When I heard about the 3G iPhone coming down to $199 I thought this might be the time to get one. I like the phone. I reviewed my brother-in-law’s iPhone when they first came out.
When the iPhone was released I mentioned that it was not subsidized, like other cell phones. When they lowered the price to $399 it still didn’t seem subsidized. However, with the $199 I think they are finally subsidizing the phone. Here’s why. The original iPhone on the slower (non-3G) network required a $20/month data plan. The new 3G iPhone requires a data plan costing $30/month.
To put that in perspective, that’s $10/month more for the 3G phone in the data plan. Mix that with a 2 year contract and you are looking at $240, to save $200 on the phone. That means you are actually paying more for the 3G iPhone than the older iPhone. Now that’s what we call subsidizing, paying more. Oops!
I would love to get an iPhone, but there is no way I will spend $1,878.76 for it. That’s $199 for the phone plus $959.76 for the least expensive voice plan ($39.99/month for 24 months) and another $720 for the data plan ($30/month for 24 months).
O.K. Some of you think I am being harsh. You think I should not count the monthly plan in the cost of the phone. Fair enough, I would be moving from one voice plan to another, so we could say the 3G iPhone would cost me $919 for the phone and the data plan. At $30/month to surf the web on the iPhone they should be paying me to take it.
Remember, none of this includes tax. It just isn’t worth $919 for me to be able to surf the web anytime, anywhere. An attractive idea, but definitely not worth it.
