razr came out, and I was shocked by the $500 - $600 price tag the phone came with. While it looked cool, I couldn't imagine anybody actually spending that kind of money for an otherwise basic flip phone. Boy was I proven wrong. The kicker to all this, of course, was that one couldn't actually purchase phone insurance for the Razr, due to its high price.
While I don't know if theft will be an issue for the iPhone, I certainly assume it will be. I also know there is no chance in hell I would ever even consider spending $600 on a phone, and also have a two year service contract shoved into my nether regions along side it. Cingular customer service is desperate to keep customer out of, or nearly out of their contracts. Two years? Good luck is something goes wrong.
Me? If I'm going to spend $600 on a tech device, I'll get a Playstation 3 and enjoy having a blu-ray player, and be even happier that it upscales my DVD's to 1080p. Sure, there's very few games for it now. But unless you're the kind of unintelligent basher whom can't see past their blinding disdain for Sony, you know they'll come out with some great games in the future. Personally, I would rather put my money there, and let the iPhone be damned. If Jobs is so arrogant he decides AT&T can't subsidize a cell phone, screw him. He will never get my business.
You know what I don't understand? How everyone is so excited to pay $499 or $599 for a CELL PHONE, but everybody bitches about paying $499 or $599 for a Playstation 3. One allows to you talk, surf the internet, and play music on a tiny screen; the other allows you to play Playstation games, surf the internet, watch blu-ray discs, upscale DVDs to 1080p, etc. Oh yeah - its easy to understand - hate Sony, love Apple. Am I the only one who can't comprehend spending that much money for a cell phone? I mean, I know everyone wants to eat up whatever Jobs is offering, but come on...its still a cell phone. It's going to have a new version released in a year or two at most.
I don't mean to turn this into a rant on Sony or anything, but come on, really? I'm sure the iPhone will be a beautiful device, given Apple's track record - but again, it's a cell phone.
You know what I don't understand? How everyone is so excited to pay $499 or $599 for a CELLPHONE, but everybody bitches about paying $499 or $599 for a Playstation 3. One allows to you talk, surf the internet, and play music on a tiny screen; the other allows you to play Playstation games, surf the internet, watch blu-ray discs, upscale DVDs to 1080p, etc. Oh yeah - its easy to understand - hate Sony, love Apple.
Am I the only one who can't comprehend spending that much money for a cell phone? I mean, I know everyone wants to eat up whatever Jobs is offering, but come on...its still a cell phone. It's going to have a new version released in a year or two at most.
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I can't believe Cingular, or AT&T, or at&t, of Cellular One, or whatever the hell these people are calling themselves today, has the audacity to actually demand a two year contract for a phone which they subsidize nothing.
The subsidized phone is supposed to be the great appeal to signing up for a contract - you get a phone that normally costs a few hundred dollars for nothing, or, at the very least, for a significant discount. While I did read they (Cingular - at the time) wanted to subsidize the phone, and it was Jobs who wouldn't allow it, that still does not justify such a steep price tag, while at the same time locking you into a contract you cannot get out of for a few years.
I worked at Cingular as a sales person a few years ago when the Razr came out, and I was shocked by the $500 - $600 price tag the phone came with. While it looked cool, I couldn't imagine anybody actually spending that kind of money for an otherwise basic flip phone. Boy was I proven wrong. The kicker to all this, of course, was that one couldn't actually purchase phone insurance for the Razr, due to its high price.
While I don't know if theft will be an issue for the iPhone, I certainly assume it will be. I also know there is no chance in hell I would ever even consider spending $600 on a phone, and also have a two year service contract shoved into my nether regions along side it. Cingular customer service is desperate to keep customer out of, or nearly out of their contracts. Two years? Good luck is something goes wrong.
Me? If I'm going to spend $600 on a tech device, I'll get a Playstation 3 and enjoy having a blu-ray player, and be even happier that it upscales my DVD's to 1080p. Sure, there's very few games for it now. But unless you're the kind of unintelligent basher whom can't see past their blinding disdain for Sony, you know they'll come out with some great games in the future. Personally, I would rather put my money there, and let the iPhone be damned. If Jobs is so arrogant he decides AT&T can't subsidize a cell phone, screw him. He will never get my business.
Give me my laptop and my W810i any day.
How about using "Google" as a verb; i.e. "googling"?
Great point. Thanks for pointing that out.
You know what I don't understand? How everyone is so excited to pay $499 or $599 for a CELL PHONE, but everybody bitches about paying $499 or $599 for a Playstation 3. One allows to you talk, surf the internet, and play music on a tiny screen; the other allows you to play Playstation games, surf the internet, watch blu-ray discs, upscale DVDs to 1080p, etc. Oh yeah - its easy to understand - hate Sony, love Apple. Am I the only one who can't comprehend spending that much money for a cell phone? I mean, I know everyone wants to eat up whatever Jobs is offering, but come on...its still a cell phone. It's going to have a new version released in a year or two at most.
I don't mean to turn this into a rant on Sony or anything, but come on, really? I'm sure the iPhone will be a beautiful device, given Apple's track record - but again, it's a cell phone.
You know what I don't understand? How everyone is so excited to pay $499 or $599 for a CELLPHONE, but everybody bitches about paying $499 or $599 for a Playstation 3. One allows to you talk, surf the internet, and play music on a tiny screen; the other allows you to play Playstation games, surf the internet, watch blu-ray discs, upscale DVDs to 1080p, etc. Oh yeah - its easy to understand - hate Sony, love Apple. Am I the only one who can't comprehend spending that much money for a cell phone? I mean, I know everyone wants to eat up whatever Jobs is offering, but come on...its still a cell phone. It's going to have a new version released in a year or two at most.