Basic maths tell you total minimum price paid for this:
In the USA: $1499 ($179 device + $1320 minimum plan $55 per month over 2 years)
In the UK: $1776 (free device + £960 pounds minimum plan £40 per month over 2 years)
Don't give me "buy people pay anyways" BS. That is pure BS. Having a Mobile Internet Device shouldn't tie you up to such astronomical pricing.
Basically the HTC Dream probably costs below $200 to manufacture, probably below $150 even, including all the components, the screen and everything, including also investment in R&D and all that.
Most cell phone users today are on pre-paid plans. Those phones should be sold for $200 to the end consumer and use free VOIP on $20 unlimited data plans, and by unlimited I mean at least with a 10GB monthly data limit. And then pre-paid SIP-out and Skype-out service and a cheap incoming phone number in several countries.
This phone is cool, has the best OS ever made and all that. But the pricing is ridiculous, even though it's slightly less then the astronomical iPhone pricing and contracts people are so stupidly signing up for.
I don't get why people care so much about signing cell phone contracts? You need a phone, pick a freaking provider (they are all relatively the same) and do it, I've never had a problem signing a new one.. you guys are all crazy.
It's just totally insane. Signing up for 2 years at $55 per month. What if Motorola releases a much better Android phone next month? You can't change, you are tied to that idiotic carrier.
Carriers lock-in sign exclusive agreements with manufacturers, they provide the devices, the devices are OVERPRICED by a factor of like 3x or 4x manufacturing price if you want to purchase them unlocked. Basically you could get a laptop or a return ticket to the Bahamas cheaper then buying a device like this unlocked.
You know, there are are less dumb and less corrupt countries in the world that have consumer protection laws that forbid those greedy carriers from signing people up in contracts for any longer then 6 months. For example Denmark.
Also signing up for obligatory voice plan is just totally stupid since Android OS is a supposed data-centric OS, why wouldn't you just run VOIP applications on it and drop that friggin voice and sms plan.
There is no obligation here fortunately. T-Mobile will sell you this phone contract free for $399 and then happily (not so happily) unlock it for you after 90 days to take wherever you want.
When you compare the G1 to all available smart phones (or even to unavailable Touch HDs which seems unfair at this point) of course it misses the mark. If you compare the G1 in context against what T-mo currently offers to it's users, this phone is great for anyone not wanting to switch networks.
Judging from FCC approvals, T-mo users wont be seeing the Diamond, or Touch Pro any time soon, and considering how heavily the G1 is subsidized, the Touch HD will likely be unattainable for t-mo users because the phone is redoubtably expensive.
Unless I'm mistaken or unless there's some sort of work-around, t-mo users cant even buy unlocked 3G devices from other networks to use on t-mo's 3G since the carrier's 3G operates on a different spectrum than the other carriers.
anyone stuck with t-mo is happy to see the G1 hit the market.
Chill out. All of your posts on this subject are so negative and demeaning.
Facts are that most companies are in the business to make a profit so they sell them for more than manufacturing costs. Also all the providers charge pretty much the same amount for the same level of service. The real question is whether a buyer feels they will get value received for their expenditures.
So phone manufacturers should sell their phones for no profit? You're living in a dream world...the standard cost of manufacturing is usually somewhere around 15% of the final cost to consumer. If the phone cost $150 to manufacture, then getting it for $400 would be a steal by most standards. Further, the idea that cellular networks can magically support nearly unlimited data usage is totally off. The fact is that there isn't sufficient infrastructure here in the US to support large numbers of people using upwards of 10 GB of data a month. These things will come around eventually, but for now, this is what we've got, if anything else were magically possible and profitable, I'm sure a provider would be doing it.
Where the hell did you get that UK pricing from?? And since when did phone contracts come in 2 year forms in the UK as standard? 18 months or a year is usual, and i doubt very much that £40 a month will be the cheapest price plan available.
Are you just making that up?
I'm intrigued if you're plucking these numbers out of the air, how do you know R&D costs of HTC? What makes you the authority of appropriate pricing for cell providers?
What a joke. If you don't think anything is appropriately priced don't buy it. These companies don't owe you anything, they decide. If enough people have the same sentiment as you they'll soon wake up and lower the price plan.
If you want to sell your house do you just take whatever a potential customer asks for? no, you decide the price and set it, and if it doesn't sell you lower it or make it a more attractive preposition.
T3 and Stuff magazine in the UK got a G1 to test and the T-Mobile people told them UK plans are going to start at a minimum of £40 a month for 2 years.
People aren't going to complain about signing up for 2 years, it is proven fact people are too stupid to understand what it means signing a contract for 2 years with a company.
So many sites are talking about the $179 pricing of the G1 or $199 pricing of the iPhone, but that price is just totally full bogus.
Denmark consumer protection laws has another law that requires cell phone carriers putting in a big font on all advertising what the TOTAL PRICE is for the device and the service contract. People need to talk about TOTAL PRICE. Otherwise they are just treating people as a bunch of idiots.
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Basic maths tell you total minimum price paid for this:
In the USA: $1499 ($179 device + $1320 minimum plan $55 per month over 2 years)
In the UK: $1776 (free device + £960 pounds minimum plan £40 per month over 2 years)
Don't give me "buy people pay anyways" BS. That is pure BS. Having a Mobile Internet Device shouldn't tie you up to such astronomical pricing.
Basically the HTC Dream probably costs below $200 to manufacture, probably below $150 even, including all the components, the screen and everything, including also investment in R&D and all that.
Most cell phone users today are on pre-paid plans. Those phones should be sold for $200 to the end consumer and use free VOIP on $20 unlimited data plans, and by unlimited I mean at least with a 10GB monthly data limit. And then pre-paid SIP-out and Skype-out service and a cheap incoming phone number in several countries.
This phone is cool, has the best OS ever made and all that. But the pricing is ridiculous, even though it's slightly less then the astronomical iPhone pricing and contracts people are so stupidly signing up for.
I don't get why people care so much about signing cell phone contracts? You need a phone, pick a freaking provider (they are all relatively the same) and do it, I've never had a problem signing a new one.. you guys are all crazy.
It's just totally insane. Signing up for 2 years at $55 per month. What if Motorola releases a much better Android phone next month? You can't change, you are tied to that idiotic carrier.
Carriers lock-in sign exclusive agreements with manufacturers, they provide the devices, the devices are OVERPRICED by a factor of like 3x or 4x manufacturing price if you want to purchase them unlocked. Basically you could get a laptop or a return ticket to the Bahamas cheaper then buying a device like this unlocked.
You know, there are are less dumb and less corrupt countries in the world that have consumer protection laws that forbid those greedy carriers from signing people up in contracts for any longer then 6 months. For example Denmark.
Also signing up for obligatory voice plan is just totally stupid since Android OS is a supposed data-centric OS, why wouldn't you just run VOIP applications on it and drop that friggin voice and sms plan.
There is no obligation here fortunately. T-Mobile will sell you this phone contract free for $399 and then happily (not so happily) unlock it for you after 90 days to take wherever you want.
$550 for an unlocked HTC Dream. That's 3x or 4x more then manufacturing price. There is nothing fortunate about that.
When you compare the G1 to all available smart phones (or even to unavailable Touch HDs which seems unfair at this point) of course it misses the mark. If you compare the G1 in context against what T-mo currently offers to it's users, this phone is great for anyone not wanting to switch networks.
Judging from FCC approvals, T-mo users wont be seeing the Diamond, or Touch Pro any time soon, and considering how heavily the G1 is subsidized, the Touch HD will likely be unattainable for t-mo users because the phone is redoubtably expensive.
Unless I'm mistaken or unless there's some sort of work-around, t-mo users cant even buy unlocked 3G devices from other networks to use on t-mo's 3G since the carrier's 3G operates on a different spectrum than the other carriers.
anyone stuck with t-mo is happy to see the G1 hit the market.
Chill out. All of your posts on this subject are so negative and demeaning.
Facts are that most companies are in the business to make a profit so they sell them for more than manufacturing costs. Also all the providers charge pretty much the same amount for the same level of service. The real question is whether a buyer feels they will get value received for their expenditures.
So phone manufacturers should sell their phones for no profit? You're living in a dream world...the standard cost of manufacturing is usually somewhere around 15% of the final cost to consumer. If the phone cost $150 to manufacture, then getting it for $400 would be a steal by most standards. Further, the idea that cellular networks can magically support nearly unlimited data usage is totally off. The fact is that there isn't sufficient infrastructure here in the US to support large numbers of people using upwards of 10 GB of data a month. These things will come around eventually, but for now, this is what we've got, if anything else were magically possible and profitable, I'm sure a provider would be doing it.
Where the hell did you get that UK pricing from?? And since when did phone contracts come in 2 year forms in the UK as standard? 18 months or a year is usual, and i doubt very much that £40 a month will be the cheapest price plan available.
Are you just making that up?
I'm intrigued if you're plucking these numbers out of the air, how do you know R&D costs of HTC? What makes you the authority of appropriate pricing for cell providers?
What a joke. If you don't think anything is appropriately priced don't buy it. These companies don't owe you anything, they decide. If enough people have the same sentiment as you they'll soon wake up and lower the price plan.
If you want to sell your house do you just take whatever a potential customer asks for? no, you decide the price and set it, and if it doesn't sell you lower it or make it a more attractive preposition.
T3 and Stuff magazine in the UK got a G1 to test and the T-Mobile people told them UK plans are going to start at a minimum of £40 a month for 2 years.
People aren't going to complain about signing up for 2 years, it is proven fact people are too stupid to understand what it means signing a contract for 2 years with a company.
So many sites are talking about the $179 pricing of the G1 or $199 pricing of the iPhone, but that price is just totally full bogus.
Denmark consumer protection laws has another law that requires cell phone carriers putting in a big font on all advertising what the TOTAL PRICE is for the device and the service contract. People need to talk about TOTAL PRICE. Otherwise they are just treating people as a bunch of idiots.
move to California... mobile contracts have been ruled illegal by a Superior judge in a case involving Sprint.
You can legally walk out of you contract any time you wish. HELLO rest of USA? Challenge authority, it does work sometimes!