LooseSuits Thread: iPhone 3G: July 11th...whaaaaaaa?

iPhone 3G: July 11th...whaaaaaaa?

Tyme — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 07:26:19

I called last month to make a change to my account. Just the services (not a new line or anything) and got the lovely "your account will be extended two years" speech. If I get a phone with AT&T now is the time for me to do it because my account wouldn't be extended that much.

iPhone 3G: July 11th...whaaaaaaa?

Scrivs — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 06:29:48

Yeah I don't think any company waits till the 2 year period is over then adds another 2 year period. We were talking about your scenario where they start you all over again on a 2 year period.

iPhone 3G: July 11th...whaaaaaaa?

Ozone42 — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 02:32:26

I have made upgrades and changes several times throughout my time with AT&T. They have never added 2 years onto my contract. A few things have reset the contract adding two years from that day, but not adding them after the end of the existing contract.

I'd actually been on non-contract with them for a while when I got my iphone, putting me back under.

iPhone 3G: July 11th...whaaaaaaa?

JPhill — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 01:07:46

it was almost a given it would have 3G

Yeah I definitely agree. I'm assuming he wanted to be the one to make it "official".

iPhone 3G: July 11th...whaaaaaaa?

Tyme — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 01:06:45

@Scrivs - amazing how you always find them....absolutely amazing.

When has Jobs ever made a small deal out of something small?

Has anyone seen how many minutes the $30 unlimited data plan has? Right now the lowest plan (on the AT&T site) is $59.99 for 450 minutes and 200 text messages. Since Apple and AT&T aren't sharing revenue anymore I'm curious how the pricing is.

iPhone 3G: July 11th...whaaaaaaa?

Scrivs — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 01:00:03

There wasn't much of a surprise though from a hardware standpoint or am I missing something huge here? If that is the only case then I think Jobs took the secrecy thing a bit too far because it was almost a given it would have 3G.

iPhone 3G: July 11th...whaaaaaaa?

JPhill — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 00:56:56

I think the delay might have to do with the FCC. It obviously has to go through the FCC before being sold, and they might have just done that today. I imagine that if they would have put it through the FCC earlier, people/companies would have found out and spoiled the surprise.

iPhone 3G: July 11th...whaaaaaaa?

Scrivs — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 00:50:55

One thing that is often forgotten is that stores have to prepare for the possible onslaught of employees.

Exactly. Those stores don't want a ton of employees coming to them. Stores don't need any stinkin' employees.

iPhone 3G: July 11th...whaaaaaaa?

Oli — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 00:49:51

Mike they never used to be. The iPhone launched and it's now frankly ridiculous trying to get any high-end phone on anything less than a 18 month contract. Even then, your monthly payout goes up and you get less in the way of bundled minutes, etc...

I'd be really wary of it, personally. Sure I see the immediate benefit: you get a new phone with a ton of features that should have been on the original. It doesn't cost you much at all right now but you end up with at least a 36month contract.

What bothers me here is that I've never been able to remain happy with a phone for longer than about 14 months, however cool it is, because there's always hotter hardware flying out every year. I'm going to struggle to make it to 18months on my N95.

Are you not just a little bit tempted to hold out until the end of your contract when the 3g coverage is all but guaranteed to be better, improvements in battery tech, slimmer, twice the storage and probably at the same $200?

What do you reckon the ebay resale price would be on your 1st-gen? Edit: to answer that, it looks around $400-500 for a new one. Wonder where that figure'll be in a month's time.

iPhone 3G: July 11th...whaaaaaaa?

Tyme — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 00:47:13

Thinking about it a bit more the delay of a month might be to help store owners and keep their secret, since Jobs like the "big announcement". One thing that is often forgotten is that stores have to prepare for the possible onslaught of employees. If they had it available today guaranteed leak of information. If I remember correctly last time some stores said that employees couldn't take vacations to ensure they had enough people.

Doesn't hurt to have the date in July - over a year from the last purchase (for many). It's sort of like the difference between .99 and 1.00 - amazing how the penny will stop many people will stop purchasing. Being able to say, "The phone is a year old and I upgrade about once a year anyway..." might justify the purchase more to some people.

I don't give a damn about the cost of the phone when I'm signing a new contract (once I decide to buy, I buy...*shrugs). I want to make sure the plan prices are going to stay about the same so that I'm not stuck in the future - where more money is made. There are a lot of people paying more for their plans because of package deals etc. that came out after they signed their contract. Spring and AT&T are excellent at doing that.

iPhone 3G: July 11th...whaaaaaaa?

Scrivs — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 00:33:49

Are they going to let current 24month 1st-gen users upgrade and effectively wipe 12 months? Or if you upgrade, would you be taking on an additional 24months?

I know in the States it seems with every upgrade you do you are adding another 2 years to the contract. There are no such thing as keeping the same contract going. The Perpetual Contract rears it's ugly head.

iPhone 3G: July 11th...whaaaaaaa?

Mike — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 00:33:11

Oli, I don't think contract commitments are as prevalent in the UK as they are in the United States but please correct me if I'm wrong.

I have no problem signing into another 24-month commitment with AT&T if it means I get a cheaper, newer, iPhone. In the U.S. it's rare when you don't have to sign-up for a longer term contract when buying a new phone so people are simply used to it. It's not a big deal for me.

iPhone 3G: July 11th...whaaaaaaa?

Oli — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 00:17:05

I guess it has to come down to stock control issues... If they're going to be offering this version at a much lower price that the current one, they're going to want to shift every last unit.

I'll be interested to see how the contract works though if the new one is (more) heavily subsidised. Are they going to let current 24month 1st-gen users upgrade and effectively wipe 12 months? Or if you upgrade, would you be taking on an additional 24months?

From a business aspect, I can't see the first one being true as they'd be taking an hit in the region of 12-23 months of service fees. That's an enormous amount of money and they'd be expected to repeat it when the 3rd-gen came out, etc.

If it is the second, more plausible version, how many upgrades until you're locked into AT&T for the rest of your life? This is why 24month contracts suck big balls.

iPhone 3G: July 11th...whaaaaaaa?

Scrivs — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 23:51:30

Tyme and I were discussing this during our Superstream and I bring this up on Loose Suits because I'm looking at the business aspect of things here. iPhones have been out of stock for weeks now and the assumption was that the next iPhone would be announced today (which it was) and it would be available immediately. Instead we have to wait another month for the chance to by ANY type of iPhone.

How is this even possible? When did Apple think it would be a good idea that people should wait over 2 months to get an iPhone? Maybe this is why I don't run a mega corporation and am missing something huge here.