Read more.Loses them money, researcher claims.
Read more.Loses them money, researcher claims.
No, not one single bit. Exclusivity deals are braindead, and anticompetitive. If none of the networks scrambled over handset exclusivity deals, the manufacturers would be forced to supply them to all the networks, and drive the price down at the same time in response to market pressures.Does anyone really dislike the iPhone so much that they're willing shed a tear for the poor, hard-done-by network operators?
I don't live in a city and don't have the luxury of choosing an operator based upon which handset they have exclusive. In my area O2 reign supreme when it comes to coverage. However I'd quite like to own a Blackberry Storm which is exclusive to Vodafone and their coverage isn't brilliant...
When choosing a new contract, my golden rule is to pick the best network then choose an available phone. With these exclusives being such desirable objects for the tech savvy (and the fashion conscious) my golden rule is becoming harder to follow.
I hate exclusives. I can get the handset I want but will only sometimes have reception and therefore be of use, or I can get something I want less and will always be of use.
I guess it comes down to priorities.
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Surely the iPhone is the quintessential "halo product" it gets the sheep into the O2 stores, whether the sale of the handset makes any money is irrelevant.
They either buy in to the extortionate tariff and "tethering" charges which probably then make O2 a mint, or they will ho-humm about it being expensive but as they are there in the shop already they'll take another handset on O2 rather than shopping around anymore.
I refuse to be i-Conned and sign up for the tariffs no matter how good the phone allegedly is, but other people aren't so savvy, or just don't care so long as they have the shiny gadget... and that's the iPhone's secret sauce.
I worked in a phone shop once before I got a proper job (I was 18, forgive me?), and it's not always the case that the top line phone makes the most for the networks - I used to get commission based on how good the deal was for the network - I got the most for selling cheap phones on high tariffs. In order to sell the expensive phones the subsidy was so great it ate up too much of the profit.
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Theres also a lot of naughty people out there using iphone PAYG sim cards in 3g usb modems, you can get a years worth of data for £10 if they dont spot you.
iPhone...it is the "must have" accessory of 2009.......although I won't get one until the charges plummet.
The amount of people that have told me recently that they got a free upgrade to iPhone, plus their monthly fee is lower now AND they have more free minutes/texts......I can only imagine what they were paying before!
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