AT&T Mulls iPhone Price Plan Drop > Perhaps

Perhaps

Bingo! That's the reason the Blackberry Curve outsold the iPhone last quarter - it's available on multiple carriers - four, I think. Newsflash to Apple: if you want more iPhone sales, let T-Mobile, Verizon, and Sprint sell it.

reply to clickie
I agree..

.. and further, if they want to sell more iPhones, they also can:

1) Drop the price of the over rated hardware.

2) Stop the "our phone is a premium phone" crap. It's a phone!

3) Stop the BS that I hear from the reps of "let me see if you "qualify" to have an iPhone".. this isn't a country club after all. When I heard that one day, I said "don't bother" as I already didn't like the attitude towards the product.

They need to stop trying to be exclusive & elusive that only certain people can have them. They need to stop acting like they're selling you a car. The requirements alone to get a phone makes any sane person stop and think twice automatically if this is really a good thing. I think apple has already saturated the market with all the mindless followers that think they provide oxygen into the atmosphere and with out one they can't breath.

reply to gigahurtz
I completely agree that AT&T would be very unhappy to have the exclusivity agreement end. However, at the end of the day, it is Apple's product, and if Apple wants more sales, then I think it needs to offer the product to multiple carriers.

reply to fiberguy
1) You can get refurbs for $99, I don't see them getting any cheaper.

3) I assume you mean when they check if you are far enough into your ATT contract for them to give you the discount on the phone. This is no different than what they would do with any phone offered by any carrier.

1) Some people don't want used phones.. and the $99 refurb still holds a pricey contract and all the rest of the restrictions last I checked.. the $99 refurb is still new line only, not upgrade in contract. (Unless you know something I don't that Best Buy told me last week - and they were not $99 there)

3) No.. you assumed incorrectly. They flat out tell you "Let me see if you *qualify* for an iPhone"... the key word being "qualify".. that *attitude* alone was enough to piss me off and turn me off. Last I checked, this is America. In America, everything has a price so they need to drop the "high 'n might" attitude over the iPhone. Before she could continue on about "let me see if you qualify".. I said.. "qualify? ... I have money, does that qualify me?" .. she said "We have to see if you're able to purchase one".. flat out. Got that from two different reps. Further, when I called customer service regarding my black berry and razer phones, one lady wouldn't even discuss prices at all.. you had to "go into your nearest ATT store for that information".. I don't make this stuff up.

I just wanted to know prices, how it would affect me on my account, etc. ... there was no way in hell I was driving 17 miles to an ATT store to find out what they could tell me on the phone.

Plain and simple, they're playing games with these phones and that has to stop. The fact they are "tweaking" their product and services to gain more customers with their current model tells plenty about how tight they are trying to control a market in a capitalistic market place.

If or when they stop playing games, I may make the move from the iTouch to the iPhone.. that is unless Sprint gets the Pre out first.