At US$499 and $599, the iPhone might seem like an expensive option for a cell phone, but when comparing the cost over the required two-year service plan, Apple's combination iPod and smartphone can cost less than similar products. Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster sees the aggressive iPhone service plan prices as a plus to help draw more customers into the AT&T fold.
"The service plans are about 25 percent cheaper than we had been expecting," he said. "Which is a positive, as it removes one of the barriers to entering the market."
Mr. Munster compared the overall two-year cost of owning a 4GB iPhone for a new customer to the cost of purchasing other smartphone offerings from AT&T, the exclusive carrier of the iPhone. Adding together the $499 phone price, plus the $36 activation fee and mid-range $79.99 monthly service fee, the iPhone costs $2,419 over two years. In comparison, the BlackBerry Pearl comes in at $2,429, and the BlackBerry Curve will cost $2,479.
Whether or not Apple will have enough units on hand for the June 29 launch, dubbed iDay, remains to be seen. Mr. Munster estimates that Apple's largest retail locations could have as many as 10,000 iPhones on hand, and that there may be at least 1 million units available in the retail channel. He expects that Apple and AT&T could sell upwards of 200,000 units in the first two days of availability, but added "Adequate supply could provide upside to our June quarter numbers of 200,000 units."
Mr. Munster is maintaining his "Outperform" rating and $160 target price for Apple's stock. Apple is currently trading in the pre-market at $120.53, up 0.88 (0.74%).
If you are interested in Apple's stock, join our forum members in the Apple Finance Boards, a moderated forum for Apple Investors and people who are interested in Apple's financial dealings. For other stories regarding Apple's stock activity, visit our updated Apple Stock Watch Special Report.
despite the great reviews from almost everyone today
Songs as Ringtones
Games
Any flash support
Instant Messaging
Picture messages (MMS)
Video recording
Voice recognition or voice dialing
Wireless Bluetooth Stereo Streaming (A2DP)
One-size-fits-all headset jack (May have to buy an adapter for certain headphones)
Stuff we already knew it didn't have
3G (EV-DO/HSDPA)
GPS
A real keyboard
Removable battery
Expandable Storage
Direct iTunes Music Store Access (Over Wi-Fi or EDGE)
despite the great reviews from almost everyone today
Songs as Ringtones
Games
Any flash support
Instant Messaging
Picture messages (MMS)
Video recording
Voice recognition or voice dialing
Wireless Bluetooth Stereo Streaming (A2DP)
One-size-fits-all headset jack (May have to buy an adapter for certain headphones)
Stuff we already knew it didn't have
3G (EV-DO/HSDPA)
GPS
A real keyboard
Removable battery
Expandable Storage
Direct iTunes Music Store Access (Over Wi-Fi or EDGE)
1. Songs as ringtones? Thank heavens! It's really annoying to hear some hard rock song come blaring out when someone's cell phone rings. In any case, how do you know that won't be added soon?
2. Games: a real battery-eater. You might end up like a guy I ran into, playing a game on his Treo. A call came through and his battery died. (The Treos have shorter battery life than an iPhone, BTW.)
3. It has a standard headset jack. The problem is that some cell phones use a different (smaller) jack. Those are the non-standard phones, not the iPhone.
4. 3G: that would be good if you live in an area where it's available, as long as you're willing to sacrifice battery life.
4. Lots of phones don't have GPS. No Treo does, for example. Many Blackberries don't, either. (More have the capability to use a Bluetooth-enabled GPS receiver, so you have to carry two devices around.)
5. Real keyboard? Who cares? I used a Palm Tungsten C for several years. It has a "real" keyboard. It was (literally) a pain to use. I much prefer the virtual keyboard on my Palm TX. Do watch the keyboard video before you decide that a virtual keyboard is a drawback.
6. Removable battery: Maybe it doesn't need one. The Treos do because of their battery life--up to a bit over 4 hours talk time, though, in practice, a lot less. From what I could find, the BlackBerries have even less talk time. The iPhone, using the same criteria, has up to 8 hours talk time.
7. Expandable storage: Well, Mr/Ms Guest, when a basic Treo has about 60MB accessible internal storage, or a typical BlackBerry has only 64MB TOTAL, it NEEDS expansion. They use SD or micro SD cards, which go up to 2GB, vs the iPhone's built in 4GB or 8GB. I don't know if the Treos support SDHC cards, which only recently have been available in 4GB and 8GB sizes. You have to factor in the cost of that card with the phone. Also, guess which is the top-selling music player? The *4GB* iPod Nano.
8. Direct iTunes Store access. Not yet. That's mostly a software issue.
Thus, to get the same battery life, storage, etc. that the iPhone has, you'd have to spend:
Treo 700 or 750: $299
2 2GB high-speed SD cards: $65
Extra battery: $50
Anonymous wrote: What a cop out. Let's limit the user's choices and call that a good thing. Well, it is the Apple model after all.
For that matter, take ANYTHING you like about the iPhone, it is now a benefit of every other phone, because, how do you know that won't be added soon?
Want some cheese with that whine?
Because they cannot. No other manufacturer has a multitouch screen. No other manufacturer's phones can use songs from the iTunes Store.
If you don't want an iPhone, then don't buy one. It's that simple. Stop whining. You're like one of my college roommates who complained that Ferrari had "ruined" their latest model. Of course, he was driving a beat up old TR-4.
CloseViewName:Guest Wed Jun 27, 2007 1:27 pmSubject:
Quote
gslusher wrote:
2. Games: a real battery-eater. You might end up like a guy I ran into, playing a game on his Treo. A call came through and his battery died. (The Treos have shorter battery life than an iPhone, BTW.)
You can replace the battery on the Treo, or any other cell phone, by yourself. We don't know that the iPhone has better battery life, Apple is notorious for overstating the battery life of the iPod, why should it be any different with the iPhone?
Quote
gslusher wrote:
3. It has a standard headset jack. The problem is that some cell phones use a different (smaller) jack. Those are the non-standard phones, not the iPhone.
Right, so all your cell phone accessories cannot be used with it. A standard headphone jack does not allow you to talk into it, it's not a microphone port!
Quote
gslusher wrote:
4. 3G: that would be good if you live in an area where it's available, as long as you're willing to sacrifice battery life.
The battery life hit is not significant, but alas, Apple's battery life estimates are worthless anyways. The list of footnotes and disclaimers for how they manufactured the numbers are longer than signing up for a free vacation sweepstakes. The great talk time was only acheived by turning off Wi-Fi. And Apple doesn't even say how they got the "7" hours of internet use, did they use 802.11b/g? EDGE? A combination? No details, thus impossible to even try to assess how it relates to real world usage. Again, worthless estimates.
Quote
gslusher wrote:
4. Lots of phones don't have GPS. No Treo does, for example. Many Blackberries don't, either. (More have the capability to use a Bluetooth-enabled GPS receiver, so you have to carry two devices around.)
Okay, point being? Other phones not having it still doesn't put it on the iPhone.
Quote
gslusher wrote:
5. Real keyboard? Who cares? I used a Palm Tungsten C for several years. It has a "real" keyboard. It was (literally) a pain to use. I much prefer the virtual keyboard on my Palm TX. Do watch the keyboard video before you decide that a virtual keyboard is a drawback.
People care, just not you.
Quote
gslusher wrote:
6. Removable battery: Maybe it doesn't need one. The Treos do because of their battery life--up to a bit over 4 hours talk time, though, in practice, a lot less. From what I could find, the BlackBerries have even less talk time. The iPhone, using the same criteria, has up to 8 hours talk time.
Nope, it needs one. What do you do when you get a defective battery. There will be iPhones that are sold this week with defective batteries. Unfortunatley, you cannot remove the bad battery and put in a new one. You are without a phone if you have a defective or old battery. See the previous point about 8 hours of talk time being a worthless number. The numbers were not arrived using the same criteria as you assert. Wait until third parties assess the battery life and do so using the same criteria for each phone. Only then will you have an idea of an accurate battery life. The rest is just Apple propaganda.
Quote
gslusher wrote:
7. Expandable storage: Well, Mr/Ms Guest, when a basic Treo has about 60MB accessible internal storage, or a typical BlackBerry has only 64MB TOTAL, it NEEDS expansion. They use SD or micro SD cards, which go up to 2GB, vs the iPhone's built in 4GB or 8GB. I don't know if the Treos support SDHC cards, which only recently have been available in 4GB and 8GB sizes. You have to factor in the cost of that card with the phone. Also, guess which is the top-selling music player? The *4GB* iPod Nano.
You can use the Treo all you want. My 4 year old PDA phone has expandable storage. This tiny little Samsung flip phone has expandable storage and it's not even meant for holding lots of data, doesn't have a 2 MP camera.
Quote
gslusher wrote:
8. Direct iTunes Store access. Not yet. That's mostly a software issue.
"Not yet", the decades old war cry of an Apple fanatic.
Quote
gslusher wrote:
Thus, to get the same battery life, storage, etc. that the iPhone has, you'd have to spend:
Treo 700 or 750: $299
2 2GB high-speed SD cards: $65
Extra battery: $50
Total: $414
See?
BS Numbers, you have shown nothing. But assuming that you wanted that, wow, you have made a more capable device that costs less than the iPhone. With a contract you can get bigger discounts on the phone too! Way to go.
CloseViewName:Guest Wed Jun 27, 2007 1:30 pmSubject:
[quote="gslusher]Because they cannot. No other manufacturer has a multitouch screen. No other manufacturer's phones can use songs from the iTunes Store.
[/quote]
No multi-touch, not yet. Of course, I can take iTMS music and put it on any phone once I convert the music into another format. So... yeah, that one, already done. In fact, I can take an iTMS song and make a ringtone out of it.
[quote="gslusher]
If you don't want an iPhone, then don't buy one. It's that simple. Stop whining. You're like one of my college roommates who complained that Ferrari had "ruined" their latest model. Of course, he was driving a beat up old TR-4.[/quote]
Sorry if you perceive criticism as whining. Grow some skin boy. If you love the iPhone so much, and people pointing out flaws in hurts you so deeply, stop reading.
CloseViewName:Guest Wed Jun 27, 2007 1:33 pmSubject:
Quote
Songs as Ringtones
Games
Any flash support
Instant Messaging
Picture messages (MMS)
Video recording
Voice recognition or voice dialing
Wireless Bluetooth Stereo Streaming (A2DP)
Okay, I give up: Which smartphones offer all those features, how much do they cost, and how much are the service plans for them?
Quote
Stuff we already knew it didn't have
3G (EV-DO/HSDPA)
GPS
A real keyboard
Removable battery
Expandable Storage
Direct iTunes Music Store Access (Over Wi-Fi or EDGE)
How's the battery life on those phones with both GPS and 3G? How's the screen size on those phones with a "real" (good one, guest!) keyboard? How many phones with expandable storage can be equipped with 8GB of memory and at what cost?
So many questions, so little time!
I'm anxiously awaiting your and/or gizmodo's answers, (other) guest...
Doh, it would help if the author of that page wasn't misrepresenting the facts in order to get the results he wants. He's using the cheapest plan available to consumers for the iPhone, but not the cheapest plan available to consumers for the Moto Q. I don't know if there is one cheaper, there could be, but you can cut the monthly cost for the Moto Q in half to at most $40/month.
CloseViewName:Guest Wed Jun 27, 2007 1:41 pmSubject:
Quote
Guest wrote:
Doh, it would help if the author of that page wasn't misrepresenting the facts in order to get the results he wants. He's using the cheapest plan available to consumers for the iPhone, but not the cheapest plan available to consumers for the Moto Q. I don't know if there is one cheaper, there could be, but you can cut the monthly cost for the Moto Q in half to at most $40/month.
Huh? All his facts and sources are in the article! Where are yours?
CloseViewName:Intruder- TMO Mac SpecialistPosts: 2835Joined: 07 Jul 2004 Wed Jun 27, 2007 2:13 pmSubject:
JimB12, not feeling brave enough to post under your login these days? Or is it that you don't want your anonymous posts attributed to you? I notice that you become much more confrontational when you are hiding behind the cloak of anonymity.
CloseViewName:Guest Wed Jun 27, 2007 2:46 pmSubject:
Quote
Guest wrote:
Quote
Guest wrote:
Doh, it would help if the author of that page wasn't misrepresenting the facts in order to get the results he wants. He's using the cheapest plan available to consumers for the iPhone, but not the cheapest plan available to consumers for the Moto Q. I don't know if there is one cheaper, there could be, but you can cut the monthly cost for the Moto Q in half to at most $40/month.
Huh? All his facts and sources are in the article! Where are yours?
His "facts" are cherry picked. Verizon is not the only carrier that offers the Moto Q. Unlike the iPhone, with the Q consumers can choose their provider. Just try it for yourself, hit the other carrier websites and buy yourself a Moto Q, and get the 39.99 plan.
CloseViewName:Guest Wed Jun 27, 2007 4:05 pmSubject:
Quote
Guest wrote:
His "facts" are cherry picked. Verizon is not the only carrier that offers the Moto Q. Unlike the iPhone, with the Q consumers can choose their provider. Just try it for yourself, hit the other carrier websites and buy yourself a Moto Q, and get the 39.99 plan.
Good one, (other) guest! Does that $39.99 rate include unlimited data?
CloseViewName:Guest Wed Jun 27, 2007 6:33 pmSubject:
Quote
Guest wrote:
Quote
Guest wrote:
His "facts" are cherry picked. Verizon is not the only carrier that offers the Moto Q. Unlike the iPhone, with the Q consumers can choose their provider. Just try it for yourself, hit the other carrier websites and buy yourself a Moto Q, and get the 39.99 plan.
Good one, (other) guest! Does that $39.99 rate include unlimited data?
Sheesh...
i don't know about that plan he's talking about, but my brother's got a moto q and uses sprint... with unlimited data he is paying less than 70 bucks a month
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