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That makes no sense: here they sell unlocked phones but you still have to keep contract for two years if you want it subsidized. So there's no reason to rise p
by Mavrik 15y ago
That makes no sense: here they sell unlocked phones but you still have to keep contract for two years if you want it subsidized.
So there's no reason to rise phone prices: you still have to pay full contact subscription even if you change the phone.
- Sherlock 15y agoThis is the usual practice here in Chile, and I don't expect it to change.
- edgardcastro 15y agoThats exactly what happens in Brazil. All phones MUST be sold unlocked but they lock you in with contracts in order to get cheaper phones. However if you choose to buy a "fully unlocked" phone, the prices have skyrocketed. (We have the most expensive iPhone worldwide, 16GB 4S = 1.2K dollars).
- daliusd 15y agoThere is reason. Usually business plan looks like this: locked - monthly payment * 24 = phone price + X X - some money to cover expenses you have as operator because you give phone to user + some money to cover amount of free minutes/MB/SMS (infrastructure is not free) + everything else is profit. Profit might be taken instantly (A) or taken from everything you use above your quota (B). (A) is most probably 0 because of competition. Now with unlocked phone user might take prepaid card from other operator (that does not work in USA). What happens? B profit goes away. Business is about profit therefore A will grow most probably instead of being zero.
- Mavrik 15y agoHmm... most subscription packages around here are of type "1000 Min, 1000 SMS, 1000 MB" or some such so B profits aren't really high. Also pricing being competitive, there's not much difference in SMS/data/call prices outside dataplans. That makes that claim still silly.
- jvdh 15y agoFact: an iPhone in the Netherlands costs around €0 on average. You can also buy it unlocked for €750. In Greece they have to sell iPhones unlocked, and initial average price is €699. Easy to check yourself at apple.com.