Comments on: A $99 iPhone isn't worth it

Is a $99 model with less impressive specs worth the cheaper price tag? Don Reisinger doesn't think so.

[desibartender]

I think it is for cheapos like me who dread spending $35 on a data plan. I would have an itouch instead. Lot of my friends are taking a moment to think about the data plans. That is keeping me from buying the
iphone. Give me a iphone without a data plan. Maybe the $99 model will come with no data plan and traditional voice mail instead of visual voice mail.

[kodiakthejuggler]

I will gladly pay up to $200 to purchase an iPhone 3G. I will gladly pay $30 per month for anywhere unlimited data service on a 3G network. What I will NOT pay for is $70 per month for phone service. I don't make many calls per month, and even at 450 Anytime minutes, I wouldn't even use HALF that in a given month, and I haven't even included text messages! That's another $5 bucks a month unless I want to pay 20 cents per message.

So until they drop the phone plan to something I can afford, I won't be purchasing a cheaper version of the phone. Upgrade the current 3G, make a phone plan available to those who don't use much phone, but still want the data portion.

[sapporobaby]

Does this guy do anything other than whine and complain? My God, his column are nothing more than serial whine about this being wrong and that being wrong.

[jason_doll]

"Sure, if I bought it, I'd be able to save $100 immediately and $15 each month on data, but when that cost is amortized over a year or two, the savings is just $19 to $23 per month. That's two trips to Starbucks."

Jesus, Don, people are losing their jobs, their houses, and their retirement. And you're mentioning that by not going to Starbucks twice a month, the pricier iPhone is worth it? For many people, that $19 - $23 is food money, not overpriced, mediocre quality coffee.

[timmy_tim]

I agree with you 100%
Don needs to ride his iPhone back to planet earth.

[techfan_08]

I tend to agree!

[Dylan_Wisor]

Why does every single article from you have "Don Reisinger (doesn't) think(s) so" in the tagline? Can't you come up with anything more original?

[Mac User Too]

Unless I am missing something, the $99 iPhone is an iPod Touch that is also a phone. Damn right they'll sell!

[U. Tripps]

Lots of people will buy a $99 iPhone. Lots and lots and lots. Apple doesn't need you to buy them, Don. Go enjoy your $10 cup of coffee and leave the business thinking to those who understand it.

[cheapcomputeruser]

$500 over 2 years $360 on data plan $100 on hardware and taxes looks like a good deal to me,
I am using a LG Incite now because I don't want to pay the $720 over 2 years for the data plan on Iphone 3g so I would do the deal

[Pishkado]

$19-$23 per month is about $500 over the two-year period. I don't know what kind of world the writer lives in, but $500 is real money to a lot of people. Some of them even live in the U.S. Maybe he spends $20 in two trips to Starbucks, but lots of people in this world don't. They educate your kids, enter burning buildings so the whole town won't burn down, and clean your grandmother in the nursing home.

A less elitist attitude toward a price reduction that would be meaningful to real people with real lives would be nice.

[rufustel]

So from what I can tell, it's a savings of about $250/yr. Umm, what's wrong with that, for someone who already has a good (non-iPhone) camera and good (non-iPhone) GPS, and a good (non-iPhone) high-capacity digital audio player?

This "let's just spend money" attitude just has to stop, Don. For good value, yes; but spending just to get redundant, unnecessary features (and which don't match up, in the end) because it's "cool"? That's the epitome of not cool and should be seen that way.

[question4seller]

Thats because sprint sucks !!! and the instinct is terrible. Sprint is the worst rated wireless service provider in the US. ATT is second by the way !!! And most people dont need 3g and arent willing to pay for it. I get wifi almost anywhere i go in NYC... Why would i pay so much for 3g ?? Unless the price would be much lower like $15 extra a month

[green2u]

It's called "building brand loyalty." Just like car manufacturers who target the youth market for less expensive cars in hopes that they will build build brand loyalt with their makes and later the target market will trade up as their net income increases. Plus more iPhones mean more peeps buying uploads from the Apple Store- a big moneymaker for Apple I am sure.

[Scott Gardener]

To a techie, it's a no-brainer to spend more on the more advanced device. But, our budgets tend to be skewed proportionally in favor of better technology. To people who don't care about detailed specs or appreciate their significance, the price difference is a bigger one. Remember, Jobs dropped the 4 Gig model when he dropped the 8 Gig one from $599 to $399. Before then, the difference was $100 between a $500 and $600 device. If you've got $500 to burn as an early adopter, chances are you also have $600, and chances are, you're going to want the one with better specs. Two years later, and we're now looking at $200 vs. $100, a 50% difference. Furthermore, $100 is affordable to a lot of people who cannot afford a $200 phone, and paying half as much per month is also a boon. This lower step entry level I suspect will give a lot of people on a budget an iPhone who otherwise wouldn't get one, be it teens and college students or the tens of millions out there without health insurance. Remember, blah blah recession, if you haven't already heard.

[jennandbrandon]

I still own a iphone 2g and honestly if i didnt i would be buying this $99 phone. I live where there is no 3G anywhere close to me and probbaly never will be until im dead. So why buy and pay more a month for the same EDGE service i already get. And GPS? Does anyone even use that crap on there phone? I have had a GPS in my car for very long time now and way better than any phone GPS i have ever used

[jean.luc.picard]

You're all missing the reality here. Apple has not nor is it likely to deliver a stripped down iPhone at any price point. This supposition was floated by an analyst, not any one connected to Apple. It's all nonsense. So Don's like or dislike of it is all smoke and mirrors, as is everyone else's here. Go out for a walk and look at the real world! Yikes!

You spend 19-23 dollars on two trips to starbucks? Do you ask them to sprinkle gold on your coffee? 19 dollars times 12 months is 227 dollars a year. I don't know about you, but 227 dollars is a lot of money. We all don't need to have internet 24/7 so we can twitter "I'm walking down the street", or "i'm in the taxi." The reason i don't have an iphone is that the data plan is RIDICULOUS. I have to spend 45 dollars for data and text? that's more then my whole current phone bill. I don't need the internet, i just want a phone with good multimedia function. you are a moron if you think gps and 3g is worth 200 dollars a year. I personally don't. I already said i don't need internet anywhere i go, i'm at a wifi hotspot most of my day anyway and why do i need gps? Are you going out in the wilderness everyday that you need gps or are you that dumb that you get lost everyday and need a freakin SATELLITE to tell you how to get home? if you are thats great but i'm not so give me a stripped down iphone and i will buy and i guarantee you a whole lot of people will too. this sounds like a rant but i don't care, this is by far one of the stupidest things i've read on cnet

[amy1146]

* Not everyone who wants a smartphone actually needs a "smart" phone. mobile internet and GPS are really luxury items for most phone consumers that don't spend a lot of time driving.

* The iPhone appeals just as much to 15-year old kids as it does to 20/30-something cnet bloggers (just guessing here), though perhaps for different reasons.

Reiterating what farhaus said, the basic functionality of the phone for the majority of people *isn't* being sacrificed by taking away EDGE and GPS. Apple has nothing to lose and a lot to gain from putting an iphone in more hands, even if it is the "economy" version. Does it really matter? Marketing-wise, it's still an iphone.

12-25 year olds have HUGE spending power, believe it or not, in this country. Making an iphone more accessible to this market is great marketing strategy. Apple's image is an intangible asset, if you want to talk in terms of accounting, and that asset grows proportionally with the number of iPhone owners. They're selling their brand, not so much their functionality. For people that don't need EDGE/GPS, saving $20 a month is a great incentive.

[FroZone]

ROFL. Oh man - $23 is two trips to Starbucks? I bet he pours a couple gallons of gas on the ground before sticking the pump in his $99 hybrid.

[dannosliwcd]

Why does it matter if it has less than 2MP in photo resolution? I can't imagine you are getting great photo quality with a cell phone camera, so why would you want the photos larger and more cumbersome to transfer over that EDGE connection?

No GPS? How often do people really use the GPS anyways (in real life situations, rather than just to show off to friends)? In practical use, isn't it a battery-killer?

The lack of 3G connections is no big deal either since it has Wi-Fi. 32GB of storage on a phone seems like a bit more than I could think to use, anyways.

It sounds like the 99 dollar iphone would just be an iphone without the features that are overkill for normal users.

[viper396]

Many people use GPS's for real situations. Have you ever driven around and noticed how many people have GPS systems stuck to their windshields? Do you really think they are all just showing off to friends? With a car adapter to keep it charged and a window mount to hold it, a phone makes a perfect alternative to a dedicated GPS system and is one less device to carry around.