History has taught us that iPhone’s starting price US$499 “isn’t too high for a cellphone,” Brian Lam writes for Gizmodo. “Get in your mental Delorean and remember that little handset called the Motorola RAZR.”
Lam writes, “It was 2004 when the RAZR launched in the US as a high-end design clamshell. It was $600, with a $100 dollar rebate from Cingular. Reviewers complained about the price, but back then the phone was revolutionary enough that no one could pan it. It dialed, like any other phone, and did basic text messaging, and more. But it was just a thin, beautiful design ahead of it’s time. And it sold… Within 2 years, it shipped its 50 millionth phone worldwide.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “DMRDave” for the heads up.]
I do. And I’m giving it to my son as soon as I can get my hands on an iPhone.
Can I have it?
MW: ask
iphone sucks
anyone remember:” iPod; Idiots Price Our Devices” ? They’ve been eating crow ever since. Same deal here. The price point is good.
I still find this argument about price amusing. Whenever any new Treo, Windows Mobile Phone, etc. comes out, it’s $500-$800 initially, with the price dropping in 6 months. But yet no outcry about the price.
The difference here is that the iPhone price likely won’t drop much if at all, both due to demand and Apple’s traditional pricing structures.
The RAZR “was just a thin, beautiful design ahead of it’s time.”
Except they left out one minor detail: making the user interface NOT SUCK. You cannot make a pretty box and have people fawn all over it if it’s a pain in the ass to use and non-intuitive. The RAZR sucks out loud in this category.
The iPhone on the other hand looks to be well thought out like all other Apple products and probably will endear itself to most of its users.
I plan on videotaping myself smashing me RAZR with a hammer after I get my iPhone. It is possible the CEO of Motorola will get a copy of this video that explains this is what happens when you half-ass your designs. No repeat customers.
I hate my RAZR. Sure, it’s pretty, but its interface sucks and I often press the wrong numbers when dialing or texting. I so wish I had AT&T instead of Verizon. I’d love to buy iPhone.
Whoo hoO! Third comment!!!
Go iPhone!
Just like the iPod, price drops will be based on economies of scale.
Yup…mine is going to my wife to upgrade her old phone after I get the iPhone on the 29th…
And Motorola’s bullshit “RAZR2” will probably come out later this year around the same price.
http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/phone.php?p=1219
Same dull interface still intact. Same childish web browsing experience, albeit with 3G speeds but no WiFi.
How many of the nay-sayers who have written FUD pieces about the iPhone have spent in excess of two-thousand dollars for a fine Swiss watch that is considered multi-function if it has a date feature?
I have no doubt whatsoever the iPhone will eventually be sold at Wal-Mart, Target, and other fine stores.
San Jose Mercury News had a great breakdown of prices for the iPhone and “similar” devices — some were the same or higher price for far less memory (1GB or 2GB instead of the 4GB to 8GB of the iPhone).
PDF chart here: http://www.bayareanewsgroup.com/multimedia/mn/biz/techtalk_iphonecomparison.pdf
I paid $499 fro my crappy Treo 350 many years ago and I think I paid that for my first 5gb iPod in 2001. So whats the big deal?
I too have a RAZR, and probably the only reason the interface doesn’t annoy me too much is because I hardly ever use anything beyond the basic calling feature. I’d like to get an iPhone, but right now I don’t have the money so it will probably have to wait a while (I have to wait until it’s available in Canada anyways).
But it’s a good point. Even when I got my RAZR after they had been out some time (2005), they were still $450 CDN or $179 CDN with a 3-year contract ($200 buyout). And they don’t do 1/10th as much as the iPhone, or have 1/100th as nice a user interface.
i have had a razr for over a year now. the user interface is terrible and not documented completely. the only thing it has going for it is that it is relatively small and i can carry it around in my pocket without noticing it too much. if i used a cell phone a lot i would really hate it.
mw: thats, as in “thats [sic] all folks!”
All the discussion about the price of the phone is besides the point. From what I know, AT&T will charge normal minutes (e.g. $60 for a useful plan) AND charge $40 for data. I was told that data is not optional. So you have a $100 * 24 months + $600 for the phone. So it’s really a $3000+ phone (you’ll go over your minutes, and you’ll buy toys for it). It is the plan (or lack of plan info) that is keeping me from getting in line right now. Consider that my T-Mobile costs me $50 month (no data) and I could buy the next gen iPod and save $1200… and get an Apple TV and most of a computer, too.
Didn’t MonkeyBoy Ballmer say that the iPhone was “the most expensive phone” he’d ever heard of? I guess he never heard of the RAZR, or mistakenly assumed that it was something to shave his back with.
I just transferred my RAZR to my wife, who needed a new phone (new for her). I am now phoneless until I get my iPhone. I am going to try on the 29th, but know I might have to wait longer. While I can wait in line for hours, I am just too old to camp out overnight these days.
I take it back, I love the iPhone! In fact I’m going to be the first in line to buy one! Long live the great iPhone!
Here’s how I’ve prepared for my purchase of the iPhone, first I sold my crappy Zune to some blind deaf kid down the street, then I threw out my cheap plastic limited OS blue screen of death POS Dell, I tossed out my Microsoft blanky and finally I went and bought a MacBook! Now all that’s left is to get my iPhone.
I wish Steve would raise the price to $1500 and take out the WiFi!!! It doesn’t need 3G or GPS either… All of us will buy it because it’s an Apple and Steve says it revolutionary!!!!
And it surely doesn’t need to be able to open “crappy office apps” or have the ability to interface with corporate email servers. It plays Music, Movies and has a revolutionary 2mp camera. (and it will soon have Duck Hunt)… I know every CEO will DEMAND their stupid IT people give this valuable device to their employees!
This just in!!!
——————————————————-
It will be reported this week, this Sunday, next Tuesday, and late
Thursday night, about half past 8, that Apple’s forthcoming iPhone
device will cause armageddon.
iPhone also causes cancer. It has been found to be the leading
contributor to fetal toxic death syndrome, SIDS, and gout.
iPhone also plays havoc on air traffic control. It encourages teens
to use meth-amphetamine. It promotes immoral behavior on sabbath.
iPhone may cause sun-spots. It’s been found to increase unrest in the
mid-east. iPhone disturbs ocean currents and causes global climate
change.
iPhone will make Fortune 100 companies bankrupt by backdating options
and misleading investors. It will increase oil prices and decrease
corn yield.
iPhone is found to destabilize 3rd world governments and cause
genocide in Sudan. After using iPhone, 87% of lab rats have committed
suicide.
iPhone prohibits foul language and corrupts family photos. iPhones
left in the sun have been known to violently explode.
If you use an iPhone while going to the bathroom, you will become
sterile.
Corporate CEOs who wish to use iPhones are sissy, girly men with ED.
Women who use iPhone have been found to have ill repute and eat their
offspring.
Jesus Christ hates the iPhone.
iPhone colorizes old black and white movies and cuts the sexy scenes
out of porn. It causes waxy buildup in showers and corrodes plumbing.
Apple computer is run by uncultured, 15 year old gaming & sci-fi geeks
who have never seen any movie apart from Serenity. They are the kind
of people you should beat up.
The last date on the Aztec calendar shows a picture of iPhone.
iPhone kills whales, clubs seals, spreads the west nile virus, and
drowns cute, cuddly polar bears.
People who buy iPhone are never heard from again.
Thanks,
IDC
Beside the freakin’ point:
Can you say… Tax Write-Off?
I sure can. Just ask my accountant!
MDN Magic Word: SERIOUS… you betcha!
So, 2 years, 50 million RAZRs.
And people doubt that iPhone will make 10 million in 18 months?
Riiiiight.
This is gonna be EASY.
Chrissy, that’s brilliant