Pricing "rumors"

[Kabeyun]

I just got off the phone with an AT&T store manager in Massachusetts. He told me the iPhone price points ($499 & $599) are indeed subsidized, something that has been debated. Specifically, he said that iPhones will cost $150 more without a new contract (or if you've already used your phone discount in your current contract cycle). Yikes! $749 is a brobdingnagian chunk of change for any phone, "i-" or not. Anyone else heard these kinds of numbers?

-K

 

[Cantwait4iPhone]

I haven't heard anything of the sort, but you never know. That seems a bit outrageous to me, but I guess it's all just speculation at this point.

 

[boxta]

749? not for me!

If that's the case.. I think it would be a deal breaker for me. 749 for an iPhone? I can get a Samsung blackjack for under 100 bucks! and it probably satisfy most of my browsing urge.

or even a helio ocean! then i know i have 3g, GPS, IM support, built in gmail client, etc!

I just got off the phone with an AT&T store manager in Massachusetts. He told me the iPhone price points ($499 & $599) are indeed subsidized, something that has been debated. Specifically, he said that iPhones will cost $150 more without a new contract (or if you've already used your phone discount in your current contract cycle). Yikes! $749 is a brobdingnagian chunk of change for any phone, "i-" or not. Anyone else heard these kinds of numbers?

-K

 

[Spin This!]

Steve's slides did mention 2-year contract... pre-paid users are going to be screwed if there's an additional $150 premium...

 

[archer6]

I just got off the phone with an AT&T store manager in Massachusetts. He told me the iPhone price points ($499 & $599) are indeed subsidized, something that has been debated. Specifically, he said that iPhones will cost $150 more without a new contract (or if you've already used your phone discount in your current contract cycle). Yikes! $749 is a brobdingnagian chunk of change for any phone, "i-" or not. Anyone else heard these kinds of numbers?

Yes, having read your post I made three phone calls. One to my AT&T corp rep who provides my company with hundreds of phones, my local AT&T store manager that I've known for the six years, and the regional manager who happens to live not far from me. As a mobile phone enthusiast, I've purchased a large number of phones per year from them for my personal use. So my only point, is that I speak with them frequently and they provide great service and information.

So I'm not suggesting that I have any facts or that I am any sort of authority, just a reasonably well informed customer.

I too have heard the retail price of the iPhone to be $749.99 which is actually a bargain.

In addition, I've been hearing and reading for quite some time now that the iPhone will not be subsidized, or discounted. I agree with this. After all, they do not discount iPods or MacBooks or any other products. To do so would give the impression that they were not up to Apples very high standard.

I also like the idea of teh $749.99 price point, as it will insure exclusivity, as not everyone will be able to afford that price.

After all, that's what ruined the RAZR, as now "everyone has one".

When we compare it to other smart phones currently being sold, most of them are more expensive while not even coming close to the features and experience of the iPhone.

Check out this list of current phones:

$809.95 O2 Atom Life
$929.95 O2 Xda Flame
$949.99 LG Prada
$995.99 Samsung F520
$810.99 Samsung F700

So as you can see, at $749.99 the iPhone remains a very good bargain. Especially considering that it will do so much more than the other phones listed here.

Apple is aware that the $749.99 is a bargain and frankly I'm surprised that they did not price it more inline with the others. Which based on the features and futuristic functions, the appropriate price of the iPhone should be around $995.99

I agree with and will be very happy to pay $749.99. After all it's the best phone in the world.

 

[Cantwait4iPhone]

Yes, having read your post I made three phone calls. One to my AT&T corp rep who provides my company with hundreds of phones, my local AT&T store manager that I've known for the six years, and the regional manager who happens to live not far from me. As a mobile phone enthusiast, I've purchased a large number of phones per year from them for my personal use. So my only point, is that I speak with them frequently and they provide great service and information.

So I'm not suggesting that I have any facts or that I am any sort of authority, just a reasonably well informed customer.

I too have heard the retail price of the iPhone to be $749.99 which is actually a bargain.

In addition, I've been hearing and reading for quite some time now that the iPhone will not be subsidized, or discounted. I agree with this. After all, they do not discount iPods or MacBooks or any other products. To do so would give the impression that they were not up to Apples very high standard.

I also like the idea of teh $749.99 price point, as it will insure exclusivity, as not everyone will be able to afford that price.

After all, that's what ruined the RAZR, as now "everyone has one".

When we compare it to other smart phones currently being sold, most of them are more expensive while not even coming close to the features and experience of the iPhone.

Check out this list of current phones:

$809.95 O2 Atom Life
$929.95 O2 Xda Flame
$949.99 LG Prada
$995.99 Samsung F520
$810.99 Samsung F700

So as you can see, at $749.99 the iPhone remains a very good bargain. Especially considering that it will do so much more than the other phones listed here.

Apple is aware that the $749.99 is a bargain and frankly I'm surprised that they did not price it more inline with the others. Which based on the features and futuristic functions, the appropriate price of the iPhone should be around $995.99

I agree with and will be very happy to pay $749.99. After all it's the best phone in the world.

I agree that it's the best phone in the world, but as long as you get the contract, you won't have to pay that $750

 

[archer6]

I agree that it's the best phone in the world, but as long as you get the contract, you won't have to pay that $750

What Contract? ......

If your referring to the AT&T contract, that is just to operate the phone. AT&T has no authority to price the phone. Thats Apples baby. ......

Plus I just paid $349 for an 80GB iPod, so at $749 the iPhone is quite reasonably priced I would say. Another indicator that Apple wants this to be perceived as a very exclusive device is a recent article which explained that Steve said this will be a niche product. Perfect!.......

 

[Cantwait4iPhone]

What Contract? ......

If your referring to the AT&T contract, that is just to operate the phone. AT&T has no authority to price the phone. Thats Apples baby. ......

Plus I just paid $349 for an 80GB iPod, so at $749 the iPhone is quite reasonably priced I would say. Another indicator that Apple wants this to be perceived as a very exclusive device is a recent article which explained that Steve said this will be a niche product. Perfect!.......

Yes, but am I wrong that with the 2 year contract the iPhone is priced at $500 and $600

 

[iphonenut]

i have a hard time believing this.

i think ALOT of people would be turned off by the extra $150.

even myself, who wants the iPhone more than anything would definitely hesitate to buy a $750 iPhone.

fyi, my current carrier is AT&T but i'm not eligible for an upgrade until later in the year. i figured i'd just buy the $600 and renew my contract to restart @ 2 years. we'll see.

 

[archer6]

Yes, but am I wrong that with the 2 year contract the iPhone is priced at $500 and $600

Yes I believe you are, because as noted earlier, Apple does not gain from the contract. Only AT&T, that's where they make their money.

Everyone else that buys a phone from AT&T signs a 2 year contract. So that's nothing special. Even people that get free phones sign 2 year deals.

Apple makes their money off the iPhone itself.

So if we look at every Apple product, like iPod, MacBook Pro, etc , none of those are discounted from Apple, they are all sold at full retail. That's only fair.

Then there is one more consideration, and that is the millions of dollars Apple has in research and development of the iPhone. They cannot afford to give these away and lose money.

Again, look at what the other high end phones a currently selling for and you will see that the iPhone at $749. is a real bargain. A savings of $200 compared to the competition.

What more could we ask for? The best phone and the lowest price of the new crop of high end phones..................

 

[archer6]

i have a hard time believing this.

i think ALOT of people would be turned off by the extra $150.

even myself, who wants the iPhone more than anything would definitely hesitate to buy a $750 iPhone.

I do not disagree with you. Your point is well taken. However the more I think about this, and the intent of Apple to rightly take credit for creating the best phone of all. They should charge a fair retail price for a high end luxury phone. I support that completely. If I'm going to pay $749 I want it to be an exclusive phone.

Apples Goal is to get this phone in the hands of celebrities, Hollywood types, and the movers and shakers of the world. They freely admit that they are only looking at selling to a small percentage of cell phone users. It's a brilliant strategy.

After all, as another example. I just purchased a new Aston Martin DB9. After paying just shy of $200,000 cash for the car, do I really want to see one of these on every corner? Certainly not. I was more than willing to pay a handsome amount of money for a car that was exotic, fast, and exclusive.

I believe that the amount of public attention the iPhone has received proves that there are plenty of people that will happily pay the price.

After all, I just paid $3,985 for a new fully loaded 17" MacBook Pro. It's worth every penny.

 

[iphonenut]

yes yes, you're rich, you buy lots of phones and have an aston martin. if true, congratulations. i have no way of knowing for sure, and you have no way of proving it.

however, as an Apple stock holder i would be a little worried that Apple isn't going to meet its 10M benchmark if they're going to charge $750 for non-new contract phones. here's a for example for you...assume 10 people are willing to buy an iPhone for $600. now (using your argument of 'exclusivity') that half drop out due to a price increase. the lost revenue is $3,000. Apple would need to sell an additional 4 iPhones to make this up. 5 phones sold at $750 is a lot less than 10 sold at $600. so, you achieve exclusivity at the expense of what? there isn't a line item on an income statement called "exclusivity".

there becomes a point in pricing a product where returns begin to diminish because you continually price out more and more of the population. granted, there are many other variables that go into this, but i kept the example as simple as possible.

exclusivity is already being achieved by a $500/600 price point. there are many people that are willing to wait it out or not buy an iPhone at all because they think it's too expensive.

hardly anyone owns the phones you used to compare to the iPhone. if it ends up in the class of those phones, then the iPhone will assuredly be considered a massive failure.

again, we're ALL operating on nothing but rumor and speculation at this point...so there's really no point to anything until we find out the facts.

 

[wot_fan]

I just got off the phone with an AT&T store manager in Massachusetts. He told me the iPhone price points ($499 & $599) are indeed subsidized, something that has been debated. Specifically, he said that iPhones will cost $150 more without a new contract (or if you've already used your phone discount in your current contract cycle). Yikes! $749 is a brobdingnagian chunk of change for any phone, "i-" or not. Anyone else heard these kinds of numbers?

-K

I think this makes perfect sense. It also makes the pay-as-you-go option rumor more believable. Also, as has been pointed out, $749 for phone with the iPhone's feature set (without contract) is reasonable. I paid $700 for my HTC Wizard which has similar features. I wonder if the $749 version will be unlocked.

I am glad my contract expires 6/29 so I can get the $150 discount. I have no problems with committing to 2 more years with AT&T especially if archer6's info about the unlimited data plan for $9.99 is correct.

 

[archer6]

hardly anyone owns the phones you used to compare to the iPhone. if it ends up in the class of those phones, then the iPhone will assuredly be considered a massive failure.

Actually the other phones that are listed are not only very popular, but have sold in the thousands in just a few short weeks. Most of these were created as competition to the iPhone and yet history will most likely show that in the end, the Apple phone is the best. If it were not for the brilliant iPhone concept, these may not have been created.

After all it's Apple that has raised the bar and shown the world what can be done.

Apple is a great company. The iPhone is already in that elite class of phone and it's the best. So there is no reason it should be put in the bargain bin and sold at a fraction of it's value.

Finally why would anyone call the already successful iPhone a massive failure? After all, it's the only phone in history that has generated this much interest, buzz and customer interest before even being produced and sold to the public.

I find the response quoted above rather puzzling? Is that jealousy and anger, it seems to be, thereforee it needs to be properly directed at Apple for creating something newer, better and more expensive. And yet that does not make any sense. Why would one not be happy to see an American company like Apple be successful? Very puzzling indeed.

My choice is to embrace and celebrate Apples success. Look at the stock price! Little did I know 9 years ago when I began purchasing Apple stock that it would be worth what it is today.

If one visits the Apple web site and sees the pricing on their other stellar products, and compares that to the iPhones tentative $749 price, it's obviously a bargain. Plain and simple.

When the competition heats up, Apple comes through....

 

[Cantwait4iPhone]

I do not disagree with you. Your point is well taken. However the more I think about this, and the intent of Apple to rightly take credit for creating the best phone of all. They should charge a fair retail price for a high end luxury phone. I support that completely. If I'm going to pay $749 I want it to be an exclusive phone.

Apples Goal is to get this phone in the hands of celebrities, Hollywood types, and the movers and shakers of the world. They freely admit that they are only looking at selling to a small percentage of cell phone users. It's a brilliant strategy.

After all, as another example. I just purchased a new Aston Martin DB9. After paying just shy of $200,000 cash for the car, do I really want to see one of these on every corner? Certainly not. I was more than willing to pay a handsome amount of money for a car that was exotic, fast, and exclusive.

I believe that the amount of public attention the iPhone has received proves that there are plenty of people that will happily pay the price.

After all, I just paid $3,985 for a new fully loaded 17" MacBook Pro. It's worth every penny.

Wow, that's $203,985 in a short amount of time, eh?


I wouldn't call the iPhone a bargain at $600, nor is it a ripoff. I think it is the right price for the capability and the technology, all fit into a small, handheld device.

P.S. That is a very nice car, I am not smiting you for getting it

 

[archer6]

I think this makes perfect sense. It also makes the pay-as-you-go option rumor more believable. Also, as has been pointed out, $749 for phone with the iPhone's feature set (without contract) is reasonable. I paid $700 for my HTC Wizard which has similar features. I wonder if the $749 version will be unlocked.

Yes, exactly you are 100% correct. Apple has truly accomplished something quite amazing. Never before has a mobile phone garnered this much attention and desire from the public before the phone has even been available for sale. Not only in the US, but World Wide.

There has been a lot of conversation and the buzz is getting stronger by the day.

 

[slipperypete]

$750? I am not sure Apple is looking to be that exclusive. $750 is a bunch of cash(yes it is an amazing phone) but that is really going to limit the people buying it.....hell, even the $600+ price tag will scare people off. I can't see Apple putting all this time and development to put out an amazing phone that most people are not going to buy. Yes, they have to make their money back but the $750 price point is going to make that a long road. Is Apple trying to be exclusive or sell a phone that they spent years and plenty of $$ developing? There has never been talk from Apple about the phone selling for $750 without a contract. Jobs even quoated the $499 and $599 prices at his keynote..never said anything about a contract or anything. Can't see Apple saying roughly 3 weeks before the phone comes out "oh, by the way the phone will cost $750 without a contract" Just my 2 cents

Take it for what it is worth, but after seeing this post I went by my local Apple store. Asked the salesperson and got the "it is coming in June" line, but I followed it up by asking him what the prices were and he said " $499 and $599" I asked if that was the price with an 2 year At&T contract and he said "the price will be the same even if you don't sign a contract"

 

[iphonenut]

Actually the other phones that are listed are not only very popular, but have sold in the thousands in just a few short weeks. Most of these were created as competition to the iPhone and yet history will most likely show that in the end, the Apple phone is the best. If it were not for the brilliant iPhone concept, these may not have been created.

After all it's Apple that has raised the bar and shown the world what can be done.

Apple is a great company. The iPhone is already in that elite class of phone and it's the best. So there is no reason it should be put in the bargain bin and sold at a fraction of it's value.

Finally why would anyone call the already successful iPhone a massive failure? After all, it's the only phone in history that has generated this much interest, buzz and customer interest before even being produced and sold to the public.

I find the response quoted above rather puzzling? Is that jealousy and anger, it seems to be, thereforee it needs to be properly directed at Apple for creating something newer, better and more expensive. And yet that does not make any sense. Why would one not be happy to see an American company like Apple be successful? Very puzzling indeed.

My choice is to embrace and celebrate Apples success. Look at the stock price! Little did I know 9 years ago when I began purchasing Apple stock that it would be worth what it is today.

If one visits the Apple web site and sees the pricing on their other stellar products, and compares that to the iPhones tentative $749 price, it's obviously a bargain. Plain and simple.

When the competition heats up, Apple comes through....

puhleeze, i'm not hoping the company fails. i literally have an vested interest in the company in the form of common stock.

i do have a fear that if the iPhone is priced @ $750, it will not be as successful as it would be at $500/600. it's my opinion. you have yours.

jealousy, anger? wha?

trust me, if the iPhone sells as many units as the prada or O2 etc. etc., it will absolutely be a failure in the eyes of the market and analysts. i'm not hoping for it, i'm not jealous of it, and i'm not angry at it.

 

[itsabouttime]

As much as I want the iPhone, if it's $750 I'm out!

By the way, I thought there was an article published that verified current AT&T customers would be able to sign a new contract for the iPhone even though they wouldn't otherwise be eligible, thereforee only paying the advertised $499 or $599 price?

 

[archer6]

As much as I want the iPhone, if it's $750 I'm out!

By the way, I thought there was an article published that verified current AT&T customers would be able to sign a new contract for the iPhone even though they wouldn't otherwise be eligible, thereforee only paying the advertised $499 or $599 price?

After reading an increasing number of posts here about the initially published pricing of $499 & $599, I just called three Apple stores in my area. Each time I asked for the manager, each time I got the exact same answer.

The iPhone will sell for $499 & $599, no matter what the status of the contract is. So that's a good sign, some consistency from the Apple stores.