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Alexxzz

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 20, 2008
11
0
Just wondering with the new iPhone being subsidized and all will the new iPhone come in 24 months (US) or 18-24 (UK, Personal or Business). If they waited till' the end of the US contracts, the people in the UK which brought at the beginning will be waiting 6 months for the new one. Or If they go with the UK 18 months the people in the US will have 6 months locked into a contract before they can get their hands on it. And if they release it before all of these, the carriers are gonna miss out because there not making all the money back from the subsidiaries.
 
Just wondering with the new iPhone being subsidized and all will the new iPhone come in 24 months (US) or 18-24 (UK, Personal or Business). If they waited till' the end of the US contracts, the people in the UK which brought at the beginning will be waiting 6 months for the new one. Or If they go with the UK 18 months the people in the US will have 6 months locked into a contract before they can get their hands on it. And if they release it before all of these, the carriers are gonna miss out because there not making all the money back from the subsidiaries.

Haha...you're funny. The 3G just came out and you're talking about the next iPhone already? Get a life! As you can see, Apple already have many issues with the 3G network. However, the 4G network is not even finalized and set up in the US or the world. Any talk about 4G phones at this point is just premature.
 
Haha...you're funny. The 3G just came out and you're talking about the next iPhone already? Get a life! As you can see, Apple already have many issues with the 3G network. However, the 4G network is not even finalized and set up in the US or the world. Any talk about 4G phones at this point is just premature.

I don't think he means 4G as a network but rather as a next revision of the iPhone and why attack the guy for asking a question :rolleyes:
 
As we saw with the iPhone 3G launch, O2 and AT&T were fine with people with existing iPhones upgrade, as long as they start their 18 or 24 month contracts again from the start. I'm sure it will always work this way.
 
As we saw with the iPhone 3G launch, O2 and AT&T were fine with people with existing iPhones upgrade, as long as they start their 18 or 24 month contracts again from the start. I'm sure it will always work this way.

I did not necessarily mean a 4g network crazyyankeefan I was just implying the next iPhone be it 4g or not thank you daneoni for having some common sense and realizing. I realize that O2 and ATT let people upgrade early but, that was because the 1st iPhone was not subsidized and therefore they had nothing to loose. If they allowed early upgrade on this iPhone they would have something to loose.
 
As we saw with the iPhone 3G launch, O2 and AT&T were fine with people with existing iPhones upgrade, as long as they start their 18 or 24 month contracts again from the start. I'm sure it will always work this way.


No, I have my doubts about that. The original iPhone lacked 3G and GPS when everyone expected it to have that, and I think that's why the upgrades were allowed. For that reason, I think this was a special case.

Bear in mind that someone (the wireless carrier) has to eat the cost of the phone subsidy, and they won't be so willing to continually lose money on the "repeat" business. The contract is two years because that's how long AT&T and others expect it to take to recoup their subsidy, plus some acceptable margin of profit.

At the end of the day, AT&T isn't a charity.
 
Hardware wise I don't see apple releasing a new iPhone at a minimum of 2 years, maybe 3.

Unlike the iPhone 2g many of the current iPhone problems can be solved by software (as opposed to hardware such as lack of gps/3g chip)
 
I could see a revision in a year or less. One thing to remember is that these phones are becoming mini-computers and will eventually be on the same upgrade cycle as a macbook pro or something. I could see Apple wanting to put better processors in them. One of the possibilities are specialty iphones for people who have a specific purpose in mind. It would be cool if there was a gaming iphone for instance and then one more for business use. I could easily see someone getting a phone and attaching a keyboard and monitor and running Photoshop on it.

I know I'm dreaming. :) But the potential is there. Its one of the reasons I'm sticking with the iphone for awhile even though its a beta device full of problems. Then again, I think that's what many companies are thinking(including Google) we'll see who does it best.
 
Don't call it "4G" unless you mean 4G telephony. That's how the iPhone naming scheme works.
 
Haha...you're funny. The 3G just came out and you're talking about the next iPhone already? Get a life! As you can see, Apple already have many issues with the 3G network. However, the 4G network is not even finalized and set up in the US or the world. Any talk about 4G phones at this point is just premature.

Yeah and what were we discussing a year ago, the 3g :rolleyes:

You knew what this thread was going to be about so why didn't you just **** and click the back button, 'tard :rolleyes:
 
the 1st iPhone was not subsidized and therefore they had nothing to loose. If they allowed early upgrade on this iPhone they would have something to loose.

I think this raises a valid point. If Apple comes out with a new phone before the majority of 3G owner's contracts are up and the carriers don't want to eat the remaining subsidy costs, the only people who are going to jump on a new phone next summer are people with money to burn, diehard fanatics, and those who haven't bought an iPhone to date. This could mean Apple might sell considerably fewer phones than if there were no subsidy to consider. And it becomes an unbreakable cycle; Apple can't sell us a new phone every year, unless the carriers lose money on subsidies.
 
No, I have my doubts about that. The original iPhone lacked 3G and GPS when everyone expected it to have that, and I think that's why the upgrades were allowed. For that reason, I think this was a special case.

Bear in mind that someone (the wireless carrier) has to eat the cost of the phone subsidy, and they won't be so willing to continually lose money on the "repeat" business. The contract is two years because that's how long AT&T and others expect it to take to recoup their subsidy, plus some acceptable margin of profit.

At the end of the day, AT&T isn't a charity.

No. The first gen iPhone was not subsidized, plain and simple. It had nothing to do with equipment specs, rather AT&T wasn't out subsidy costs so they allowed the upgrade.
 
we launched the 3G network in october of 2006, then 3G iphone came out july of 2008...

we havent even heard of a 4G yet, just upping 3G until the next big thing i guess...
 
No. The first gen iPhone was not subsidized, plain and simple.

But the 3G iPhone was subsidized, plain and simple.

What AT&T did with the 1st gen is no longer relevant. There's a subsidy of some sort on the heads of every one who bought the 3G up to this point (and until AT&T releases "no committment" pricing). And that will probably complicate further upgrades for some.
 
The next rev will be released within a year. People who have contracts are just going to have to pay full price or wait until their contract expires.
 
The next rev will be released within a year. People who have contracts are just going to have to pay full price or wait until their contract expires.

I realize this is the scenario we're faced with as it stands, but is Apple really going to sit by and watch as literally millions of people skip buying the next version of the phone because they're locked into a subsidized contract...especially after 2 years of customers becoming accustomed to buying a new iPhone as they please?

If Apple spends millions in R&D on the 3rd generation iPhone, but can't sell it to anyone who bought a 3G because of a contract, seems to me there's not much incentive to produce a new phone.

I think either they will revamp their partnership with the carriers to bring back profit sharing, enabling another upgrade scenario, or they will skip a new iPhone model entirely until the majority of the current customer base is out of contract. Or maybe, as it has been rumored before, they'll explore the option of creating their own MVNO.
 
If iPhones are upgraded with faster processors rather than just HD upgrades, how will this affect iPhone apps?
 
If iPhones are upgrade with faster processors rather than just HD upgrades, how will this affect iPhone apps?

IIRC, Apple restricts the speed of the processor in the iPhone. In part to conserve battery as the processor is more powerful than is really needed. So Apple really doesn't need to upgrade with a faster processor.

Please correct me if I am wrong.
 
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