Like I said, the handset IS half the price. And accusing Apple & AT&T of collusion doesn’t answer that fact, nor does it answer what I pointed out earlier…the service plan is, in essence, fuel for the engine that is the phone. How many car dealerships have you criticized recently for advertising price cuts even as the price of fuel is rising, leading to higher TCO? And would you buy a V8 without considering the cost of the fuel in this economy?

Of course not. And no one would THINK of blaming the manufacturer if you did. Likewise, anyone who buys an iPhone without looking at the price of service is a fool.

I’ll buy the accusation you (and others) are making when Apple starts talking about the cost of service, rather than the cost of the hardware.

Kirk

What Apple’s advertising is the price of the handset. In the case of the 8GB, it is half the price. What you’re arguing is like saying that Apple should account for the price of replacing incompatible software when it touts the cost of an OS upgrade. Or to take a more current example, that Honda should factor the cost of gasoline into its advertised price. It’s a more convenient argument to make in this case, since there’s only one service provider handling the iPhone (for now), but it’s no more logical.

And while I won’t defend AT&T’s raising their price, I will point out that recent analyses pretty much conclude that it’s in line with similar plans for similar phones. In any case, the blame for the price increase, and the responsibility for any advertising of it, lie solely with AT&T.

Have to say that for most people it is more palatable. The up front is all that
matters and the rest doesn’t. That’s why salesman of all things can sell their
wares for low monthly payments because nobody worries about the total cost of
ownership.