For some, iPhone could cost up to $1349

So if i live in Mexico and I buy my iphone in NY, can I use my iphone here in Mexico using my GSM chip? Or I have to pay to Cingular!! If that is the deal what a waste of money dont you think?

To all of the posters who have so arrogantly demonstrated their utter lack of understanding of how credit ratings actually work and how completely out of touch they are with the financial reality of just about every working American...

yes, a lot of folks live beyond their means, end up with bad credit and then suffer the consequences/pay for it/default/declare bankruptcy (though much less now)/and generally give bank accountants even more tools (write-offs, collections, all sorts of tax tricks, etc) to enable even larger record profits for these financial institutions. I'm not saying that it's not bad, but this is not some huge societal cost to the rest of us. These folks will pay for their mistakes many times over beyond just the money.

but my main point is that for every reckless spender there's gonna be at least one (and potentially many more) folks who in a bad financial situation/bad credit because of something beyond their control - catastrophic illness (or even a less serious medical issue while un- or under-insured), death of a bread-winner, identity theft, natural disaster, act of god, failure of a business startup (many small business fail even if they're doing everything 'right' and nothing 'wrong')... loss of a job, etc.

Yeah, I guess you could ultimately say "they should have saved more, or had (more)insurance, or worked harder" or whatever, but for many working families, they're already doing the best that they can. Seemingly perfectly healthy people get cancer - sure they could have done an extra 30 minutes of cardio or passed on that cookie or whatever but who knows if those things would actually make a difference in the end. The simple fact of the matter is that there's a huge number of people who are literally one or two (or even three or four) paychecks away from financial disaster. These are not just poor folk, but really a good portion of the so-called middle-class... generally hard working people doing the best that they can and providing for their families or working for a better life for themselves. Throw in the growing number of uninsured or underinsured and this pool of folks in the "danger zone" is exponentially larger. Again, generally not people living beyond their means for an extravagant lifestyle - these are people who are living beyond their needs just to take care of their families. And it's only going to get worse before it gets better. Much worse.

Please understand that I'm not trying to make excuses for folks who willfully abuse 'the system' or who just foolishly charge an extravagant lifestyle on credit. I just think that anyone who wants to suggest that badcredit=badperson, badcredit=alltheirfault and badcredit=greatmoralfailing has a seriously myopic view of the real world.

dustin

P.S. In some cases, the actual credit scoring system can be at fault for a poor credit rating - example - even a year or more after starting my own business (where I made 3-4X what I had earned previously) with established and stable income far beyond expenses, having never a single bad item on my credit report, never a late payment, relatively long credit history, etc. my credit was still (in my opinion, at least) in the toilet (definitely not bad but not good either). The reason? I was actually utilizing much more of my available credit than I had ever before. (had I known this would have been an issue beforehand, I would have opened a corresponding number of new credit accounts before I started the business, but like so many other people, I felt that having MORE credit accounts and a higher total $credit limit would be worse for my credit rating. Keep in mind that I was WELL within my ability to pay for all of the accounts with the the business income, and I needed to borrow that money to start the business to make the money... you get the picture. [and yes, I have it all figured out and taken care of and all.,... just still thought that some of this might be helpful and/or appropriate.]

This post should be titled what will the iPod Cost You? The $1349 was just to get your attention and it worked coz check out this long list of comments. Anyway, the iPhone is a nice device and although I'm drooling many points have been made about the "hidden cost of owning one" sure it costs $499-$599 but as mentioned by the time you get a contract w/ Cingular you are looking at way more than you might have planned on. plan This is the way it is with any such device and that's why I say the iPhone is nice if you are a business person on the go and can justify the cost or if you have $ to blow. All I'm hoping for really is an iPod with the same set of features minus the phone capabilities so I don't have to get stuck w/ a cell phone contract that I don't need. I want to touch my music as well but I don't want to have to pay all the extra cost to do so. SJ did mention that they are planning on more things to come and more phones in the keynote for that alone I would wait for revision 2 or 3.

Posting crap like this is what makes TUAW appear childish, begging for page views.

What kind of headline is that? Your ads really make you that much for the added page views a headline like this will bring?

Journalistic integrity?

Any integrity?

Anyone here with integrity?

Seems not.

The phone will probably sell for $200 more without a contract, or for cingular customers who aren't eligible to upgrade, the 8525 sells for $200 more than the new customer price. It could be as low as $150 or as high as $300, but $200 is usually the Cingular standard for higher priced phones.

If you are in contract with another carrier and don't want to pay the early termination fee with another carrier there is a solution that will work for some people in the right cicumstances. If you know someone who is looking for a cellphone, whether it be a family memeber, friend, co-worker whatever, you and they can sign a transfer of liability and the contract will now be in their name with whatever is left on it. So if your contract expires in say, December, you could give them your contract to finish. This is great for people who hate long contracts. When I moved last year I got no Cingular service at my new house, but I had 7 months left and the wouldn't let me out without paying the early termination fee, My fiance's parents wanted to switch from Verizon to Cingular since they got better coverage, and her father hates contracts, so he took my phone and contract with only 7 months and I got Sprint and no early termination fee.

I know this won't work for everyone but hey, it may save a few people a few dollars.

Don't forget to buy your iPhone at Radio Shack in June(I am a manager of a Radio Shack, and it looks like we will carry it when it is in stores, atleast according to my Cingular Rep.)

My budget for the iPhone is $1000.00.

I hope it doesn't come locked. I wonder who Apple will partner with with it comes to the Asia market. I just hope it isn't PCCW coz it totally sucks.

Even without the deposit (which I wouldn't have to pay) or the ETF (which I would), the iPhone would cost me over $1500. My current plan with T-Mobile is $60/month (1000 anytime minutes w/unlimited nights/weekends ($40), unlimited data ($20)), I'd have to spend $105 per month with Cingular for something comparable (900 anytime minutes with rollover and unlimited nights/weekends ($60), unlimited data ($45)). $45 (the difference in cost) x 24 (months locked into Cingular) = $1080. Add in the cost of even the 4GB model and I'm at a total price of $1580.

Granted, the data price may be cheaper, but even if it's only $20 (which would be cheap for unlimited data on Cingular), it would still be $480 more than I would pay with T-Mobile.

Did you know that the iphone may cost you double?

Suppose you buy an iphone, drop it on the sidewalk and smash it to bits. Now you'll need to buy another, thereby doubling the price! Does Apple think we're made out of money?

Being surprised that other costs are associated with something isn't really news. Buying an ipod or a mac can come with all sorts of extra costs. This, and especially the horrifying comments about the visually impaired, show there's way too much sugar and not enough info about this device yet. Deep breaths!

This phone is going to cost me a bundle.

My credit is fine it's just, I have to switch from t-mobile to cingular, then sign up for a cingular plan, and then buy the actual phone. Thhis phone better be the shit.

bad credit is the result of spending beyond your means... if you have bad credit do you even think you should be looking at a $600 dollar device? if you had a little self control (not buying the latest greatest thing) you wouldn't be in a bad credit situation in the first place. IF YOU PAY $1500 FOR A PHONE BECAUSE OF BAD CREDIT ITS YOUR FAULT... furthermore how does the impact of bad credit make it to an Apple blog. *sigh*