In the case of the Nexus, the two prices are $529.00 and $179.00, and on the basis of that number alone, I know which I'd rather pay.
That article is all hype because the people this is news to, and the target market for a $500 cellphone don't have that big an intersection. I think everyone with a cellphone by now has been exposed to a carrier's store and seen prices for an off-contract phone. Hell, I'm guessing a lot of people have broken phones and been forced to pay off-contract prices - forcing the savvy to at least price out similar phones via alternate channels cough ebay. Pre-iPhone, they'd have a bigger point, but I'd think by now, the consumer smart-phone market (vs big-business' blackberries) is aware of certain things.
