Retails on these go from $499 (low end) to $699 (middle high end) on
many of the ones I have seen.
Of course that is not the real cost of these things.
So when you pay $199 or even $99 on one of these babies you are not
paying retail pricing you are getting a subsidized phone.
Very often we get phones from Verizon for $49.95 or even less (with
rebates etc.) these are m,middle of the line phones that are often
pretty current.
My wife and I both have ENV2's I bought mine in the after market
(Ebay) and my wife bought hers through Verizon. She paid $49.95
($99.95 + $50./00 rebate) and I paid just over $100.00.
However both phones costs were offset by selling the old phones. I
ended up paying less than $20 for mine after the sale of my old Q and
my wife actually got money back when she sold hers.
So it is hard to nail down a true price on a phone.
Most of it is set by desirability and market.
I have seen folks selling older Iphone (1+2 gen) and still asking
well over $100 for them and probably getting it.
Stewart
At 11:38 AM 11/13/2009, you wrote:
Does anyone know the real cost of these smart phones? I realize dev costs
are in the initial price, but when phones have been out for some time like
the iPhone, costs are extremely low. Consider also that a lot of these
phones come out in europe first so many times the money has already been
made back for creating the device. As far as these term fees go, anyone
signing with a cell company knows what they are getting into, if they are
prepared to pay this kind of fee then so be it. Verizon will either lose
business or not, and we'll see their next move.
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