Would You Pay $850 for an iPhone if Carrier Subsidies Disappeared?

techland.time.com

7 points·mattpeckham··7 comments

I _did_ pay that for an unlocked iPhone, because I wanted to use it while traveling. (The savings paid for the phone on the first trip I made, compared to the execrable roaming/data charges I have experienced with AT&T in the past).

But I think aes256's point is valid. That iPhone you buy with a carrier subsidy does not cost $199.

In a fully-transparent world, you'd be able to bring your own phone and get a reduced monthly bill from your mobile carrier. Or you could buy a subsidized phone and pay more per month.

In a fully-transparent world, of course, the mobile carrier becomes commoditized. They hate that.

It can't come soon enough for me, as a customer, however.

Yep. Cut $20/mo off my phone bill and I'll very happily buy my phone at full price.

'Carrier subsidies' are just an illusion.

You are paying $850 for your top of the line iPhone, you just don't realise it because it's in the form of $40+ monthly instalments...

In Denmark, we do realize it. The Danish law requires companies to specify the minimum price for the phone for the contract period. If the phone has an initial price of $99, monthly contract is $49, and minimum contract period is 24 months, they must list $1176 as the minimum total price.

Check "mindstepris" (24 month contracts) at: http://www.telenor.dk/privat/mobil/mobil/iphone/

I'd spend $600 on a new phone if my monthly bill was going to be $30.

I already did. And it is great. I can take my phone with me when traveling, pop in a local SIM and actually save lots of moneys.

If the carriers offered an Apple Care level of support/insurance for it. Yes.

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