Could the iPod touch get subsidized?
So now that the iPhone has gotten a price subsidy, I have to wonder what Apple will do to get the iPod Touch (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPod_touch) to be price competitive. Currently, it costs $100 more for a model with the same storage capacity as an iPhone, but with far fewer capabilities. Considering the iPhone is targeted at iPod owners with mobile phones, which includes pretty much anyone who'd get an iPod touch, the appeal of the iPod touch is quite narrow.
To boost its appeal, it needs a competitive price cut and to get that without cutting its profitability, it needs a subsidy. But who would offer it and why? How about AT&T to sell their broadband and hotspot service plans?
For their pro and elite DSL plans, AT&T already offers a $100 rebate if you order online, so anyone could make their own subsidy by taking that rebate and applying it to an iPod touch. These plans not only give you broadband at home, which includes a wireless router, but access to wifi hotspots. They're ideal plans for a wifi-only mobile Internet device.
For AT&T, this is a combo with built-in exclusivity since no one else offers both home broadband and hotspot service. For Apple, this is a no-loss way to sell the iPod touch at a better price. Best of all, the device doesn't need to be locked.
Shouldn't take much to get this going, particularly since you can build this deal yourself. Just a matter of Apple and AT&T deciding if they want to sell iPod + wifi package deals.
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Labels: aimless musing, mobile tech
Could the iPod touch get subsidized?
posted by Sumocat at 7/15/2008 06:12:00 PM
2 Comments:
i had a similar idea, that the ipod touch should come with 3g, making it more of an internet device, which would be subjected to att's dataplan only, and it would be subsidized. I dont really see someone buying a subsidized itouch in return for home-only and starbuck-only wifi hotspots. It kind of defeats the purpose of an internet-anywhere device.
By
Anonymous, at 7/22/2008 02:15:00 AM
The point is not to get Internet anywhere, which the iPod touch does not deliver, but to be an incentive for new customers. Sure, it's the same incentive in terms of dollar amount as what they currently offer, but people respond well to stuff. I think it has potential as an "iPhone lite" plan.
By
Sumocat, at 7/22/2008 06:17:00 PM
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