iPhone schmyphone
I was really excited about the iPhone for about 2 hours. Then I heard the details and was just dumbfounded. The iPhone is going to be a total flop. It’s going fail to two main reasons, one of which everyone seems to be talking about and the other, oddly, nobody but me seems to have noticed.
The first and widely discussed problem is that it costs a fortune. I don’t care how many features you pack into it, unless it communicates with the dead or provides sexual favors, nobody is going to pay $500-$600 for a phone.
The second and mysteriously absent problem is that it’s locked into Cingular without any compensation whatsoever. And not just any old locked-in, but a new two-year contract locked-in. That means that if you want an iPhone and you’re one of the vast majority of the country who does not subscribe to Cingular, you would have to change services (which, because you’re probably already locked into an absurd contract, you couldn’t even do if you wanted to). And even if you happen to already be Cingular customer, you have to commit to an extra two years for the privilege of giving them your money. And to top it all off, even if you’re willing to agree to this ludicrous scheme, you don’t get a dime of discount. The usual “logic” behind mobile phone contracts is that they subsidize the cost of the phone. But no such love here. You pay full price all the time, the contract is just because they can.
Except, of course, they can’t. While undoubtedly a few technophiles will pony up for this racket, most people are neither that desperate nor that dumb. I predict the iPhone will tank entirely if Apple is unable to break it’s deal with Cingular and still make a profit at a substantially lower cost. If they can break from Cingular and drop the price by 20%, then the iPhone might still be around in three years.
But I doubt it.
January 16th, 2007 at 3:03 pm
Forget the 20% discount. I hope they go with that speaking with the dead thing…