19 comments

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  Macanuck

  1 year ago

  Yeah, I would, actually. Me and the people who live in the 95% of Canada's land mass that don't live in one of the 25 (count em) centers across the country that doesn't have 3G access. Sorry, but not all of us live in major urban centers (or on the prairie, where one cell tower covers Saskatchewan).
  
  Geographically, we're the majority, though in numbers, probably not. Heck, I'm so far off the beaten track that I don't even have GSM coverage (and just got CDMA a couple years ago). So I'm not planning on getting even a first gen iPhone. Sorry.
  
  If you look at a coverage map of the states, 3G coverage is still pretty thin there, too, once you get out of maor centres. Heck, there's entire states that don't even have AT&T, let alone 3G. There's gotta be something for them. And the for all the kids who are only texting anyway, why not an iPod touch? Sure, you've gotta be near Wi-Fi, but I suspect that 90% of my time is spent near a wi-fi hotspot (home, work...in the kid's case, school).
  
  And let's not forget that (in the states) data plans for a iPhone are $30, was it? So the actual cost of ownership of an iPhone is much higher than an iPod touch. IF you need both a cell phone and music device and IF you live in one of the $25 centres across Canada that has 3G and IF Roger's doesn't charge an arm and a leg for the data plans...then yes, iPhone all the way, baby. If not, this iPod touch is great for listening and watching podcasts....
  
  Anyway. I think you might be pronouncing it dead a little early. In a few years, maybe.
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  macgasm

  1 year ago

  You raise some mighty fine points. But, I think if a person, regardless of there location can get their hands on an iPhone (8gb) for 199.00, with activation or without activation, or a Touch (8gb) for 299.99 they would be going for the 100.00 dollar cheaper model. Now, I haven't looked into how the generation 2 phones will be sold in Canada, but if Apple sells them directly at that price no one will buy a Touch. The savings of 100.00 makes it mighty hard to turn down, regardless of coverage.
  
  So if the capacities stay the same, and if the iPhone is sold directly by Apple, and if the price remains how they are now, I see very few people spending an extra 100.00 on a device that does everything the iPhone does, minus the cellphone.
  
  Just my opinion though ;)
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• 

  jeff white

  1 year ago

  Even though I'll be selling my Touch to get an iPhone, I hope it doesn't die either. It's a perfect iPod. We even used them as mini video screens on a client's trade show booth. That would be a bit harder to do if they were phones.
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  macgasm

  1 year ago

  Yeah, could you imagine them all ringing off the hook during a presentation...lol
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  matsie

  1 year ago

  hmm. I'm not sure they will cancel the Touch, unless they cancel the Classic line all together. Not everyone will want an all-in-one device. I know I don't for the most part. I do appreciate having all-in-one devices (especially in cases like the iPhone where none of the features really suffer), but I also enjoy having an mp3 player and being able to leave my phone at home. Choices, that's what it comes down to and damned if consumers don't want a bunch of them!
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  macgasm

  1 year ago

  but... isn't apple all about not giving people choices? ... i'm so getting flamed for that. ;)
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  matsie

  1 year ago

  haha. Won't be getting flamed by me, that's for sure. I don't mind not having a choice because technology just isn't there yet, but why remove my choices from me? Grr. Mattie angry. :-P
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• 

  shteeve

  1 year ago

  i have no desire to pay the extortionate usage rates for an iphone through rogers in canada... especially not with the manditory 3 year contract. if the iphone is available unactivated you can bet it won't be at the same price point or else there is no incentive to lock yourself into a contract. sure there are *some* people who need their tricked out smartphones for whom the iphone is a better deal, but when you factor in 32gb model advantage and the 8gb back to school giveaway promotion, the ipod touch has enough going for it that i call FUD on this article.
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• 

  macgasm

  1 year ago

  All things being equal, I fail to see anyone paying for a Touch when they can get an iPhone at a cheaper cost. Of course, a Touch at 32GBs might be more appealing to the iPod crowd, but that was the point I made in my article--higher capacities are what will keep the Touch in consumers minds. In comparing the 8gb Touch to the 8gb iPhone, and the 16gb Touch to the 16gb iPhone, the lines become blurred between value per dollar for the device. Now, I may be wrong, and I might need to watch the keynote again, but didn't Jobs say that the iPhone will cost, at most, 199.00 for the 8gb model.
  
  Now, I might be in the minority, but I took that to mean 199.00 is the most expensive price you'll pay, and that the typical carrier discounts that companies such as Rogers apply to cellphones will be on the 199.00 price and not vice versa. I guess time will tell.
  
  Thanks for the comments :)
  
  Oh, and I really... really... agree with the usage rates. Rogers needs to wake up and alter their data plans.
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• 

  shteeve

  1 year ago

  i guess my point was that i really don't see "all things being equal" in this case. i was under the impression that you can't even use an iphone until you activate it, which makes it seem like usage costs in some form are manditory. and your "$199 max price" hopes have already been debunked in europe... http://uk.gizmodo.com/2008/06/12/ouch_payasyoug...
  i'm seriously doubting the infamous rogers will be any more charitable.
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• 

  macgasm

  1 year ago

  Sadly, I tend to agree. I know all to well the douchbaggery of Rogers. :) I guess a part of me is wishing for some Utopian outcome... ;)
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• 

  Macanuck

  1 year ago

  See, you see the price of an iPhone as $199. I see the price as $3440. Or at least, that's the estimate based on the leaked maybe memo from Rogers. Yes, you could by the iPhone and not activate it, but I have this sneaking suspicion that that price isn't going to fly without a plan. And, again if that memo is real, the plan locks you into three years. Which means that by the time you're able to upgrade, there will be at least two more iterations of the iPhone out.....
  
  But this is all speculation based on what could quite possibly a fake document. Give it a couple more weeks and the truth will be known. And then we'll find out if the iPhone really comes in under the price of the iPod touch. It may well be.
  
  However, your argument is based on a questionable assumptiion: Will Apple sell directly to the customers? No word yet. But there is no pre-order option from the website, only a link to a list of Rogers and Fido Stores, and that doesn't bode well for people looking for a cheap MP3 player sans phone. The word on the street is that the phone is being subsidized by the cell phone companies, and if they are subsidizing it, you can bet they're not going to let it go without a plan.
  
  But again, speculation. Let's pick this up again on July 12....
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  Macanuck

  1 year ago

  ...I see I should have read all the way to the end of the discussion thread before making the same point as shteeve.
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  macgasm

  1 year ago

  alright! alright! I concede. ;) I'm still hoping for the sake of my pocket book that apple sells them directly. ;)
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  macgasm

  1 year ago

  Just a quick aside, I've done some math on the last year of my current Rogers bill and I've spent about 1104.48 this year. So if we multiply that by three I'm currently paying 3314.00. So I'm currently paying 3314.00 for a three year plan, with no bells and whistles on my account with the exception of call id.
  
  Let’s say you choose the $60 plan as a bare minimum plus the $15/month voice value pack…
  
  $199 iPhone 3G.
  $60 voice/data plan + $15 voice value pack + $6.95 SAF = 81.95/mnth
  $81.95 x 36 months (3 year contract) = 2950.00 + $199.00 = $3149.2
  
  So, being put into context of me getting raped already by rogers... I might actually save some money here... I thought that was amusing, so i thought I'd share.
  
  So I could buy a touch and pay what I'm paying now, or I can buy an iPhone, and not really have spent much more.
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• 

  shteeve

  1 year ago

  i'm glad you've justified it for yourself. :P your original point is still ridiculous, though. i have a rogers pay as you go phone and i begrudgingly spend $10 a month. not everyone is able to spare $90/mo to support their twitter habit.
  
  the bottom line is that the iphone is what it is, a relatively luxury niche product. there is no reason the ipod touch cannot successfully inhabit its own niche (people who'd simply like a nice portable media player and don't need or can't afford a full blown internet communications device)
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• 

  macgasm

  1 year ago

  I'm trying everything in my power to justify it at this point... but it's bloody difficult. My line of reasoning is that i'm stuck paying that price already, so it would be the same price to carry on. Sadly, that price does not include any Twitter messages. I'd be freak'n broke in no time. I haven't done much research on other carriers for data plans, but I know that my sister pays close to that amount for her Blackberry on the Telus network.
  
  I think the key problem here is that Canadian cellular service providers just don't get that these have become consumer devices... and that it's not just businesses shelling out for these capabilities any more.
  
  I think my logic in the post still stands. Maybe it's worth it now in Canada to keep the Touch around at the price that it currently is, but as data plans come down (god I hope they do), the divide will close. Product lines will need to be differentiated or altered to incorporate that, much like the difference between the nano and the classic has now. Much high capacities in the Touch will surely accomplish that.
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  shteeve

  1 year ago

  but it also stands to reason that as data plans come down, carriers will get less return on their iphone subsidies. handset costs have always been inversely proportional to the cost & duration of the service plan you must agree to.
  
  anyway, i think we've both made our cases. for some people the integration of your ipod with a smartphone plan you'd already be getting anyway represents a better value. for others a no-strings-attached touchscreen video ipod is more appealing. live and let live.
  
  p.s. i'm glad we can all agree that rogers is an abomination.
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  macgasm

  1 year ago

  You've got that right... I'll never, ever, recommend rogers to anyone... EVER. ;)
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