It's Official The Iphone Is A Dud!!!

[braj]

Originally Posted by AnteL0pe

The only problem being that ATT reported that only 147,000 were activated that first weekend and Apple blames the activation delay for the rest of them which I don't buy. I think someone's numbers are off.

Maybe surur is right when he said Apple is counting 'shipped to AT&T as 'sold'. Which doesn't mean they aren't sold to the customer by now anyway, but it could explain the discrepancy.

[taylorh]

AT&T is reporting "Activated" phones.
Apple is reporting "Sold" phones.
At the rate of phones being sold per hour, It's conceivable that a large number of phones were bought but not yet activated within that period of time they're accounting for. For one thing the activation system was messed up for a day or two which could be part of the problem.
Unlike normal phones which are activated by AT&T before you leave the store, people could have bought the iPhone a not yet activated it.

Not that this is necessarily the case, but it seems likely.

[taylorh]

Originally Posted by AnteL0pe

Apple has rarely done that in the past.

Well look at the iPod.
First the iPod (expensive) then the ipod shuffle (Cheap.)
While the shuffle is more than just cheaper, a similar concept goes to it.
If they make an cheaper iPhone with smaller screen, reduced funcitonality and cost, how is that much different from introducing the iPhone shuffle for $99?
The iPod line has various cost models, and I assume Apple is going to milk every penny they can out of the iPhone line.
There is a consumer demographic that will NEVER pay $600 for any phone. Why not create a product to tap the under $600 market as well? Put Motorla's wireless division out of business for good? Get people hooked on iPhone so they want to upgrade at Christmas.

If anything the Playstation 3 at only $100 more than the XBOX 360 is evidence of a psychological price barrier. Then the Wii is flying off of shelves because it's half the price. Reduced feature set, but hey, there are a lot of people that won't pay $500 for a game console.

Of course other factors contribute to the console wars so it's not really the best analogy, but a lot of it does have to do with prices.

I used to work at TiVo, we launched the Series 3 at $700 or so. We knew there was a very small market for that and had to get the $300 or lower HD box with reduced feature set (and cost reduction) out ASAP to hit mass market. The series 3 would have been cheaper except it was so dang expensive to build we couldn't.

[surur]

The iPhone Shuffle will have no screen, and will just know who you should be dialing.

Surur

[taylorh]

Originally Posted by surur

The iPhone Shuffle will have no screen, and will just know who you should be dialing.
Surur

(Chuckle)

[braj]

Originally Posted by surur

The iPhone Shuffle will have no screen, and will just know who you should be dialing.

Surur

Actually a tiny little phone you could clip on your lapel with earbuds only use (but with voice dialing, managed within iTunes) might not be all bad. Especially if you could use it on the same line as your iPhone. So if your number rings, it will ring on both, but the shuffle would only let you know you have a call if your headphones are plugged in (no built-in speaker). No display or speaker could mean good battery life even though it is so small. I'm thinking this would only be for sports, jogging etc. Maybe driving. Just a (maybe dumb) thought.

[mikec]

Originally Posted by TazUk

What will be interesting is seeing how many second hand iPhones are being sold at that point too

It won't matter...Apple makes money on the sales, and on the subscription revenues (very lucative for them...why get $600 from a customer with you can get $1800 over two years? (assuming Apple getting 50% cut of an average $100/month phone bill)

(I have no idea what percentage Apple gets, but whatever it is, it's gravey on the original sale.)

[mikec]

Originally Posted by surur

The iPhone Shuffle will have no screen, and will just know who you should be dialing.

Surur

Now that is funny...

[Malatesta]

Originally Posted by mikec

It won't matter...Apple makes money on the sales, and on the subscription revenues (very lucative for them...why get $600 from a customer with you can get $1800 over two years? (assuming Apple getting 50% cut of an average $100/month phone bill)

(I have no idea what percentage Apple gets, but whatever it is, it's gravey on the original sale.)

Are you referring to this?

From the Street.com (treat as "rumor")

People close to the companies tell TheStreet.com that AT&T is paying Apple a bounty of between $150 and $200 per phone -- plus $9 a month per phone over the life of the typical two-year customer contract.

source

That's $416 per iPhone that AT&T pays to Apple, if true. Say 200,000 phones sold so far = $83 million?

Yikes.

[mikec]

Originally Posted by Malatesta

Are you referring to this?

From the Street.com (treat as "rumor")

source

Yikes, if true.

I was not referring to that specifically; if that is the the case, that means selling each iPhone is ~$1000 in revenue to Apple - almost like a full computer.

If they negotiated that deal, more power to them.