People is talking about buying AAPL because of the iphone coming out. However, i never hear any people talk about AT&T. AT&T is the only carrier of the Iphone (I don't think you can get one even from those Apple stores). If you want to get one, you need to sign a 2 year contract with Cingular. This will booast At&T subscribers significantly since there are tons of people want to get the iphones. I think i read an article couple months ago saying that Cingular had received more than 1 million calls asking about the Iphone. I believe that At&t is a good alternative way to play the Iphone trend since AAPL already gone up from $95 to $120 since Apr due to the Iphone news. There is really upside potential on AAPL in the short term. What do you guys think??
Their service sucks, but you have a point. What's the exact deal? 2 year contract and then pay 300 bucks for the Iphone?
2 years $500 ? Not very appealing but who cares, the Ipod fans are gonna 'love' it. Go with the trend hehehe
It's more of a question of whether they can even afford it. Besides the fact that it makes no financial sense whatsoever. AT&T 2 year contract and then pay for a phone? You gotta be kidding me. You can get a free PDA phone from AT&T or Cingular for a 2 year contract. I got a free Razor from Verizon just for adding a line. Look at it this way as well, let's say Iphone sells like hotcakes at AT&T. There is no f**king way their towers can handle it as they already have one of the worst services out there. Something tells me there is little long term strategy behind this, AAPL just wants to catch some quick large profits and AT&T wants to lock people up. I bet that in their planning, they expect to make the real profits when people start breaking out of contracts.
2 year $500 seems expensive to most people and not a lot of people can afford it but I am pretty sure there are bunch of college students out there who will squeeze those money out from their credit card and finance it....LOL....It is all about the trend... I think it really depends on what plan AT&T requires their customers to lock into. If it is the $40 plan, Iphone will sell like mad. If it is anything above $70, then this is gona be a concern.
I don't really understand the tower comment. And one of the worse services? I have AT&T Cingular AT&T, whatever. Fewest drop calls? I doubt it. Who's to say, But the worst? That's a bold stance..I've had several different carriers for my work and have had the wonderful opportunity to work with almost all of them. They ALL suck. No one provider has a real SUPERIOR network. Everyone complains about their cellphones. As far as the Iphone, I think it will be a hit. Whether it sucks or not, people are going to buy it. I have heard a lot of rumors about there being problems and it being inferior to other PDA phones having the 2.5g blah blah blah... We all know that the guys at Apple are marketing geniouses. This product is probably targeting the youngsters that get big allowances, which is a demographic that we all might not understand, but I have faith in what this company does. The lower speed and low storage first gen Iphones are going to sell regardless. Apple's giving themselves headroom for upgrades in the near future to boost more acquisitions. This is what happened with the iPod. They know what they're doing. Plus this will be their biggest product cycle ever..iphone, leopard osx, new macbooks, and talks of a new brushed aluminum imac...all the way through october. There's much more hype to come.
Cell towers. That's how cellular phone service works. It's all about the cellular towers, because when phone call volume increases, if you do not have the capacity to handle it, calls get dropped, disconnected, etc. That's why there was such heavy condolidation among big unprofitable cellular service providers. It's "synergy" through combining of cell towers and being able to cover a bigger geographic region. Which is why Verizon has the best service (and hence charges a premium). They have the best network of towers in the country. My point is that I do not think AT&T can handle an influx of crazy Iphone fanboys. They had to merge with Cingular just to have barely adequate service. We all know Iphone will sell. But I see a weak longterm plan. $500 with a 2 year contract with AT&T, it's just ridiculous. It's like buying PS3 on Ebay for $2,000. And I still think it's a very bold assumption that the masses can afford these gimmicks at these prices. Even through credit cards.
Good point. It'll be interesting to see how many of these bad boys theyre going to be able to dish out. If supply looks anything like the PS3, they probably WILL go for 2 grand on ebay for a day or two. Is it me or is the tech consumer's attention span getting shorter and shorter??
The problem with this exclusive deal is AT&T's coverage sucks. I can't get any coverage in my area and I am not in the boon docks... yet not in the big city. They should have went with Verizon and AAPL would be in the 140's right now.