Now that the iPhone has finally come to Verizon (yes, I realize my prediction was wrong), a lot of the heavy rhetoric thrown around by bloggers/tweeters will be tested.
It’s time to back up all the complaining about AT&T and begging for a Verizon iPhone, and it won’t be cheap.
Buying your way out of a smartphone contract isn’t cheap, which is one reason why I’m happy to be out of contract, and once out, you have to buy into a new contract and drop another $200 for a CDMA iPhone. Not sure of the exact amounts, but that looks like more than $400 to get started.
How many gadget hounds out there were able to sit on the sidelines when the cherry iPhone 4 was released, hoping for this moment? I’m guessing not that many. So, it’s possible that it might be necessary to eat the cost of an iPhone 4 on AT&T, so another $200 lost.
Sure, you could give it away or keep it, and it’s a sunk cost. Depending on how you feel about a bricked GSM iPhone, that’s somewhere between $400 and $700 spent to switch to a new carrier.
That’s not chump change. That’s a car payment, maybe two.
The cheapest iPhone plan requires a two-year contract, so even people who are still rocking their 3GS dinosaurs still have to wait until July to avoid the early termination fees. Paying those fees with six months to go seems like madness. If they wait for the contract to expire, they’ll be happy to drop only the $200 for the new hardware.
But wait, doesn’t Apple announce a new iPhone each Summer?
They have since 2007, so will this year be different? Will Verizon get the new one, or will Apple pass this year, to keep the same model on Verizon and AT&T?
Questions abound.
This has always been the peril of the gadget hound. What if something cooler comes out before I’ve emotionally or financially amortized my purchase?
It’s a lot like gambling and financial market speculation.
To be content, you must find the right moment to invest and be happy with your decision. Otherwise, you’re ruing what could have been. And like gambling and speculation, you can always throw more money at your sorrow and hope for better returns.
Most people aren’t gadget hounds. This is why I don’t expect a mass exodus to Verizon from AT&T. If anything, the best news coming out of today’s announcement is that Verizon and Apple have been collaborating since 2008, meaning a CDMA iPad is likely coming soon.
The demand for tablets is very strong; don’t believe me? Look at all the tablets on display at CES last week, many of which sport Wimax/LTE receivers.
Anyway, competition is good for consumers, so it’s good to see the iPhone on Verizon. It’s also good to see another carrier cede this measure of control.
I expect Motorola’s Droid line will respond by lowering prices, which will give a really good picture of how real consumers (i.e. not gadget hounds) act in the market. With the choice of several Droids and the iPhone with variances in cost, will people choose price over (presumed) quality?
This is where the interesting stuff will happen.
Find the comments.
Update: Doh, I forgot one major issue for switchers is the inability to use voice and data simultaneously on a CDMA network. Based on chatter I’ve seen on an internal mailing list, a lot of people see that as a must-have feature. I’m not among them, but still, that will be a factor.
