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"No one would have purchased the original iPhone were it not heavily subsidized by AT&T. No one."

The original iPhone was not subsidized by AT&T at all. It cost about $500, had lines of people waiting to buy it, and went on to sell about 6 million units, making it one of the best selling phones of it's time.

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I should have been clearer: it required a contract that AT&T offered lower data rates on the actual phone. This recovered the money they were paying to Apple IIRC. Still subsidized, but perhaps not explicitly on the phone itself.

I'm not agreeing with the grandparent either but I do have to admit that once carriers subsidised the iPhone, the sales skyrocketed. It can't be a coincidence.

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