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Comment by aikah | Hacker News Reader

> As mobile networks kill off phone subsidies, users might now begin to appreciate just how much their new smartphone really costs.

The article doesn't really speak about Apple, but Apple has a much bigger problem than Android. How many people are going to pay 800$ for a hand phone + cost of data plan ?

This might be a huge opportunity for Microsoft and WP but they need to up their game when it comes to the qualities of apps. I also strongly believe that if WP sdk was supported on Mac and Linux it would have been a bigger hit. But that's my opinion.

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>This might be a huge opportunity for Microsoft and WP but they need to up their game when it comes to the qualities of apps.

That ship sailed a long time ago. I think it's is more probable that I become a millionaire (which won't happen), than for WP to become a significant player in the mobile market. Once a platform starts running software from the competition you know it's game over. WP won't be more successful than OS/2.

The carriers the previously offered phone subsidies are more than happy to offer financing (typically at 0%) for the cost of phones now. Nobody has to spend $800 up front if they don't want to.

> How many people are going to pay 800$ for a hand phone + cost of data plan ?

Depending how much you value your time, privacy and what you get for the money.

Lets be honest, the only reason Google, FB and similar companies are racing for the next 6 billion people without phones/internet to subsidize them one is to get their data.

> This might be a huge opportunity for Microsoft and WP

On the contrary, they've been trying to penetrate the developing market for some time. In fact, the low-end Lumias are almost uniformly better than Android devices in the same price range.

Apps are an issue, but that brings us to the chicken-egg problem of customers and apps.

> Apps are an issue, but that brings us to the chicken-egg problem of customers and apps.

Apps are not a issue. There are under 1000 must have apps. Pay each company $1M to port it and support it on the platform and you have competitive ecosystem for less than the rounding error of MS revenue.

They did that. And then those companies never updated the apps.

If price was the only determining factor in which device people buy, then Apple wouldn't be able to shift $2000 laptops when there are plenty of $250 options. The reality is a lot more complicated, and I suspect Apple will continue to do absolutely fine.

But Apple doesn't shift that many 2000$ laptops , and laptops aren't a fashion accessory unlike cellphones. Most Macs aren't subsidized either.

I wonder how many of those laptops are paid for by employers? Most of the people I know who pay for their own laptops do not have Apples.

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