Does the iBudget stretch to $500 for an iPhone?

Adam Turner
Sunday, 25 February 2007 19:11

IT Industry - Market

It's a stupid question - of course people will pay $500 for an iPhone. There are probably already people lining up outside Apple stores, queuing to hand over their first born child in order to own Apple's latest gadget.

The argument is driven by an online survey by market research firm Compete Inc. as to how much people would pay for an iPhone. Of the 379 participants, only 1 per cent said they would pay $500 for an iPhone. One per cent is not bad, considering Apple will squeeze these early adopters for as much as they can and then drop the price to pick up further sales. According to the survey, 42 per cent of those willing to buy an iPhone would spend $200 to $299.

Those saying $500 is too much obviously haven't done much shopping around. Currently people are paying up to $500 for a Palm Treo or Nokia Communicator - even the Motorola RAZR V3 cost $499 when it first came out. The Apple faithful will certain consider these devices unworthy to be mentioned in the same sentence as the mighty iPhone.

In the eyes of some Apple can do no wrong - a measly 500 bucks is nothing to these people. You could charge $1000 for the iPhone and a few fools would still buy it.