I've heard a lot of back and forth about subsidized pricing and how this is standard procedure for phone companies. The problem here is that Apple is a company

I've heard a lot of back and forth about subsidized pricing and how this is standard procedure for phone companies. The problem here is that Apple is a company that drives its customers to constantly buy the latest gadget. Cell phone subsidies make the early adopters feel like they're getting shafted, as they are not eligible for the advertised price. The real solution here is to only subsidize the "average consumer" version of the device, or to avoid subsidy programs that are significantly longer than the time span between different versions of the device. A 2 year subsidy makes no sense if Apple is producing a new phone in less than a year.