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Comment by alextgordon | Hacker News Reader

The smartphone segment suddenly had exploded — up to 50% of all new shipments were now smartphones, and in another year it will be closer to 100%.

You may laugh at that last statement, but it is more likely to happen than not, and all because of Android. I realized this when I saw the LG Optimus, an Android smartphone now on T-Mobile for $30. Thirty bucks for a smartphone.

That's like saying Mercedes are going to take over the world because the first instalment is only £500...

The LG Optimus costs £175 without a contract. That's very much a mid-range phone. Show me a smartphone that actually costs $30 and I'll take that prediction seriously.

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As far as I can see the cheapest Android smartphone you can buy on amazon.de costs €155. (It’s said LG Optimus in pink [0].) That still doesn’t make the $30 comment any less stupid but also shows that a phone with no contract and Android can be had for less than a third of the price of an iPhone without contract. (A 8GB iPhone 3GS costs €519 in the German Apple Store.)

[0] http://www.amazon.de/LG-GT540-Smartphone-Touchscreen-Megapix...

The cost of the phone is almost becoming irrelevant. The cost of the data plan is the real barrier to entry as it dwarfs the cost of the phone.

But you pay for the plan the same regardless of the phone you use so it's not a basis for choosing a phone.

The price of the phone, on the other hand, is a factor in choosing a phone.

Assuming you've made the choice to get a smartphone. If you haven't then the difference between a regular and smart phone is really the plan cost.

As the lion's share of phones are bought with a contract, this is a point that deafens my ear.

You buy your iPhone along with signing up for the contract. The networks throw in one of the Android iPhone clones for free with your contract. Very few people actually buy an Android phone, in the ultimate analysis, because there is no premium factor in having what amounts to a clunky, limited, and undesired iPhone lookalike with a slow GUI and hardly any apps.

Talk turkey to me.

As the lion's share of phones are bought with a contract

[citation needed]. I would actually imagine that the opposite is true: prepaid phones outnumber contract phones, but I can't find sources either way.

In Europe and especially the developing world, pre-paid phones are very common. It's a market that Android has hardly even entered.

$30 is sort of low to expect for any phone, smart or not. How much was a moto razr off contract?

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