Apple, your actions confuse me (UPDATED)
Jobs just announced the new iPhone at his keynote this morning: 3G, GPS, etc (but nothing exciting that wasn’t already rumored), and a new lower pricepoint – just $200 for the 8GB version. Here’s the problem: the (older with less features) iPod Touch 8GB is $300. This seems like a glaring mistake to me. I realize that Apple is making tons of money every month out of the iPhone plan with AT&T, but why would anyone buy an iPod Touch for $300, when they could hacktivate an iPhone for $200, get all the new features (ex: GPS) and just not use the phone app! I can see three possibilities for this: an oversight (seems incredibility unlikely), a devious plot to raise the number of sold iPhones (possible), or they just think that most people are too stupid to realize they can just get an iPhone, hacktivate it, and not use the phone part (most likely). But really… where is the cheaper, GPS-enabled iPod Touch 2.0? Is it just going to arrive silently later, so as to not overshadow the iPhone 2 launch? We’ll just have to see…
Update: According to Engadget, Apple is no longer letting you buy an iPhone and activate it yourself. The reason the iPhone is only $200 is because AT&T is subsidizing it. Apple no longer has a revenue-sharing model with AT&T, and now they are making money like any other phone manufacturer. You can’t pull the GoPhone trick any more either, as the GoPhone plan can’t be bought with an iPhone any more. Seems like a bad move to me, seeing as a very significant percentage of iPhones were being sold to people who had no intention of ever buying an AT&T plan. Time will tell though if people can find a loophole, but for now it seems like Apple has shut the door on this one…