>There is some "lock-in" even without lock-in - some phone subsidies work even if people can leave because they don't leave that much anyways; think of it as ad

>There is some "lock-in" even without lock-in - some phone subsidies work even if people can leave because they don't leave that much anyways; think of it as advertising expense for customer acquisition. Yes. Carriers in the US lose, literally, billions of dollars on the iPhone because they've calculated the cost of acquiring a customer is a few hundred bucks, on average, so if subsidizing a phone buys you customers it's worth it. Personally, I think they've gone overboard, but then again I'm not in the front office. http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-tn-verizon-on-hook-for-billions-in-missing-iphones-sales-report-states-20130710,0,7933563.story http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-tn-verizon-on-ho...