Steve Kovach of Business Insider did the math on T-Mobile’s new “un-carrier” plan for the iPhone:
Now compare that to the $2,020 two-year cost of owning an iPhone 5 on T-Mobile. You’re saving $580 in most cases. (Sprint comes close with its 450 minute plan, but keep in mind you still get unlimited minutes with T-Mobile. If you talk a lot on your phone, you’re still getting a better deal with T-Mobile.)
He takes into account not only the cost of the phone (after T-Mobile’s non-subsidy subsidy) but the cost of the plans as well. It’s not exactly cheap, but T-Mobile is the clear winner here from a pricing perspective. From a coverage perspective, that’s another matter…
T-Mobile CEO John Legere at an event today where he unveiled the iPhone on his network (FINALLY) as well as the company’s “un-carrier” plans.
It seems that Legere was full of good quotes — “Stop the bullshit” being another. And while I think this is a smart approach to take in an age where almost all Americans hate their carriers, I still find it a little odd that Legere went on and on about the end of subsidies and contracts then offered up his phones with a sort of newfangled subsidy (pay $20 a month until the phone is paid off — plus your contract, of course).
I mean, I get it, you have to pay for the very expensive phone somehow, and most people aren’t going to pay for it all upfront (even if it does save them money in the long run), I just think the messaging here is a little muddled.
Also, I think we all recognize that T-Mobile would be just fine with the status quo if they weren’t in fourth place in the carrier race… Still, again, a smart thing for T-Mobile to try.
Jeff Blagdon looks at the history of Emoji for The Verge:
But with the release of iOS 5 in late 2011, they made their real international debut. As people found out how to enable the characters on their phones, little pictures of guardsmen and faces with stuck-out tongues started sprouting up all over Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr.
I never thought about emoji because someone insisted that I enable it on my iPhone. Now I can’t stop.
A fun, well-made app for recording and rating what you’re drinking. I’ve been testing it out for a few weeks and I’d love to see something like this take off because the data could be extremely useful at scale (not just for individual drinks, but for bars overall).
Not an investor, just a fan. More from their team.
Asked by Anonymous
Filed away.
The more I think about it, the more I think this device, when it comes out, is going to be a massive hit. It’s one of those things no one will think they need until they see it. Before the iPhone came out, I declared it stupid and said I was never going to get one.
I bought one on day one.
Rene Ritchie of iMore:
The “iPhone 5S” problem is the idea that Apple has become predictable coupled with the perception that the next big thing might just come from somewhere else.
Agreed. But it’s also important to remember that the lack of huge, sweeping changes every year is a strength in some ways as well. Ritchie hits on the economies of scale aspect. Another: consumers (and to some extent, developers) already know and understand what they’re going to get with the iPhone. With some of these other new devices, it’s a total crapshoot. It’s “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” versus “new”.
Of course, not changing things or adapting is a recipe for disaster long term. But it’s not really that Apple isn’t changing things, they’re just doing so methodically and sweating out the details as ticks lead to tocks.
I do definitely agree that it hurts Apple in some ways to be too predictable with release cycles. But I also think it would be a mistake to get too cute there. Release things when they’re done. Not too soon, not too late. Product perfection will always trumps timing.
Sarah Perez of TechCrunch on Samsung’s fake-turned-real “Unicorn Apocalpyse” ads:
And the whole point of the commercial series was that Samsung devices helped the Unicorn Apocalypse team work better together to make the game a success.
So is the lasting takeaway from the actual game’s launch, and subsequent suckiness is…what?
That maybe they should have used iPhones?
The ads are great — until reality hits.
Everyone now has a camera in their pocket at all times. That camera is connected to the internet at all times. That camera is capable of being utilized by hundreds of thousands of apps. Those apps all have social graphs that allow you to connect with other internet-connected camera-carrying friends. It’s almost inexplicable that there isn’t a killer social photo album service yet.
And yet, despite many (many, many, many, many) failed attempts, there isn’t. So perhaps I’ll sound foolish thinking that Albumatic is going to be the one. But I’ll be damned if it doesn’t feel like it is.
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Asked by Anonymous
Agree. I wouldn’t hold my breath for Apple doing this soon (I imagine it would require some fairly major design trade-offs), but I’d welcome it. I still have the wireless charging pad for the Pre!
Asked by eveninhisyouth-deactivated20130
iPhone. Without question.
And if you want a specific version, it’s clearly the iPhone 5 simply because it’s the latest one.
