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Comment by simonebrunozzi | Hacker News Reader

You remind me of the (in)famous comment by Steve Ballmer when the iPhone was first introduced .

The functionality and user experience provided by first iPhone compared to its peers at time completely justified its price.

In comparison iPhone Duo only offers a bigger screen and even limited functionality when it comes to camera if you compare it with iPhone 18 Pro.

The first iPhone did not have 3G when it came out, no GPS either, and no App Store - you were stuck with all the stock apps. It was definitely far behind its peers in several key aspects

Here’s a flashback: https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/original-iphone-review/

I’ve said it before, but Ballmer was exactly right WHEN he said that. I know because I was one of the very few people in my area, notable for being a tech hub, who had an iPhone at release… only because my employer at the time paid for it.

I had a large, relatively well-paid, tech-savvy circle of friends (and many random strangers) who openly envied me but could not justify the price point.

The numbers back this up because iPhone sales didn’t start hockeysticking up until the next version was released, which allowed carriers to further subsidize smartphones with data plans that brought the upfront costs down to $200.

The iPhone was as much a technology revolution as it was a consumer financing one, but it is never discussed as such.

also another thing people forget is that merely 10 weeks after the first iphone launched, Apple cut the price by $200 in sept 2007. it then launched the 2nd gen iphone (iphone 3g) at an even lower price the next year due to carrier subsidies.

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