[LINK] iPhone costs

[Ivan Trundle]

I think that the issue goes deeper than this. Apple has demanded that  
retailers of its iPhone are NOT allowed to rebrand the phone (which  
allegedly is why 3 are not part of the deal) or add any unique content  
of their own (such as Telstra's BigPond services). Consequently, the  
current thoughts on why data charges are so stupidly high for mobile  
services is that we don't have the right infrastructure to support  
people actually USING it: other than the rich or plainly stupid.  
Therefore the carriers have made data charges exorbitant, and phone  
charges remain roughly where they were many years ago. It's a win for  
the carriers, and a loss for the users: yet we still pay for it.

It's no wonder that 3G services don't take off: they cost too much.  
Now compare this with some countries where data charges are ZERO, and  
you can see an immediate difference. Even Telstra's paltry offering of  
'free wi-fi access' where available is not much compensation.

iT

On 12/07/2008, at 11:48 AM, David Boxall wrote:

> <http://www.pcauthority.com.au/Feature/116529,iphone-plan-picker-best-deals-for-light-medium-and-heavy-users.aspx 
> >
>
> Nice toy but, at these costs, I won't be getting one any time soon.
>
> I wonder how much more economical mobiles could be if:
> - the networks didn't duplicate coverage in some areas?
> - the networks weren't controlled by retailers?
>
> -- 
> David Boxall                    |  When a distinguished but elderly
>                                 |  scientist states that something is
>                                 |  possible, he is almost certainly
>                                 |  right. When he states that
>                                 |  something is impossible, he is
>                                 |  very probably wrong.
>                                                   --Arthur C. Clarke
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--
Ivan Trundle
http://itrundle.com ivan at itrundle.com
ph: +61 (0)418 244 259 fx: +61 (0)2 6286 8742
skype: callto://ivanovitchk