5 ms·
If only they were selling it at sane unsubsidized prices.
by mrkurt 17y ago
If only they were selling it at sane unsubsidized prices.
- cmgarcia 17y agoSeems pretty sane to me, compared to other HTC phones' unsubsidized prices.
- mrkurt 17y agoUnsubsidized phone prices make Oracle licensing look sane. :)
- there 17y agoand an unsubsidized, factory unlocked iphone 3gs costs $750-$1000.
- borism 17y agowhere can you get one? yeah, that's about right price for newer smartphones.
- there 17y agoebay or some random places on the web. they are all imported from hong kong. http://www.popularelect.com/product_info.php?products_id=1368 http://www.popularelect.com/product_info.php?products_id=136...
- jluxenberg 17y agoSeriously? Parts can't be more than $200 for this. I mean, they sell the iPod Touch for $200 which costs $155 to make ( http://iphonetouch.blorge.com/2007/12/19/ipod-touch-bests-iphones-internal-design-costs-155-to-make/ http://iphonetouch.blorge.com/2007/12/19/ipod-touch-bests-ip... ). Is a GSM radio IC expensive? Hell no. They're in bed with the carriers, and they're even worse than Apple because they're trying to say that they aren't.
- gaius 17y agoBecause the software is free right? (Clue: the people who wrote it were full-time Google employees).
- bvttf 17y agoClue: the software for the iPod touch wasn't found in the street either.
- gaius 17y agoWhich, umm, is why it also retails for more than its parts cost.
- jimbokun 17y agoI suppose the question is, why is the iPhone over $500 more than the iPod touch? Is there really that much hardware/software differentiation between the two to justify the increased price? I suppose the ability to make calls and access data almost anywhere makes it that much more valuable to people, or they would not be able to price it as such.
- eli 17y agoSure, and this bottle of Coke costs only $0.12 to make. What's your point? Google's not a charity. The rumors that they were going to sell the phone at a huge loss to gain market share was, frankly, silly.
- rscott 17y agoCompletely agree. I'd like to know how much they really need to actually sell these things for. iPod Touches go for, what, $500 less than an unlocked phone? This sucks. I'd love to have a 3G Android phone on ATT as well as my iPhone, just to develop on an try out, but the market makes this impossible.
- ericd 17y agoIs there a reason not to buy a subsidized phone and just eat the termination fee immediately? (I'm assuming it's ~$200, but might be different for smartphones)
- bmj 17y agoIIRC, the termination fee brings you up to the cost of the unsubsidized device.
- ericd 17y agoAh, thanks for the clarification. I was under the impression that the early termination fee was less than the difference, so that the black market value for an unsubsidized phone would be a good bit better than the official one.
- txxxxd 17y agoIts actually cheaper than all the other popular smartphones when purchased without a contract: iPhone 3Gs: $599 Palm Pre: $550 Motorola Droid: $599