My thought is that T-Mobile is setting the price and subsidizing the iPhone in Gernany. Apple has only one Apple Store in Germany (IIRC) and therefore T-Mobile is almost the sole source... and the sole service provider. The only way you get the €99 price is by signing up for a two year contract with their highest priced package... which is €89 or $140 US per month. You get a lesser package and the iPhone is still €339 or $525 US. T-Mobile is top feeding to get people who desire the iPhone who have the where-with-all to pay for the highest package.
I think, also, that we are probably seeing a movement to close off the low end 8G iPhone and suspect we will see a 16G/32G product line-up in the near future. The Wall Street Journal thinks that Apple will intro a G3 version in the next 60 days as well. That will sell much better in Europe than in the US because the Europeans have about a 40% G3 coverage compared to about a 4-5% G3 coverage in the US.
T-Mobile is setting the price and subsidizing the iPhone in Gernany. Apple has only one Apple Store in Germany (IIRC) and therefore T-Mobile is almost the sole source... and the sole service provider. The only way you get the €99 price is by signing up for a two year contract with their highest priced package... which is €89 or $140 US per month. You get a lesser package and the iPhone is still €339 or $525 US. T-Mobile is top feeding to get people who desire the iPhone who have the where-with-all to pay for the highest package.Any thoughts on the price cuts ?
IMHO it's silly to focus of a first cost of $400, or $100, when the thing is a brick if you're not paying over $100 per month for wireless access. The access charge is really the whole game.The cable companies don't charge for set top boxes. Are they free? Not on your life - you pay plenty for them, month after month.
I think it’s pretty interesting ... isn’t apple notorious for telling stores exactly what they can sell their products for ?
I don’t understand top-feeding your lowest quality product with the possibility that these big monthly spenders might see their 2-year commitment turn out badly if 3G arrives ?
Strange move ...