Why Wait? Cingular Will Probably Accept Your iPhone Money Now
The good news is, Cingular has not announced plans to mark up the price of iPhones to above their retail price. The way some car dealers do with hot new models.
The bad news is, eBay sellers will probably do exactly that once the iPhone gets out there. (So far, the only eBay auctions related to iPhone are connected to email addresses and domain names.) Any guesses on how high the price of a $600 iPhone might go, for the highest bidder?
So what are people smitten with the Apple iPhone supposed to do while they’re waiting for the actual phones to be released?
Cingular has thoughtfully put an email notification blank on its website. Let Cingular know who you are and you’ll be among the first to be able to part with $500 or $600 for an iPhone.
You don’t want to pay for one? Guess what? Those insidious “reward” sites that let you “earn” a free plasma TV or a free laptop, are now offering you the chance to win a free iPhone! Isn’t that exciting?
Will the world go wild for iPhone? I’m tempted to jump in with the skeptics like Mitch Wagner, who say there’s a good chance this phone could sink like a lead balloon. He points to one aspect of the phone that has limited the success of other “smartphones” in the past - the iPhone’s use of a touchscreen for all input. No buttons? No real QWERTY keyboard? No dial pad? Users of phones who often “feel” their way to dial a number will be lost.
A high percentage of phones at this price point are bought by businesses. And the bean counters will be scratching their heads over the value of iPhones versus far-cheaper BlackBerrys or Palm Treos. Wall Street analysts are thinking it over and beginning to realize that there’s less to iPhone than meets the i.
(And the price of stock in the parent company of BlackBerry, which dropped 8 percent yesterday, was rebounding somewhat today.)
Apple, iPhone, Cingular Wireless, AT&T, BlackBerry, Palm Treo
January 12th, 2007 at 11:08 am
If I ad the money I would go for it:) I have cingular anyway and my phone is pretty basic I would blow people away with this one!
January 12th, 2007 at 3:00 pm
What’s the most you’d be willing to spend for a cell phone? Within a year or two, prices will come down and Apple will probably extend its product line to offer some more reasonably-priced iPhones.