Unlocked iPhones: big deal or no deal?
Paul Thurrott wrote a quick review of Mac OS X “Lion”:
PROS: Finally picks up much needed features from other mobile platforms CONS: Best features were literally copied from other mobile platforms RATING: Three out of five stars
Surprisingly, John Gruber agrees with Paul’s impressions, although of course, he can’t help adding a little bit of polish to make Apple look good.
On a related note, I’m quite surprised by his take on the recent availability of unlocked iPhones in the US:
In other words, these unlocked iPhones sold in the U.S. aren??t for the U.S. ?? they??re for the parts of the world without carrier deals with Apple.
He’s agreeing with a piece written by Horace Dediu, who argues that unlocked iPhones are a big deal:
The iPhone is now available in the US unlocked. Judging by the lack of reaction to the news, one would assume that this is not a significant event. I would argue however that it??s a very significant event.
I think it’s pretty insignificant because these phones cost $649. Even affluent buyers will most likely balk at the price, no matter how good the iPhone is, and the countries that currently don’t have any iPhone distribution are not exactly known to be teeming with rich customers. The fact that you need to buy these phones in the US and then have them shipped over is an additional hurdle.
Do you remember how Apple pundits were saying that the new Verizon iPhone was not going to just sell millions but actually help the iPhone catch up with Android? In my opinion, the availability of unlocked iPhones will have the exact same impact on iPhone sales as Verizon did: close to none.
Comments (8)
"iPhone sales as Verizon did: close to none" 40,000/day = close to none? http://www.betanews.com/joewilcox/article/ATT-and-Verizon-iPhone-sales-are-nearly-the-same-40000-per-day/1303398412
Phil: Quoting this very article: "Contrary to all ridiculous conspiracy-esque predictions that AT&T would massively lose subscribers" My observation was about the impact that the availability had on the overall market share, especially after being hyped to death as being a "game changer".
I think you're overemphasizing the price. Not that it's representative, but just as an example: the country where I live, Israel, had between 50 to 60 thousand iPhones (in a country of 7 million), before it was officially launched here, despite the hoops people had to jump through to get them overseas. Hoops? Try buying and canceling plans in other countries, flying to countries where the iPhone was sold unlocked, having friends that were flying to other countries bring back one or two more devices for friends, etc. What Apple is doing is removing one of those hoops. People will do more than you might expect for an iPhone (and on a smaller scale, other smartphones), and in these markets that can add up to hundreds of thousands of people.
The biggest mobile platform con for Lion? It doesn't run on any mobile devices!
expensive one! but I'm sure it pays the price..the market is changing every now and then. We just need to know the tactics which one to have that we believe that we really needed.
"In my opinion, the availability of unlocked iPhones will have the exact same impact on iPhone sales as Verizon did: close to none." You forgot to comment on this article? Only comment on stuff that gels with your opinion? ;) -> http://blog.flurry.com/bid/66618/iPad-2-and-Verizon-iPhone-Take-Some-Wind-Out-of-Android-s-Sail
Indeed I do, and this article does confirm what I was saying. The headlines before the Verizon iPhone came out were along the lines of "Verizon will put an end to Android's dominance". "Taking some wind out of" is quite a far cry from this characterization, isn't it? It's simple math, really. Back when I wrote this, Android was already activating 300,000+ devices a day. Today, it's around 550,000. Who seriously thought that adding one carrier in one country was going to make any significant difference?
Android phones have also had sales boosts from buy one get one sales. For instance Verizon is currently running a buy one get one sale on the Droid X3 that came out less than 3 weeks ago. I don't think the iPhone 3gs has ever been offered as a buy one get one even though its a few years old already. I switched from iPhone to Android recently (had iPhone 3 then iPhone 4 since they came out) and I have not regretted the decision one bit.