I can almost guarantee that the FAN numbers will not work...The didn't work on the first iPhone, but who knows.
I distinctly remember the last time I checked that although foundation account numbers do help, since AT&T jacks up data usage pricing for corporate users all it basically lets you do is break even (with a comparative individual plan). ATT Premier used to be sweet when they basically had the "unlimited upgrading" on handsets (as long as you just renewed for 2 more years from the date of getting a new phone).
Honestly, I hope people don't buy a lot of these (especially initially) because it will make ATT and Apple rethink their pricing on this mediocre device. The fact that the introductory truly "unlimited plan" starts at $90 and doesn't even include text messaging is ridiculous.
The text messaging part of this may be the largest scam of it all, since ATT charges $15 for 1500 messages of ALL TYPES (including MMS) for all other phones, and has a "corporate only" texting plan (I think it's called B2B texting) which gives 1500 (text only, no MMS) messages for $10 a month. If you get this phone and sign up for this plan, you are truly getting scammed.
Dave, you are correct - the last time around, the FAN discounts did not apply. I believe they are this time.
As to pricing on "Mediocre" device... First of all, it's not all that "mediocre." Yes, it has shortcomings. But they obviously are working on those - look at the strides already made.
But more importantly, this all about supply and demand. It's obviously a more expensive phone to build than others, given the technology - so that will drive the price up a bit. But the demand is huge. Apple has played this well. Strong marketing, strong features and benefits (touchscreen iPod marketing. If you have an iPod and a phone - why not have both with touchscreen) and Apple has a huge following.
Supply and Demand has driven the price of this up.
All I can say is that one would hope, in an economy that is definitely uncertain (especially if Obama is elected - people can argue with me as much as they want but socializing medicine will put health insurance companies even further down the toilet, if not into bankruptcy. That mixed with a Countrywide housing bailout, $300 billion farm bill, and an increase in unemployment and welfare benefits will lead to a massive devaluation of the US Dollar)
That people are more prudent about what they blow their money on. This might seem like a rant but when the average US consumer savings rate is NEGATIVE, I don't see why so many people should be flocking over this phone.
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Where is the news about FAN? This is what I really want to know, even if not my Hardware discount, do we still lose our service discount?
I can almost guarantee that the FAN numbers will not work...The didn't work on the first iPhone, but who knows.
I distinctly remember the last time I checked that although foundation account numbers do help, since AT&T jacks up data usage pricing for corporate users all it basically lets you do is break even (with a comparative individual plan). ATT Premier used to be sweet when they basically had the "unlimited upgrading" on handsets (as long as you just renewed for 2 more years from the date of getting a new phone).
Honestly, I hope people don't buy a lot of these (especially initially) because it will make ATT and Apple rethink their pricing on this mediocre device. The fact that the introductory truly "unlimited plan" starts at $90 and doesn't even include text messaging is ridiculous.
The text messaging part of this may be the largest scam of it all, since ATT charges $15 for 1500 messages of ALL TYPES (including MMS) for all other phones, and has a "corporate only" texting plan (I think it's called B2B texting) which gives 1500 (text only, no MMS) messages for $10 a month. If you get this phone and sign up for this plan, you are truly getting scammed.
Dave, you are correct - the last time around, the FAN discounts did not apply. I believe they are this time.
As to pricing on "Mediocre" device... First of all, it's not all that "mediocre." Yes, it has shortcomings. But they obviously are working on those - look at the strides already made.
But more importantly, this all about supply and demand. It's obviously a more expensive phone to build than others, given the technology - so that will drive the price up a bit. But the demand is huge. Apple has played this well. Strong marketing, strong features and benefits (touchscreen iPod marketing. If you have an iPod and a phone - why not have both with touchscreen) and Apple has a huge following.
Supply and Demand has driven the price of this up.
All I can say is that one would hope, in an economy that is definitely uncertain (especially if Obama is elected - people can argue with me as much as they want but socializing medicine will put health insurance companies even further down the toilet, if not into bankruptcy. That mixed with a Countrywide housing bailout, $300 billion farm bill, and an increase in unemployment and welfare benefits will lead to a massive devaluation of the US Dollar)
That people are more prudent about what they blow their money on. This might seem like a rant but when the average US consumer savings rate is NEGATIVE, I don't see why so many people should be flocking over this phone.