http://mobile.engadget.com/2007/07/15/competitors-pricing-not-caving-to-iphone-emergence/ Engadget Mobile Comments for Competitors pricing not caving to iPhone emergence http://mobile.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://mobile.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2009 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://mobile.engadget.com/2007/07/15/competitors-pricing-not-caving-to-iphone-emergence/http://mobile.engadget.com/2007/07/15/competitors-pricing-not-caving-to-iphone-emergence/Jul 15th 2007 11:32PMhttp://mobile.engadget.com/2007/07/15/competitors-pricing-not-caving-to-iphone-emergence/http://mobile.engadget.com/2007/07/15/competitors-pricing-not-caving-to-iphone-emergence/Jul 16th 2007 12:37AMhttp://mobile.engadget.com/2007/07/15/competitors-pricing-not-caving-to-iphone-emergence/http://mobile.engadget.com/2007/07/15/competitors-pricing-not-caving-to-iphone-emergence/Jul 16th 2007 1:36AMhttp://mobile.engadget.com/2007/07/15/competitors-pricing-not-caving-to-iphone-emergence/http://mobile.engadget.com/2007/07/15/competitors-pricing-not-caving-to-iphone-emergence/Jul 26th 2007 11:22AMhttp://mobile.engadget.com/2007/07/15/competitors-pricing-not-caving-to-iphone-emergence/http://mobile.engadget.com/2007/07/15/competitors-pricing-not-caving-to-iphone-emergence/at least they pushed out 1k N/W rare plan, and @Home services
Sprint has SERO offer]]>Jul 15th 2007 11:36PMhttp://mobile.engadget.com/2007/07/15/competitors-pricing-not-caving-to-iphone-emergence/http://mobile.engadget.com/2007/07/15/competitors-pricing-not-caving-to-iphone-emergence/
Also, the iPhone has a type of hype that throwing alternative handsets at a lower price will curb. It would be a waste of money to address hype that really isn't going to last all that long.

We have to remember that the iPhone changed the game quite a bit. Carriers and independent companies can now charge a LOT more money for phones and a lot of people apparently want pretty flash animated interfaces on small slim phones. They also aren't so afraid of touchscreens.

So, since the iPhone changed the game, it is better to take a wait and see approach. Save hype resources for newer devices that will come out that can answer to the iPhone.

We've seen what happens when quick reactions guide cell phone producer hands--the HTC Touch? (yuck)]]>Jul 15th 2007 11:41PMhttp://mobile.engadget.com/2007/07/15/competitors-pricing-not-caving-to-iphone-emergence/http://mobile.engadget.com/2007/07/15/competitors-pricing-not-caving-to-iphone-emergence/
typo
]]>Jul 15th 2007 11:42PMhttp://mobile.engadget.com/2007/07/15/competitors-pricing-not-caving-to-iphone-emergence/http://mobile.engadget.com/2007/07/15/competitors-pricing-not-caving-to-iphone-emergence/Jul 16th 2007 1:24AMhttp://mobile.engadget.com/2007/07/15/competitors-pricing-not-caving-to-iphone-emergence/http://mobile.engadget.com/2007/07/15/competitors-pricing-not-caving-to-iphone-emergence/Jul 16th 2007 2:44AMhttp://mobile.engadget.com/2007/07/15/competitors-pricing-not-caving-to-iphone-emergence/http://mobile.engadget.com/2007/07/15/competitors-pricing-not-caving-to-iphone-emergence/
Verizon offers the best coverage in my area, so i considered them first. Their Palm Treo 700wx seems nice. However, they charge $300 each after mail in rebates. I'm interested in two, so that's $600 total. Currently Verizon only offers their PDA's with a bundled voice and data plan that comes out to $80 a month per phone. That potentially makes it $160 per month for my wife and I. The iPhone's family plan comes out to $110 per month for two phones. With the extra $50 a month I'd be spending with Verizon, it would only take me 12 months to recover the extra $600 I spent on the iPhones ($1200 iPhones - $600 Treo's = $600).

Choosing Cingular/AT&T, with it's smaller network coverage still costs more over the two year contract cost, something that is required with all carriers available. For either the Palm Treo 750 or Blackberry Pearl, Cingular charges $150 per month for two devices. That includes $70 for a family voice plan and $40*2 ($80) for the PDA/Blackberry Max for each device. On a side note, I chose the PDA/Blackberry Max options because they were the cheapest data plans I could find that offered features I'm interested in like internet access, corporate email integration. All together, $70 voice + $40 data + $40 data = $150 per month. With the costs of two Treo 750's being $400 and two Blackberry Pearls being $300, It takes 20 months to pay back the $800 extra dollars spent on the iPhones over the Treo 750's, and 22.5 months to pay back the $900 dollars spent on the iPhones over the BB Pearls. All of which occur before the end of the required two year agreement. I didn't consider t-Mobile because of their non-existant network coverage in my area.

2 iPhones (8GB, is there really another option?)
$1200 + ($110*24) = $3,840

2 Verizon Treo 700wx's
$600 + ($160*24) = $4,440

2 Cingular Treo 750's
$400 + ($150*24) = $4,000

2 Cingular BB Pearl's
$300 + ($150*24) = $3,900]]>Jul 16th 2007 1:06PMhttp://mobile.engadget.com/2007/07/15/competitors-pricing-not-caving-to-iphone-emergence/http://mobile.engadget.com/2007/07/15/competitors-pricing-not-caving-to-iphone-emergence/Jul 18th 2007 2:51PM