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• A billion-dollar weekend for Apple

  Posted Jul 08 2008, 04:11 AM by Kim Peterson
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  Filed under: Apple, wireless, AT&T, Kim Peterson
  Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money

  

  Apple's new 3G iPhones go on sale Friday, which means that after months of little to no revenue from phone sales, Apple will finally be milking the iPhone cash cow once again. We could be seeing a billion-dollar weekend for the company. Still, while Apple is primed for a massive launch day -- 22 countries will participate -- I expect a bit of chaos will reign, at least in the U.S.

  The problem is that iPhone buyers will have to buy and activate their phones in either an Apple or an AT&T retail store (AT&T is the iPhone's exclusive carrier partner in the U.S.). That's a strategy intended to prevent people from unlocking the phones and reselling them. If you've activated a cell phone in a store recently, you know it can be a huge pain. It takes 10 minutes at least to get through the paperwork, the credit check and the back-and-forth yadda yadda before you walk out the door. Even if AT&T makes the iPhone activations as pain-free as possible, I foresee lines of disgruntled shoppers who are tired of waiting.   Read More...

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• Comparing the iPhone's 'true' price

  Posted Jun 12 2008, 09:41 AM by Kim Peterson
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  Filed under: Apple, AT&T, Kim Peterson
  Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money

  Oh, sure, Apple's new 3G iPhone sounds great at $199, but AT&T is going to pile on a two-year contract, a voice plan that starts at $39 a month and a data plan that adds $30 on top of that. And if you want text messaging, it'll cost you another $5 a month. It all adds up to $1,975 over two years, and Gizmodo takes a look at how that compares with other phones.

  Turns out the price isn't that bad. The original iPhone costs $160 less, at $1,815 over two years. But three other 3G phones cost more. AT&T's HTC Tilt costs $2,075, Sprint's HTC Mogul costs $1,955 and the XV6800 by Verizon comes in at $2,175.   Read More...

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• Answering your iPhone questions

  Posted Jun 10 2008, 09:53 AM by Kim Peterson
  Rating:
  Filed under: Apple, AT&T, Kim Peterson
  Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money

  We've had time to sleep on Apple's iPhone announcements, and today people are coming out of their Steve Jobs-induced euphoria and looking a little closer at the news. Apple shares steadily crept up today but have recently begun falling to $185.03 at last check. I'll round up the latest iPhone discussions and answer some of your questions below.

  Barron's has a collection of analyst reaction to the 3G iPhone. Most of them say that buying AAPL is still a good idea. Analysts were mainly concerned about Apple dropping its revenue-sharing model with carriers, which could bring lower profits. Bernstein Research estimates Apple will sell the iPhone to carriers for between $350 to $700 each. PiperJaffray expects 12.9 million iPhone unit sales in 2008 and 45 million in 2009.   Read More...

  Discuss ( 37 comments) 23,435 Views Digg this | Email this | Link to this