[ColsTiger]

I noticed the commercials on Apple's site no longer have the quick little Two Year Agreement blurb on there anymore. I think At&t got tired of all the customer service calls questioning eligibility, but it would be nice if they had decided to sell them outright without a two year re-up.

No more two year agreement blurb

[thewhiteguy1]

i think there still will be a 2 year agreement necessity tho. and if they did sell them upright it would be very expensive because apple has said that the prices are $400 for 4 gb and $500 for 8gb with a 2 year contract. and usually when you add the 2 year contract the prices go down a little.

[ColsTiger]

Originally Posted by thewhiteguy1

i think there still will be a 2 year agreement necessity tho. and if they did sell them upright it would be very expensive because apple has said that the prices are $400 for 4 gb and $500 for 8gb with a 2 year contract. and usually when you add the 2 year contract the prices go down a little.

Actually the price is $499 and $599 and apple is the one that removed the blurb from the commercial. Granted they probably will require some sort of long term agreement, but I thought it was strange that they removed them so quickly after just starting the commercials last weekend.

[thewhiteguy1]

ok. your probably right about the price because i was a bit shady on that detail.

[ColsTiger]

Originally Posted by thewhiteguy1

ok. your probably right about the price because i was a bit shady on that detail.

And you're probably right on the requirement of some kind.

[poetic_folly]

Price wouldn't go up without the agreement. Those prices are not subsidized by AT&T at all, those ARE the retail prices. Thats why its so high. Normally when a phone comes out, the carrier pays some of the cost of the phone in order to entice the customer to join (which is why you can get a free Razr if you sign up a contract, but otherwise they say they're a couple hundred bucks). The iPhone is so popular a selling point, AT&T is not subsidizing the cost at all--the device itself is enough to entice customers.

[thewhiteguy1]

i would expect at&T to be begging apple to allow it then. because they will get alot of buyers, but they will be missing out on some because they don't have the cash.

[Acadian]

Originally Posted by poetic_folly

Price wouldn't go up without the agreement. Those prices are not subsidized by AT&T at all, those ARE the retail prices. Thats why its so high. Normally when a phone comes out, the carrier pays some of the cost of the phone in order to entice the customer to join (which is why you can get a free Razr if you sign up a contract, but otherwise they say they're a couple hundred bucks). The iPhone is so popular a selling point, AT&T is not subsidizing the cost at all--the device itself is enough to entice customers.

I wonder though if the carriers had no choice with the RAZR's because they had initially, and over time, purchased soooo many of them along with the various new models. That might have factored into the 'freebies' in order to help them clear their inventory before no one wanted them anymore.

[thewhiteguy1]

yeah thats true. its also do in part because the razr are over a year old. they started coming out around 1 1/2 almost 2 years ago.

[ColsTiger]

Originally Posted by thewhiteguy1

yeah thats true. its also do in part because the razr are over a year old. they started coming out around 1 1/2 almost 2 years ago.

The standard V3 hit the market in 2004. It was pretty exclusive in it's time too. I paid $275 for mine in summer of '05 without a contract.

[cash7c3]

For the first couple months or so the V3 was on the market Cingular offered no discount, probably going to be the same for the iphone I don't expect to see any discounts for awhile.

[thewhiteguy1]

Originally Posted by cash7c3

For the first couple months or so the V3 was on the market Cingular offered no discount, probably going to be the same for the iphone I don't expect to see any discounts for awhile.

thats true, but i don't expect to see any discounts ever for the iphone. unless apple says so.

[ColsTiger]

Originally Posted by thewhiteguy1

thats true, but i don't expect to see any discounts ever for the iphone. unless apple says so.

Yep it'll be a while if ever. I certainly don't see discounted iPhones coming available as quick as they did on the RAZR.

[poetic_folly]

Originally Posted by Acadian

I wonder though if the carriers had no choice with the RAZR's because they had initially, and over time, purchased soooo many of them along with the various new models. That might have factored into the 'freebies' in order to help them clear their inventory before no one wanted them anymore.

No, the decrease in cost is based on a few factors. The largest one is the quickly dropping cost of parts. As quick as technology is increasing, what cost $200 to build 2 years ago in the gadget world now costs $100 or less, often much less. Therefor Motorola/Apple/whoever charges less for the phones, which in turn passes on to us, the end users.

[cash7c3]

Originally Posted by thewhiteguy1

thats true, but i don't expect to see any discounts ever for the iphone. unless apple says so.

for example motorola doesnt say cingular at&t can give discounts. Cingular handles those discounts it gives to you out of its pocket. Motorola for example gets the same for the phones whether the provider is giving discounts or not.

Following the trend of how the industry works it really wouldn't have anything to do with apple, more to do with cingular at&t. Of course discounts wont be happening for awhile as cingular at&t wont need them to suck people in to buy the iphone