iPhone on Cingular for 5 years

[wjp09]

Yeah good point. So will the european carriers not have that feature?

 

[jpmihalk]

Good question... that may be why they are only just announcing that information now...

 

[archer6]

After the success of the many versions of the iPods, I'm sure Apple has a ridiculous amount of money.
Stocks went from.. $7 a share to around $100 right?

Yes, Apple has always been good at amassing cash.

From my perspective I believe that they could choose to lower the prices just a small amount on their products, and in doing so they would allow more people to afford Apple products, while still earning a lot of income. This would grow the user base which is always good for the company and the public.

When it comes to Apple notebook computers. I did a very fair price comparison yesterday between an Apple MacBook Pro vs Lenovo T60 ThinkPad. I spec'd them out exactly the same, in terms of processors, ram memory, graphics cards, and hard drive size. I also added the optional 3 year warranty to each.

Bottom line, the Apple MBP was over $700 more than the ThinkPad !

This is an outrageous difference which is simply not right. It prevents many people from buying the MBP because of the premium price. Now before you fire up your flame thrower, hear me out. I love Macs! And after 10 years I've heard every story and reason why they are so superior to windows. While that was at one time a valid claim, the gap has narrowed and today there is not $700 worth of superiority on the Mac side.

Now I say with all due modesty, I'm a notebook expert. I have used both PowerBooks & ThinkPads for 10 years. Each year upgrading to the top of the line, of each brand. This, because I'm a professional engineer, that requires all the resources available in a laptop. If I had to choose one over the other, it would be a very difficult decision. For work I must have a PC based laptop due to the apps I run. However that is gradually changing as now we can run windows on the MBP.

In fact I just bought another new MBP to setup and test, just to see if it can be one of my "main" computers for the general non-scientific work I do. For the other I have my T60p which is a workstation class Thinkpad.

It will also be interesting to see what's shown at WWDC, as the rumor is updated MacBooks and MBP's at that event.

As you may have sensed by now, I have a rather strong view on what's fair to customers.

Thanks for the opportunity to vent, while sharing some very accurate info with others here who it may benefit.

Cheers....

 

[ColsTiger]

I agree with the concept & benefit of more products for the US. However it seems to me that if Apple would have signed a 60 DAY exclusivity agreement with AT&T, then after that brief period, released it to T-Mobile, that would have made more money and more sense.

Selling the iPhone through two large carriers makes a lot more sense than to limit it to only one. It's also a lot more fair to the end user.

Especially given that they are the only carriers in the US currently that operate on the GSM system. In addition, I don't think it was smart at all, to sign an agreement that for five years they are not allowed to create a CDMA version of the iPhone.

Once again, I say don't get me wrong, I'm an Apple advocate.

That said, I feel there is a limit to the smoke and mirrors and misleading way they present themselves from time to time.

Brilliant products from a company that vacillates between being good for the public and bad for the public. And camouflages it along the way.

It's all about ethics...... or NOT ?

When you put it this way, it seems that it may not be a five year exclusive deal with At&t, but just a five year exclusive deal with GSM technology. After a year or so, they may release it to T-Mobile. Because the announcement only stated that they wouldn't build a CDMA version for five year, that could mean that T-Mobile will be in the picture much quicker than I thought.