It is really interesting writing about phones. In the USA, (this was around 15 years ago) I had to have a locked phone to one of a handful of American companies. I used to Use Verizon, then switched to At&T I seem to recall. I “bought” a phone “plan” for maybe $500 and then had to pay perhaps $300/month for two years. I don’t know how it is now today. Similar but maybe quite different.
Here in China, My HuaWei smart phone cost me $4000 RMB = $570 USD. My CHina Mobile card is a one time fee of 100 RMB = $14 USD. Nothing else. About every three months I charge my phone with about 100 RMB.
In the USA, 2 years “membership” at Verizon cost me ($300 x 24)+ 500 = $7,700 USD.
In China, My costs for keeping my HuaWei smart phone on China Mobile costs me 570+(6x14) = $654 USD.
In summary the costs are far cheaper. But, then again everything is cheaper. The median salary for the typical middle class person in China is around 3000 RMB = $430 USD.
My point is that pricing is regional. But that is NOT representative of a particular culture, but rather suggestive that the market will charge as much as it can for a given product and service.
The USA is so messed up today because the government has created artificial bubbles that Americans have grown accustomed to, and have thus adapted to them. There is NO REASON why Viagra should cost $38/pill when the ingredients are $0.00000008. (How do I know, I went to Tabao and priced 1Kg of raw material. Heck, you could make your own pills in your kitchen!) You can argue that there is a cost impact for R&D, and for the risk element, but that does not justify a $38/pill.
Here’s the secret; do a sanity check on everything that you buy. What is the price if grown or manufactured? Tack on a 4% manufacturing cost. Tack on a 5% marketing and sales cost. The resulting cost should be what you should be paying.
Everything else is BLOAT.
The bloat is due to corporate greed, and government regulations.
That is my point. That is my only point. Americans have gotten used to being cheated on all sides, and no one, except for Mr. Trump has stood up to represent them.
You and I likely agree on a lot of things.
But we disagree on a few as well. The idea that manufacturing is only 4% of costs is laughable, as is the idea that marketing and sales only cost 5%.
When I look at what it would cost me to manufacture electricity at a personal level, electricity from the distribution net is an enormous bargain.
When I look at what it does cost me to procure water out of a well, compared to what city water costs, the city water is a tremendous bargain.
When I look at the time and energy it cost me to make a knife from a piece of steel; the manufactured item is better and a tremendous bargain.
The things that are out of wack are the highly regulated items where government has imposed enormous regulatory obstacles and impeded the market. These are mostly healthcare and housing.
I have a “premium” Verizon plan now, with two smartphones, two lines, and 12 GB of data a month, which acts as my internet access. The cost is $165 a month.
My cost for four lines previously was $104 a month, without the data plan. That was for FOUR lines.
I have had Verizon for close to two decades now, and I do not think I every had a bill that was $300 for a month. Usually it was in the $30 to $50 range, and the phone itself was paid for in those monthly costs.
Curious. How much does it cost you to access the Internet?