Comments on: Who are you gonna believe? Todd Sullivan or your lyin' eyes?

Todd Sullivan again. Sorry!

[ripragged]

Todd Sullivan still exists? Wow. I went over to the post. I read it. He does still exist. Over in the dimension where the down payment is the price and monthly bills don't exist.

You have to admit it's a weird situation, though. Todd is the one doing marketing for Apple [AAPL], while Mr. 'Lope is pointing out the fallacy of the reduced price. All this time the "Apple Fans" are being ridiculed for pointing out that Apple's marketing based on price is misleading.

As a general rule, I prefer straight up ad hominem attacks (with scatological references as frequently as possible) to irony, but this is ironic. Also it appears that Mr. Sullivan may have brownish matter in the place where his greyish matter should be stored.

There. Balance is restored.

[iantpotter]

Dear Macalope,
I find your insightful posts enlightening and entertaining, but you really do cheapen yourself by fencing with nobodies. Todd Sullivan, by wallowing in ignorance and stubbornness, has cemented himself as a professionally irrelevant voice. He is strictly smalltime and not worth discussing.

[Macalope]

Sullivan has written for... well, actually, the Macalope forgets where his brain pan drippings have been featured. And he doesn't feel like looking it up. One of those stock sites that claim to be reputable. If it weren't for that, you'd be 100% correct.

[ripragged]

In Mr. Lope's defense, sometimes the pleasurable sensation on the foot (or hoof) is motivation enough to kick something or someone.

[colonelpanic]

Macalope, slight miscalculation in your article. $10 more per month over 2 years is $240; hence, if there is a $300 difference between the old and new phones, the new is still $60 cheaper.

The referenced Gizmodo chart shows a difference of $200 between the old and new phones; hence, the new phone is $40 more than the old.

Enough "hence's"?

That doesn't change how asinine Sullivan is, but does need clarification.

[JuliaDuncan]

You missed the SMS costs. The plan will no longer include 200 SMS messages--to get that you have to pay another $5 per month, or $120 over 2 years.

[Alieno]

40$ more for 2 years of 3G service as opposed to EDGE service looks like a good bargain to me, though.

[eurobubba]

I so totally want a Zeppelin!

[Yodarick]

After reading this and having a good nights sleep I awoke today with the thought.
"Why are we wasting such valuable words on Mr. Todd"?
There was a time when his drivel resided on the Seeking Alpha site but he is long gone from there, perhaps in part by having feces continually thrown at him, perhaps just for self preservation. Mr. Todd does not know diddlely squat about anything and I mean anything, the cavity in head that in most humans contains grey matter, contains that stuff that was thrown at him.
Sir Lope, your finely honed intellect is worthy of much bigger prey than Todd who?
Why waste the time?
Just my morning thoughts from my cabin in the rain forest.

[walter.dufresne]

Us Chinese-slippered thugs resent all the publicity garnered by our jack-boot-wearing cousins. We demand equal time.

[McBlayde]

People are saying that Todd Sullivan isn't worth the effort. I say that anything that prompts a Macalope response is a good thing. Always entertaining.

[ripragged]

Weird. Over to the Todd thingy folks are saying he's a dork, too.

[chipotlecoyote]

I admit this seems a little disingenuous on both sides, Macalope -- "the iPhone is now more expensive because the data plans cost you more" is true in a sense, but it's true in roughly the same sense that the "real price" of the first-gen iPhone at release was around $2000 ($500 or $600 purchase price, plus $60 a month for two years). But that's just not the way people think about buying cell phones -- nor is it the way they buy landline phones, satellite radio, DVRs, condos with homeowner association fees, or anything else that uses the model of "buy the device, then pay for ongoing service indefinitely." We don't treat them like car payments or mortgage payments, because they're not: that first-gen iPhone was not $2000, it was $600 with an ongoing service charge. You aren't paying off the phone with the contract, you're paying for phone service with it. You determine if you can afford the up-front purchase cost, and if you can afford the ongoing service charge. They're two separate considerations.

One can argue about subsidies and contract lock-ins all one wants, but when somebody goes off to buy an iPhone at the store of their choice, they're going to hand the guy behind the counter $200 or $300 plus tax, and they're going to walk out with a phone. That you are indeed going to be paying a few Venti Frappuccinos more per month for ongoing service compared to the older iPhone does not make the new one more expensive -- it makes the phone service more expensive. This may sound like a subtle distinction, but it makes the dynamics of the purchasing consideration different.