The Apple iPhone Thread (3 Viewers)

[Cliff Clavin]

Live tiles/widgets in iOS7?

Is this a joke?

 

[[icon]]

Apple would be better served to not do these big events except when there is actually a breakthrough product. Announcing nothing new that wasn't known for iOS7 and trying to act like the iPad is useful with iWorks isn't anything special. A cheap iphone or the 5S semi-upgrade also doesn't wow anybody and just comes off as disappointing.

Agreed.

Apple Store Re-Design!!!!!!

Is it the Genius Tiki Bar now?

I don't get why anyone would need 32 GB on a 4 inch screen. I find it painful doing anything with my iPhone other than skimming emails, listening to music, and making phone calls. My eyes and hands hurt using it.

Here You Go Gramps.

These aren't bad products though. I just think doing events like this create higher expectations that Apple just isn't hitting these days.

Yeah... not very impressed here. May just hold onto my five and consider trying a Galazy S4 when my term is up in November... we'll see

 

[hxperson]

I don't get why anyone would need 32 GB on a 4 inch screen. I find it painful doing anything with my iPhone other than skimming emails, listening to music, and making phone calls. My eyes and hands hurt using it.

Here You Go Gramps.

Getting old definitely sucks. NOW GET OFF MY LAWN!

 

[Eephus]

I'm really underwhelmed by the price of the 5C. I didn't expect Apple to race to the bottom on their hardware margins but it's hard to see the 5C taking a big bite out of Android's low- to midrange market share.

 

[mquinnjr]

These aren't bad products though. I just think doing events like this create higher expectations that Apple just isn't hitting these days.

Yeah... not very impressed here. May just hold onto my five and consider trying a Galazy S4 when my term is up in November... we'll see

I started with the 3GS, and have since had the 4 and the 5. I literally have no complaints about the iPhone, and have stuck with it for awhile. Just doesn't have that "wow" factor it did for me when I got my 3GS. Might try a new phone just to try one when I'm up in a year, but will definitely depend on what's in store with the 6.

Will definitely compare whatever the 6 ends up being vs. Android phones and go from there.

 

[Billy Bats]

I'm really underwhelmed by the price of the 5C. I didn't expect Apple to race to the bottom on their hardware margins but it's hard to see the 5C taking a big bite out of Android's low- to midrange market share.

It feels like it's for the Apple parent that doesn't want to buy their little apple kids the expensive iphone, and the kiddies can pick their color and get a plastic iphone. I can finally see Mrs Bats giving into the little ones demands now, pretty surprised she held off this long.

 

[culdeus]

I'm curious what happens to the resale market of 4S and 5 with the 5c at 199. It could obliterate that market really.

 

[Eephus]

I'm really underwhelmed by the price of the 5C. I didn't expect Apple to race to the bottom on their hardware margins but it's hard to see the 5C taking a big bite out of Android's low- to midrange market share.

It feels like it's for the Apple parent that doesn't want to buy their little apple kids the expensive iphone, and the kiddies can pick their color and get a plastic iphone. I can finally see Mrs Bats giving into the little ones demands now, pretty surprised she held off this long.

I'm in that demographic group but the 5C is pretty much the same price as the 4S and only $100 less than the 5S flagship.

 

[Abraham]

I'm curious what happens to the resale market of 4S and 5 with the 5c at 199. It could obliterate that market really.

The new flagship has always been $200.

 

[culdeus]

I'm curious what happens to the resale market of 4S and 5 with the 5c at 199. It could obliterate that market really.

The new flagship has always been $200.

Not 199 no contract. That is a giant reason for resale market value. The contract price has a future value component.

 

[Eephus]

I'm curious what happens to the resale market of 4S and 5 with the 5c at 199. It could obliterate that market really.

The new flagship has always been $200.

Not 199 no contract. That is a giant reason for resale market value. The contract price has a future value component.

The 5C is $549/$649 off contract

 

[culdeus]

I'm curious what happens to the resale market of 4S and 5 with the 5c at 199. It could obliterate that market really.

The new flagship has always been $200.

Not 199 no contract. That is a giant reason for resale market value. The contract price has a future value component.

The 5C is $549/$649 off contract

oh, well #### me then.

 

[culdeus]

Wait, you are telling me you can get a 5s with 16GB less memory than the 5c on a contract for the same price?

Why even bother with that? The 199 no contract which is what I thought I saw seemed hella cheap, but that's clearly a misunderstanding by me.

How is this a market share gain? Why in the hell wouldn't you go grab a used 5 for that price?

 

[AcerFC]

Wait, you are telling me you can get a 5s with 16GB less memory than the 5c on a contract for the same price?

Why even bother with that? The 199 no contract which is what I thought I saw seemed hella cheap, but that's clearly a misunderstanding by me.

How is this a market share gain? Why in the hell wouldn't you go grab a used 5 for that price?

cool colors

 

[[icon]]

I'm curious what happens to the resale market of 4S and 5 with the 5c at 199. It could obliterate that market really.

The new flagship has always been $200.

Not 199 no contract. That is a giant reason for resale market value. The contract price has a future value component.

The 5C is $549/$649 off contract

oh, well #### me then.

Yeah unfortunately I don't see Apple going after that true low-end market. This c line is a step in the right direction but IMO the price point needed to be a bit ($100?) lower to really have the wow factor. We all know their margins are massive and they have room there on this tech.

If anything this is a clear sign that Apple has no intention in trying to battle android for overall market share (as a huge portion of the market are the "Free" Smartphone segment.

 

[Quez]

Anyone looking at the new iPhone should really take a look at one of the new Samsung devices. I made the switch from Apple to Android years ago and couldn't be happier. I don't mean to troll in this thread, but I was just reading to see what people were saying about the new device. Nothing special imo. I do however like the looks of the gold one.

 

[Eephus]

I'm curious what happens to the resale market of 4S and 5 with the 5c at 199. It could obliterate that market really.

The new flagship has always been $200.

Not 199 no contract. That is a giant reason for resale market value. The contract price has a future value component.

The 5C is $549/$649 off contract

oh, well #### me then.

Yeah unfortunately I don't see Apple going after that true low-end market. This c line is a step in the right direction but IMO the price point needed to be a bit ($100?) lower to really have the wow factor. We all know their margins are massive and they have room there on this tech.

If anything this is a clear sign that Apple has no intention in trying to battle android for overall market share (as a huge portion of the market are the "Free" Smartphone segment.

Interesting strategy because it implies that Apple still sees acceptable growth potential in the crowded high-end market.

 

[Quez]

I'm curious what happens to the resale market of 4S and 5 with the 5c at 199. It could obliterate that market really.

The new flagship has always been $200.

Not 199 no contract. That is a giant reason for resale market value. The contract price has a future value component.

The 5C is $549/$649 off contract

oh, well #### me then.

Yeah unfortunately I don't see Apple going after that true low-end market. This c line is a step in the right direction but IMO the price point needed to be a bit ($100?) lower to really have the wow factor. We all know their margins are massive and they have room there on this tech.

If anything this is a clear sign that Apple has no intention in trying to battle android for overall market share (as a huge portion of the market are the "Free" Smartphone segment.

Apple could be missing the boat by not going after the low end market share you mentioned. I heard Amazon was possibly going to launch a free device. Once you get someone in a cloud ecosystem they are familiar with they are unlikely to budge. Paying for cloud storage, and using their stores seems to be where the money is.

 

[whoknew]

Anyone looking at the new iPhone should really take a look at one of the new Samsung devices. I made the switch from Apple to Android years ago and couldn't be happier. I don't mean to troll in this thread, but I was just reading to see what people were saying about the new device. Nothing special imo. I do however like the looks of the gold one.

I was interested in the Galaxy S4 but have concerns about how easy it is to switch. I use a macbook pro which I sync to my iphone with itunes.

How difficult will it be to sync the Galaxy with a macbook and can I move my music over?

Thanks.

 

[culdeus]

I'm curious what happens to the resale market of 4S and 5 with the 5c at 199. It could obliterate that market really.

The new flagship has always been $200.

Not 199 no contract. That is a giant reason for resale market value. The contract price has a future value component.

The 5C is $549/$649 off contract

oh, well #### me then.

Yeah unfortunately I don't see Apple going after that true low-end market. This c line is a step in the right direction but IMO the price point needed to be a bit ($100?) lower to really have the wow factor. We all know their margins are massive and they have room there on this tech.

If anything this is a clear sign that Apple has no intention in trying to battle android for overall market share (as a huge portion of the market are the "Free" Smartphone segment.

Apple could be missing the boat by not going after the low end market share you mentioned. I heard Amazon was possibly going to launch a free device. Once you get someone in a cloud ecosystem they are familiar with they are unlikely to budge. Paying for cloud storage, and using their stores seems to be where the money is.

I heard the cloud storage system is a bust. I need to dig up the figures, but basically NOBODY is paying for it beyond the min spec they give you. Dropbox starts you out with way more than icloud and all you have to do is kill a few hookers and they pop you up to like 250gb

 

[Eephus]

Anyone looking at the new iPhone should really take a look at one of the new Samsung devices. I made the switch from Apple to Android years ago and couldn't be happier. I don't mean to troll in this thread, but I was just reading to see what people were saying about the new device. Nothing special imo. I do however like the looks of the gold one.

I was interested in the Galaxy S4 but have concerns about how easy it is to switch. I use a macbook pro which I sync to my iphone with itunes.

How difficult will it be to sync the Galaxy with a macbook and can I move my music over?

Thanks.

I think a lot depends on the size and organization of your music libary on your computer

 

[Eephus]

I'm curious what happens to the resale market of 4S and 5 with the 5c at 199. It could obliterate that market really.

The new flagship has always been $200.

Not 199 no contract. That is a giant reason for resale market value. The contract price has a future value component.

The 5C is $549/$649 off contract

oh, well #### me then.

Yeah unfortunately I don't see Apple going after that true low-end market. This c line is a step in the right direction but IMO the price point needed to be a bit ($100?) lower to really have the wow factor. We all know their margins are massive and they have room there on this tech.

If anything this is a clear sign that Apple has no intention in trying to battle android for overall market share (as a huge portion of the market are the "Free" Smartphone segment.

Apple could be missing the boat by not going after the low end market share you mentioned. I heard Amazon was possibly going to launch a free device. Once you get someone in a cloud ecosystem they are familiar with they are unlikely to budge. Paying for cloud storage, and using their stores seems to be where the money is.

I heard the cloud storage system is a bust. I need to dig up the figures, but basically NOBODY is paying for it beyond the min spec they give you. Dropbox starts you out with way more than icloud and all you have to do is kill a few hookers and they pop you up to like 250gb

A-ha. Craig James' motive becomes much clearer now

 

[[icon]]

Yeah unfortunately I don't see Apple going after that true low-end market. This c line is a step in the right direction but IMO the price point needed to be a bit ($100?) lower to really have the wow factor. We all know their margins are massive and they have room there on this tech.

If anything this is a clear sign that Apple has no intention in trying to battle android for overall market share (as a huge portion of the market are the "Free" Smartphone segment.

Apple could be missing the boat by not going after the low end market share you mentioned. I heard Amazon was possibly going to launch a free device. Once you get someone in a cloud ecosystem they are familiar with they are unlikely to budge. Paying for cloud storage, and using their stores seems to be where the money is.

I heard the cloud storage system is a bust. I need to dig up the figures, but basically NOBODY is paying for it beyond the min spec they give you. Dropbox starts you out with way more than icloud and all you have to do is kill a few hookers and they pop you up to like 250gb

Not sure what the success rate is. I paid for it but only so I could back up all my photos. I no longer really store music on my phone using the music app / iTunes. With Spotify I can simply create all the playlists I want and determine which couple I want to be "available offline" in the event I'm ever without data (remote areas or planes without wifi). I love that I just have to set playlists once on spotify between my laptop and phone and they sync. I can add a song to playlists from radio mode with one touch. Overall a very elegant system for my purposes.

That, coupled with my Box and DropBox cloud accounts and I really have very little need for on phone storage anymore. If I'm ever going to be somewhere without data for a while then I have to ramp up my "offline" playlists but that's about it. My 32GB iPhone is pretty much all pics/videos with very little in the way of music on there.

Its one of many reasons I simply don't really care about the lack of SD slot. I'd never use it. IMO that is going the way of the Floppy Disc sooner than later as more and more people grow comfortable with could-based storage and data transfer.

 

[hxperson]

Yeah unfortunately I don't see Apple going after that true low-end market. This c line is a step in the right direction but IMO the price point needed to be a bit ($100?) lower to really have the wow factor. We all know their margins are massive and they have room there on this tech.

If anything this is a clear sign that Apple has no intention in trying to battle android for overall market share (as a huge portion of the market are the "Free" Smartphone segment.

Apple could be missing the boat by not going after the low end market share you mentioned. I heard Amazon was possibly going to launch a free device. Once you get someone in a cloud ecosystem they are familiar with they are unlikely to budge. Paying for cloud storage, and using their stores seems to be where the money is.

I heard the cloud storage system is a bust. I need to dig up the figures, but basically NOBODY is paying for it beyond the min spec they give you. Dropbox starts you out with way more than icloud and all you have to do is kill a few hookers and they pop you up to like 250gb

Not sure what the success rate is. I paid for it but only so I could back up all my photos. I no longer really store music on my phone using the music app / iTunes. With Spotify I can simply create all the playlists I want and determine which couple I want to be "available offline" in the event I'm ever without data (remote areas or planes without wifi). I love that I just have to set playlists once on spotify between my laptop and phone and they sync. I can add a song to playlists from radio mode with one touch. Overall a very elegant system for my purposes.

That, coupled with my Box and DropBox cloud accounts and I really have very little need for on phone storage anymore. If I'm ever going to be somewhere without data for a while then I have to ramp up my "offline" playlists but that's about it. My 32GB iPhone is pretty much all pics/videos with very little in the way of music on there.

Its one of many reasons I simply don't really care about the lack of SD slot. I'd never use it. IMO that is going the way of the Floppy Disc sooner than later as more and more people grow comfortable with could-based storage and data transfer.

This maybe true while you are in America but as soon as you step outside of the country its a different story. Spotify isn't up here in Canada yet, Netflix does not offer the same breadth of content, and Amazon Prime in Canada still costs $79/yr but you get no instant video or lending library. If you go anywhere else like Europe or Asia you'll run into regional content issues for all streaming services and can only rely on Dropbox/iCloud or other cloud based storage. Even those will be limited, however, as often times you will have massive limitations on your data bandwidth and throughput.

For people who travel often, owning your own content is still the way to go imo and the removable SD card can be a big deal. Right now I have two 64 GB SD cards that I carry around with my Galaxy Note 2, which I run as a hotspot media server for my iPad or Nexus 7 when I travel. I keep an endless supply of movies, TV series, and music to keep me entertained in any scenario, wifi/LTE or not.

 

[Slapdash]

I would always prefer physical storage over the cloud, particularly for any content that I generate.

 

[tommyGunZ]

I would always prefer physical storage over the cloud, particularly for any content that I generate.

 

[Leeroy Jenkins]

The lack if action in here today is kind of telling. What's the rest of the inner webs think?

 

[The Commish]

The lack if action in here today is kind of telling. What's the rest of the inner webs think?

Don't have anything invested with them any longer except for about 25 shares and I didn't know there was going to be an announcement today....at the same time, I don't really care any more so I'm not really paying attention any longer. It seems, based on this thread, SSDD for Apple and predictions are generally correct. My nail doesn't go officially in the coffin until I see their "major" release next year.

 

[Mario Kart]

Meh. Nothing much to get excited about from a current users standpoint. Someone without an iPhone might be interested.

I hate not switching for now. But, I've settled on my phone being a phone and MP3 player. Not much else can be done given what I currently need and/or have a need for. A larger screen will help greatly though. I'd hate to have to wait another year simply because that is Apple's way of doing things but they will be two years behind others with a larger screen by then.

I wonder what Jobs would have done by now.

 

[Wooderson]

I wouldn't upgrade from a 5. But I have a 4s and would like a bigger screen.

My wife and I both have 4s phones. Might get me the 5s and next year get the 6 on her account and give her my hand me down.

Just need to talk her into it.

 

[HellToupee]

I wouldn't upgrade from a 5. But I have a 4s and would like a bigger screen.

My wife and I both have 4s phones. Might get me the 5s and next year get the 6 on her account and give her my hand me down.

Just need to talk her into it.

I've tried that gimmick before with the Mrs to no avail

 

[AcerFC]

Yeah, I'm not running out to upgrade. I have a 4. It still works great and I was hoping to upgrade. At this point, I don't even know what I would be looking for in an upgrade. I don't think I want to carry a huge phone around. I guess I'll figure it out eventually. I just feel like I'm all in a bit with apple. Have phone, iPad and all the kids digital movies in iTunes. I use google for email and calendar though.

 

[Teef]

Meh. Nothing much to get excited about from a current users standpoint. Someone without an iPhone might be interested.

I hate not switching for now. But, I've settled on my phone being a phone and MP3 player. Not much else can be done given what I currently need and/or have a need for. A larger screen will help greatly though. I'd hate to have to wait another year simply because that is Apple's way of doing things but they will be two years behind others with a larger screen by then.

I wonder what Jobs would have done by now.

Why don't you just switch to another phone? You're consistently the whiniest ##### in this thread.

 

[Mario Kart]

Meh. Nothing much to get excited about from a current users standpoint. Someone without an iPhone might be interested.

I hate not switching for now. But, I've settled on my phone being a phone and MP3 player. Not much else can be done given what I currently need and/or have a need for. A larger screen will help greatly though. I'd hate to have to wait another year simply because that is Apple's way of doing things but they will be two years behind others with a larger screen by then.

I wonder what Jobs would have done by now.

Why don't you just switch to another phone? You're consistently the whiniest ##### in this thread.

Lol, go change your Depends or something. If you prefer an inferior product to others. Apple was once the icon of innovation and now they are not.Take your iFight somewhere else. No one has the time, especially me, to bicker with you about an iPhone. Grow up!

 

[Teef]

Meh. Nothing much to get excited about from a current users standpoint. Someone without an iPhone might be interested.

I hate not switching for now. But, I've settled on my phone being a phone and MP3 player. Not much else can be done given what I currently need and/or have a need for. A larger screen will help greatly though. I'd hate to have to wait another year simply because that is Apple's way of doing things but they will be two years behind others with a larger screen by then.

I wonder what Jobs would have done by now.

Why don't you just switch to another phone? You're consistently the whiniest ##### in this thread.

Lol, go change your Depends or something. If you prefer an inferior product to others. Apple was once the icon of innovation and now they are not.Take your iFight somewhere else. No one has the time, especially me, to bicker with you about an iPhone. Grow up!

Now that's funny.

 

[thecatch]

Fingerprint scanner will be extremely useful to me assuming it works as advertised, but I probably wouldn't be upgrading if my 4s screen wasn't cracked already.

 

[(HULK)]

Really disapointed in the 5c pricing. Similar to the Moto X pricing. These phones cost just under $200 to build, end to end, that markup is crazy. Looks like the Nexus will remain the only high end unlocked phone available at a decent price for another year. Sooner or later someone is going to fire a shot straight into the heart of that market though.

 

[Hedgehog]

Big iphone fan....I was absolutely going to upgrade fro my 4g but this is a lousy release IMO - I see no point in upgrading as my only real issue is terrible battery life....think im going to spend $50 for the battery case and wait until next year for hopefully a better upgrade.

 

[Quez]

Fingerprint scanner will be extremely useful to me assuming it works as advertised, but I probably wouldn't be upgrading if my 4s screen wasn't cracked already.

Unless you accidentally slice off your finger and need to call 911.

 

[Abraham]

Really disapointed in the 5c pricing. Similar to the Moto X pricing. These phones cost just under $200 to build, end to end, that markup is crazy. Looks like the Nexus will remain the only high end unlocked phone available at a decent price for another year. Sooner or later someone is going to fire a shot straight into the heart of that market though.

Consumers in this country have yet to show they want an unlocked device at a good price. That day may be coming but none or the handset manufacturers have been given a compelling reason to reduce the cost.

 

[One]

Fingerprint scanner will be extremely useful to me assuming it works as advertised, but I probably wouldn't be upgrading if my 4s screen wasn't cracked already.

Unless you accidentally slice off your finger and need to call 911.

You can register as many fingers as you want.

 

[Brony]

Yeah, I'm not running out to upgrade. I have a 4. It still works great and I was hoping to upgrade. At this point, I don't even know what I would be looking for in an upgrade. I don't think I want to carry a huge phone around. I guess I'll figure it out eventually. I just feel like I'm all in a bit with apple. Have phone, iPad and all the kids digital movies in iTunes. I use google for email and calendar though.

Pretty much where I'm at. I like Apple and have iPhone, 2 iPads and multiple iPods, but I no longer feel committed to their ecosystem. Oddly, the switch to the new connector on the iPad mini was a thing that really pissed me off... just when I had the house down to one charger type, they go and #### up my world. #firstworldproblems.

 

[culdeus]

ipad + android phone FTW.

I used to be android pad + iphone.

This setup is a major step forward.

 

[Slapdash]

ipad + android phone FTW.

I used to be android pad + iphone.

This setup is a major step forward.

Hard to win when using an iPad

 

[hxperson]

ipad + android phone FTW.

I used to be android pad + iphone.

This setup is a major step forward.

I tend to agree with this as I really only use my tablet to surf the web and watch videos. I've long felt android tablets were far inferior to the iPad due to the lag and overall instability of the OS, and there are still far too few tablet optimized apps. However, I recently picked up the Nexus 7 (2013) and it has blown my mind. Absolutely love it. Great size, stunning screen, smooth as butter. I might have bought my last iPad...

 

[(HULK)]

Really disapointed in the 5c pricing. Similar to the Moto X pricing. These phones cost just under $200 to build, end to end, that markup is crazy. Looks like the Nexus will remain the only high end unlocked phone available at a decent price for another year. Sooner or later someone is going to fire a shot straight into the heart of that market though.

Consumers in this country have yet to show they want an unlocked device at a good price. That day may be coming but none or the handset manufacturers have been given a compelling reason to reduce the cost.

The Nexus 4 was constantly sold out for it's first 3 months. I don't know that I agree completely that the market isn't there yet, but hopefully it will be eventually. The main problem, from my perspective, is that most consumers are uneducated about what their options really are. Locking yourself into a contract for 2 years for a discount on a phone works out in the consumers favor practically never.

 

[[icon]]

Meh. Nothing much to get excited about from a current users standpoint. Someone without an iPhone might be interested.

I hate not switching for now. But, I've settled on my phone being a phone and MP3 player. Not much else can be done given what I currently need and/or have a need for. A larger screen will help greatly though. I'd hate to have to wait another year simply because that is Apple's way of doing things but they will be two years behind others with a larger screen by then.

I wonder what Jobs would have done by now.

Why don't you just switch to another phone? You're consistently the whiniest ##### in this thread.

Lol, go change your Depends or something. If you prefer an inferior product to others. Apple was once the icon of innovation and now they are not.Take your iFight somewhere else. No one has the time, especially me, to bicker with you about an iPhone. Grow up!

Whoa.

 

[Abraham]

Really disapointed in the 5c pricing. Similar to the Moto X pricing. These phones cost just under $200 to build, end to end, that markup is crazy. Looks like the Nexus will remain the only high end unlocked phone available at a decent price for another year. Sooner or later someone is going to fire a shot straight into the heart of that market though.

Consumers in this country have yet to show they want an unlocked device at a good price. That day may be coming but none or the handset manufacturers have been given a compelling reason to reduce the cost.

The Nexus 4 was constantly sold out for it's first 3 months. I don't know that I agree completely that the market isn't there yet, but hopefully it will be eventually. The main problem, from my perspective, is that most consumers are uneducated about what their options really are. Locking yourself into a contract for 2 years for a discount on a phone works out in the consumers favor practically never.

The Nexus 4 being sold out isn't an indication that demand was high, just that it was higher than Google planned (a la the Chromecast).

I'm on your side about the cost of devices. It would be great to have a top of the line phone that wasn't tied to a contract. If Apple were to make the 5C $200 or $300 off-contract they would sell a TON of them....but it would also affect the iPod market.

There is also a brand issue - devaluing one's own brand to move units is not often a good strategy because increasing price is almost always impossible. And just because it can be done doesn't mean it should be. Exxon could probably make a car that lasts for 150k miles and sells for 8 grand but will only run on Exxon gas....doesn't mean that they would do it.

 

[(HULK)]

Really disapointed in the 5c pricing. Similar to the Moto X pricing. These phones cost just under $200 to build, end to end, that markup is crazy. Looks like the Nexus will remain the only high end unlocked phone available at a decent price for another year. Sooner or later someone is going to fire a shot straight into the heart of that market though.

Consumers in this country have yet to show they want an unlocked device at a good price. That day may be coming but none or the handset manufacturers have been given a compelling reason to reduce the cost.

The Nexus 4 was constantly sold out for it's first 3 months. I don't know that I agree completely that the market isn't there yet, but hopefully it will be eventually. The main problem, from my perspective, is that most consumers are uneducated about what their options really are. Locking yourself into a contract for 2 years for a discount on a phone works out in the consumers favor practically never.

The Nexus 4 being sold out isn't an indication that demand was high, just that it was higher than Google planned (a la the Chromecast).

I'm on your side about the cost of devices. It would be great to have a top of the line phone that wasn't tied to a contract. If Apple were to make the 5C $200 or $300 off-contract they would sell a TON of them....but it would also affect the iPod market.

There is also a brand issue - devaluing one's own brand to move units is not often a good strategy because increasing price is almost always impossible. And just because it can be done doesn't mean it should be. Exxon could probably make a car that lasts for 150k miles and sells for 8 grand but will only run on Exxon gas....doesn't mean that they would do it.

Honestly, I was expecting Google to do it, its more in line with philosophy and brand. When the pricing for the Moto X was announced, I was :shuked:

Someone is going to do it sooner or later. The cost of tech/components falls fast. Meanwhile, there are limits to what is practical in a phone. On a 4 inch screen, the human eye can't detect the difference between a 720 and 1080 resolution at all. Putting 4K screens in phones makes zero sense (yet I hear one is coming). Same with processors, megapixels, etc (although there is more room there than screen resolution imo). At a certain point in time, these incremental advancements become meaningless. Its only a matter of time until someone makes a quad core, 1080P 5 incher with 2GBs of RAM and a decent camera and prices it in that sweet spot. Whoever does will sell a ton. So what if their profit margin is $100 per phone instead of $300... they're going to make money hand over fist imo.

Right now I'm thinking that the 5c would've been priced differently if the Moto X had priced aggresively. Since they didn't, both Moto and Apple are going to enjoy ridiculously high profit margins on these devices. But this isn't a closed system... someone is going to come in and do it. The markups are unjustified and the opportunity to compete on price is there for the taking right now.

 

[Abraham]

Really disapointed in the 5c pricing. Similar to the Moto X pricing. These phones cost just under $200 to build, end to end, that markup is crazy. Looks like the Nexus will remain the only high end unlocked phone available at a decent price for another year. Sooner or later someone is going to fire a shot straight into the heart of that market though.

Consumers in this country have yet to show they want an unlocked device at a good price. That day may be coming but none or the handset manufacturers have been given a compelling reason to reduce the cost.

The Nexus 4 was constantly sold out for it's first 3 months. I don't know that I agree completely that the market isn't there yet, but hopefully it will be eventually. The main problem, from my perspective, is that most consumers are uneducated about what their options really are. Locking yourself into a contract for 2 years for a discount on a phone works out in the consumers favor practically never.

The Nexus 4 being sold out isn't an indication that demand was high, just that it was higher than Google planned (a la the Chromecast).

I'm on your side about the cost of devices. It would be great to have a top of the line phone that wasn't tied to a contract. If Apple were to make the 5C $200 or $300 off-contract they would sell a TON of them....but it would also affect the iPod market.

There is also a brand issue - devaluing one's own brand to move units is not often a good strategy because increasing price is almost always impossible. And just because it can be done doesn't mean it should be. Exxon could probably make a car that lasts for 150k miles and sells for 8 grand but will only run on Exxon gas....doesn't mean that they would do it.

Honestly, I was expecting Google to do it, its more in line with philosophy and brand. When the pricing for the Moto X was announced, I was :shuked:

Someone is going to do it sooner or later. The cost of tech/components falls fast. Meanwhile, there are limits to what is practical in a phone. On a 4 inch screen, the human eye can't detect the difference between a 720 and 1080 resolution at all. Putting 4K screens in phones makes zero sense (yet I hear one is coming). Same with processors, megapixels, etc (although there is more room there than screen resolution imo). At a certain point in time, these incremental advancements become meaningless. Its only a matter of time until someone makes a quad core, 1080P 5 incher with 2GBs of RAM and a decent camera and prices it in that sweet spot. Whoever does will sell a ton. So what if their profit margin is $100 per phone instead of $300... they're going to make money hand over fist imo.

Right now I'm thinking that the 5c would've been priced differently if the Moto X had priced aggresively. Since they didn't, both Moto and Apple are going to enjoy ridiculously high profit margins on these devices. But this isn't a closed system... someone is going to come in and do it. The markups are unjustified and the opportunity to compete on price is there for the taking right now.

I think it's harder to do than that. Asus tried to get in to the game and nothing came of it. There have been a few companies that have offered decent low cost devices on Android and not gained traction. Young users want what their friends have (iPhone or Galaxy) and many older users get a device from work.