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July 22, 2011 9:28 AM PDT
The pitfalls of buying an iPhone 3GS
With the $49 iPhone 3GS, you get what you pay for.
Consumers should think hard about whether the $49 iPhone 3GS is worth the purchase.
Now more than two years old, the iPhone 3GS is still a hot seller thanks to a steep discount offered by Apple and AT&T. It's a brilliant move by both companies: Apple gets to tap into a new base of price-conscious consumers, while AT&T gets to sign up even more customers to its pricier data plans.
But it may not be the smartest move for the consumer. The iPhone 3GS offers a slower processor than even mid-market smartphones in the market. Its older design means it can't take advantage of features such video calling on FaceTime, and it is unclear how well it will run the next version of iOS; older iPhones have been notorious for running into trouble when they upgrade.
Still, people want their iPhones, no matter what the form. AT&T said yesterday it activated 3.6 million iPhones in the quarter. While the company doesn't break out how each iPhone did, you can be sure the lower-end version provided a healthy boost. Verizon Wireless, which only sells the iPhone 4, said today it sold 2.3 million such smartphones in the period.
The pitfalls of buying an iPhone 3GS
With the $49 iPhone 3GS, you get what you pay for.
Consumers should think hard about whether the $49 iPhone 3GS is worth the purchase.
Now more than two years old, the iPhone 3GS is still a hot seller thanks to a steep discount offered by Apple and AT&T. It's a brilliant move by both companies: Apple gets to tap into a new base of price-conscious consumers, while AT&T gets to sign up even more customers to its pricier data plans.
But it may not be the smartest move for the consumer. The iPhone 3GS offers a slower processor than even mid-market smartphones in the market. Its older design means it can't take advantage of features such video calling on FaceTime, and it is unclear how well it will run the next version of iOS; older iPhones have been notorious for running into trouble when they upgrade.
Still, people want their iPhones, no matter what the form. AT&T said yesterday it activated 3.6 million iPhones in the quarter. While the company doesn't break out how each iPhone did, you can be sure the lower-end version provided a healthy boost. Verizon Wireless, which only sells the iPhone 4, said today it sold 2.3 million such smartphones in the period.
Read full story here: http://news.cnet.com...-an-iphone-3gs/
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