There is a lot of complaining on the internet about the price of the iPhone 3gs upgrade for current iPhone 3g users. They say its crazy to pay 400 bucks to get the new phone, but there are those that say AT&T is justified.
I agree with both. 400 bucks for a minimal upgrade? Cmon, that’s ridiculous. But, AT&T does have to make up for their subsidized pricing. I understand that. But why are they taking this route? If you really want a new iPhone, they should offer another way to do it. A way that makes a hell of a lot of sense. It would save the consumers money, and probably end up making more for AT&T depending on the demand but the potential is definitely there for more money. Heres what I propose:
Allow current users to trade in their phone. Refurbish it, and sell it unlocked for $200+ dollars. People will pay that. People are paying much more than that even right now for unlocked phones even with the impending launch of the new iPhone. Search on eBay. The cheapest you will find is about $400 bucks, and AT&T still is selling the unsubsidized non-contract versions for about $600. Now you are probably thinking, “why would anybody pay $200+ for an iPhone thats refurbished and slightly out of date?” The fact that it is unlocked and allowing you to go to any carrier at all is what makes it worth it. There are tons of people that would pay that to have an iPhone even used and slightly outdated. Hell, a few months ago before I had mine I probably would have done the same thing to get out of having to pay for the outrageously expensive data plan and I would still be with AT&T anyways.
Too bad AT&T is probably not smart enough to come up with this themselves….
