Free Runner price vs iphone 3G price

[ian douglas]

Jorge . wrote:
> No doubt, but you can buy unlocked iPhones on many places, including internet and they dont cost $960

You're right, an unlocked iPhone will likely cost more than $199 (for 
the 8GB model), but you still need to have the data/voice plan. If *all* 
you're comparing is the cost of the phone hardware, then you'd have to 
find out how much an iPhone actually costs AT&T to purchase from Apple.

We're all arguing the same thing, just from different perspectives.

At the end of the day, you still need to buy voice/data service, whether 
you buy a Freerunner or iPhone. Since, from the sounds of it, you cannot 
(yet) buy the iPhone on a pay-as-you-go service, it's likely that the 
Freerunner will be a cheaper alternative, but ONLY when using a 
pay-as-you-go service. (at least here in the US)

But if you're going to buy into a voice/data plan, you're going to 
ultimately spend more cash on the Freerunner:

For example, I pay $39.99/month for 450 daytime minutes and 5000 
evening/weekend minutes every month. I pay an additional $39.99 per 
month for an unlimited data plan. My total monthly cost is $79.98 plus 
taxes and fees, so let's round it up to $90 per month. Over the course 
of two years, my $90/month totals $2,160.

If I buy an iPhone, my total cost after two years is $199 plus $2160, or 
$2359.
If I buy a Freerunner, my total cost after two years is $399 plus $2160, 
or $2558. If I manage to get in on a group sale, my total cost after two 
years drops $30.

So if you plan to get on a monthly voice/data plan with AT&T here in the 
USA, yes, the iPhone will be cheaper after a two year period is over.

Of course, if you start buying iPhone apps from iTunes over the two year 
period, then the iPhone could quickly become much more expensive than 
the Freerunner.

My point in the last few Emails is that the extra $200 (or $170 on a 
group sale), is worth it to me to have a completely unlocked phone where 
I can write and manage my own applications, have industry-accepted 
open-source programs ported to run on the Freerunner, have those 
applications for free, etc.

-id