Something that's sold in a long-term contract but without an initial fee is not really 'free', is it? I mean, if the author really thinks that it's free, I've got a number of excellent business proposals for him (all free!).
Well, TANSTAAFL of course, but customers view it as free. That's a large part of why the iPhone 3g sold so much better than the original. It's cheaper upfront, though more expensive in the long run.
That's a large part of why the iPhone 3g sold so much better than the original.
Citation needed. The 3G introduced a slew of new features and improvements, including more memory, 3G, GPS, and of course the app store, not to mention much wider availability internationally. I personally doubt that the modest price drop had much to do with its success.
Anecdotally, people I worked with all jumped on the iPhone 3G simply because it "cost less" than the original. $200 up front is a lot easier for most consumers to swallow than $400 up front, regardless of any price difference over the life of the contract.
$200 is not a modest price drop to the vast majority of both Americans and iPhone users. And the evidence is that most of the features were gloss (3g, for instance) and the app store didn't come into its own until well after it was selling like hot cakes.
It's just like cell phones. I always see commercials saying that if you switch to their network, you get a free [insert trendy phone here]. The catch is, you have to pay their monthly fees for at least year, otherwise the phone isn't 'free'.
Well those guys are obviously right at the edge and are predicting the far future .... you could buy netbooks for 1 Euro with a 3G plan in every european country in the last year...
I'm surprised they don't have a version available that has a built in permanent "ad-bar" on the side of the screen that allows them to distribute them for free without contracts. Granted the HN community could quickly find a way to remove it or format the OS altogether. But most average people would not be able to do this and they would just put up with the ad.
It's been one 10years ago in the last boom.
Removing the OS wasn't an issue - if it didn't contact the site every few days to get a new set of ads you were in violation of your contract and they charged your CC.
the HN community equivalent went to huge lengths to have fake proxies that downloaded and discarded the ads - far more effort than it was worth to get a $99 computer for free.
Well I'm just surprised things are not going down this road. I figured when android was getting close to release they would have a bunch of "free" Google phones with service and shake up the industry by payment for them via adwords.
There must not be enough money in ads to support a Google phone or they probably would have gone down that road.
If 'smartbooks' continue to have the same form factor as laptops (and netbooks), I think consumers will continue to buy them as low-cost, low-powered replacements for their computers. Hopefully, manufacturers will introduce new form factors (e.g. like the Kindle, or the OLPC XO-2) that break this paradigm.
Well, it's as free as it will ever get. Of course they need to make money somewhere, that somewhere being the contract. The point is that you will not have to pay for the machine, it will be considered a client acquisition cost. It is an old trick: give people something for free to sell them something of greater value.
