Apple Is Lying To You: How The iPhone 3G Is More Expensive Than The Previous iPhone
Yep, that's right folks. Apple is lying to you. Pulling the wool over your eyes. Making a fool of you.
You read our coverage. You watched the commercial. You saw the shiny new iPhone 3G. You want it bad. I understand; so do I!
Best of all, you heard something that's music to your ears: the iPhone 3G is "Twice as fast. Half the price." What could be sweeter?
That's exactly what Apple wants you to think. You see, the truth is that the iPhone 3G is actually more expensive than the last generation of the iPhone. "But how?!" you ask. Simple - the secret is in the new $30 per month data plan, which is $10 a month more than the previous iPhone's data plan. Let's calculate that out for the 8GB iPhone 3G, shall we?:
$199 (8GB iPhone 3G) + [$10 (difference in data plan cost) x 24 months (2 year contract you have to sign with AT&T) ] = $439.
The previous 8GB iPhone had a $399 price tag - so that's $40 more for the 8GB iPhone 3G!
Apple merely shifted the upfront cost of the hardware in order to provide a smaller upfront sticker price so that they could then get AT&T to raise the plan charges (remember, AT&T and Apple share revenue from each iPhone subscriber) and make up more than the difference in price. All this so they can claim the new iPhone 3G is half the price of the previous model.
It's sneaky and it's underhanded, but it's certainly a very viable business practice, specially in America where consumers will more readily buy a lower priced item with a higher subscription cost. Let's face it; as a whole, we're just not very good at estimating long term costs (sub-prime mortgage crisis, anyone?)
Just make sure that if you're thinking about the new iPhone 3G, that you're not using the lower upfront price tag as a reason for buying - you'll definitely pay the difference (and more) in the long run.
Den Den Boy
Posted to Hot Stuff, In Your Pocket on 10 June 2008
· Comments (6)
Other stuff like this: Apple, AT&T, iPhone, iPhone 3G, scummy
But... when you get more... shouldn't you pay more? Like say, $40 more for HSDPA/HSUPA instead of Edge? Not to mention the phone will have more features and software available at launch than the previous generation?
Also, who buys a phone without reading about the plan? They go hand in hand.
This is not a conspiracy.
Chill out. :-D
@CGI_Joe:
I'm not claiming it's a conspiracy, I'm just saying it's merely shuffling things around and claiming that the iPhone 3G cheaper is a disengenous.
"Also, who buys a phone without reading about the plan? They go hand in hand."
A lot of people don't. Remember, we ardent contract readers are atypical - the normal person is going to try to get a summary and move on. This is why all those micro-fees are amazingly popular with carriers. It's easy money.
Besides, you'd be surprised at just how many people will fail to do the simple arithmetic that will tell you that the iPhone 3G is actually more expensive in the long run than the iPhone. All day I've been explaining the arithmetic to friends and not a single one had done it themselves. They were all caught up in how much "cheaper" it is. This is precisely what AT&T and Apple are aiming for.
Yes, I agree with Den Den Boy. I am one of those donkies who DOESN'T read the fine lines and my typical jackass plebian response was "I bet them 1st generation iphone buyer are gonna be mad." Just how all new Apple releases give us a mixture of indigestion, lust, envy and anger. So thank you for helping us feeble-minded understand that indeed, Steve Jobs is screwing us again (oh but it hurts soooo good).
$40?! Really? You're upset over $40? And really, since it amortized over the life of the contract (assuming you cancel the service after the two year minimum) that's an extra $1.67 per month. Really? Does that extra $1.67 hurt so much? You probably spend more than than on gum.
@Den Den Boy
The wording of your original blogpost implied duplicity, hence the "conspiracy" remark.
http://gizmodo.com/5015540/iphone-3gs-true-price-compared
Here's some more math with a slightly wider scope. Than your post. ;-)
@hyppolytus
I spend more than that on gum... man, I need to cut back on my gum purchases...
And, in germany, the iphone with the second most expensive plan (which is equal in cost to the cheapest plan in the US) is €1.