How is the O2/iPhone thing even legal?

Barks · 6 Mar 2009 at 15:27

I thought about getting an iPhone as my O2 contract runs out in 2 months. I realised that for the 16GB model, by the time the contract was up I'd have shelled out around £800!!

£34.26 x 18 = £616.68
16GB handset = £155.61

I mean that is just OBSCENE. To think you can pick up an iPod touch for about £150 which is essentially the same thing bar the phone function. The profit on these must be disgustingly huge. I bet you any money most iPhone owners don't even know how much it adds up to.

Back to my point though. If other networks were allowed to sell the iPhone then O2 would be forced to put the prices down, but at present they can sell it for whatever they want.

Fair enough, £35 a month doesn't sound that much but £780 or whatever it is can buy you some nice luxuries. Doesn't seem worth it for the sake of having a sheep phone. I guess a lot of people buy it for form/fashion over function though.

Barks · 6 Mar 2009 at 15:28

On another matter, my dad has the old non-3G iPhone and he is upgrading to the new one. Is there any chance I can unlock his old iPhone or something (is that legal?) and put whatever sim card in it I please? If I can do this I'll leave O2 and go for a really good value PAYG service.

Cheers,

Barks · 6 Mar 2009 at 16:18

The tariffs are hardly great, fair plane to the unlimited internet though.

Barks · 6 Mar 2009 at 20:43

I don't think you get my point.

My last phone cost £450 total by the end of the contract. Is an iPhone really worth £350 more?

Barks · 7 Mar 2009 at 00:33

That's not the point, the point is it's a ridiculous price for what it actually is.

Demand and supply. If the willingness to pay is high, of course firms will maximize profit.

Barks · 7 Mar 2009 at 01:30

Wicksta said:
You must be new to Apple products. People *are* willing to pay a premium, no matter whether you or I think it is right or wrong...

I don't think many of their other main stream products are too bad. iPod touch is very reasonable, Macbooks aren't too bad.

Barks · 16 Mar 2009 at 20:24

The iPhone has the majority of features that the majority of users demand.

Do Apple give a rat's ass that a few geeks demand a 5MP camera. You bet they don't. Take a look at these phones that have 10MP cameras. They are awful. The quality sucks. If you want to be taking photos, use a dedicated digital camera.

As for other features, who uses MMS anyway? Now I can understand the desire for more storage but a lot of the people dissing the iPhone for the sake of it, perhaps because it lacks in certain features, need to realize that for them the Nokia N series is a superior choice.