[telecom] Smart Phones

Moderator's note: I copied this post from another forum I read, with the kind permssion of Mr. Braun.

I saw the Obama administration weighed in on one aspect of affordability this week: after another government agency declared that lawsuits by carriers against consumers who unlock their under-contract phones can go forward, the Administration accepted an online petition protesting such policy and declared that such lawsuits are lunacy. Net effect: zero.

Sometime last year a major news organization (I think it was ABC) announced that the build cost of an iPhone is US$8, which if true means the markup is over 98% of the inflated price. Last week's Time magazine devoted its entire news section to a single 24,000-word piece about the so-called chargemaster, which is the computerized price list used by hospitals to compute bills.

Welcome to the modern price-gouging economy. Profiteers are finding ways to corner many markets and jack up prices by ensuring that consumers pay for things indirectly, blunting the effects of comparison-shopping.

If you want better/cheaper mobile phones and service, alas you have to escape the boundaries of the USA to get beyond the reach of profiteers.

-rich

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Posted 5 years ago by Rich Braun in General Telecommunications Forum

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