"Elmo P. Shagnasty" <elmop@nastydesigns.com> wrote:

>In article <13o53o0omormhab@corp.supernews.com>,
> "Joel Koltner" <zapwireDASHgroups@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>> Historically contracts were used by carriers to recover the costs
>> of phones, which tended to cost much more than most people were willing to
>> "pony up" for. In other words, the marketing guys figured out it's easier to
>> sell a phone for $39 and then have them subscribe for, say, $40/mo than sell
>> a
>> phone for $239 and subscribe for $30/mo.
>
>So explain why I picked up a couple Verizon InPulse Samsung A870 phones
>at Walmart for $50 each. I'm *sure* they're worth more than that.

I'd be surprised if they cost more than $25 to make, but exact cost
information doesn't seem possible to get. Many people claim that
phones really "cost" the $200-$500 that carriers charge, but I don't
believe it. Why would phones be the only consumer electronics devices
that don't have a huge markup?