Apple have described most free mobile phones as worthless and are convinced people will pay at least $500 for the iPhone in a statement this week.
Apple Chief Operating officer Timothy Cook was discussing the price of an iPhone at a tech conference in Las Vegas and was scathing about the phones being handed out for free in the US.
A lot of people pay zero for the cellphone. Guess why? That’s what it’s worth.
This will be a big piece of the Apple story for years to come. If we offer something that has tremendous value, that is sort of this thing people didn’t have in their consciousness – it was not imaginable – then I think there’s a whole bunch of people that will pay $499, $599.
Apple are hoping to sell around 10 million iPhones which would represent just 1 percent of mobile phone sales.
What about the UK?
Apple are quite right in suggesting some phones available for free with a contract are worthless. However in the UK we are all quite happy paying £35 per month for a mid range mobile contract and we are very happy to be able to get phones such as the Sony Ericsson K800i totally free of charge. In fact most phones in the UK are free so how does this leave the iPhone?
We predict it will be around £100 on a £35 per month 18 month contract when it finally reaches the UK.
