by Frank McPherson, author of How To Do Everything With Windows Mobile

 
An increasing number of mobile device manufacturers such as Palm, HTC and Velocity Mobile are starting to sell their Smartphones directly in retail outlets that are SIM-Unlocked. This is great because it enables people to get the newest phones faster and not have to worry about whether they can use the phone with their preferred wireless provider.

However, there is a price to be paid for the flexibility. Because the phones are not subsidized by a carrier, they are usually several hundreds of dollars more expensive than the equivalent phones sold by a carrier. I am wondering whether these companies will have much success with selling these phones in quantity. I just don't see $500 and higher phones flying off the shelves of Best Buy. People who shop for mobile phones at Best Buy are shopping for price. Geeks who are willing to pay a premium for the latest and greatest will go to the Internet.

It will be interesting to see whether retail stores like Best Buy will continue to sell unlocked phones at these prices. My guess is that prices will have to come down to generate any type of serious sales, so the race will be on between falling prices and the patience of retailers. My bet is that this is one experiment that is not going to work for HTC.

Labels: 2008, products

posted by Frank at 3:16 PM

1 Comments:

unlocked phones are hard to come by where I live so I am willing to pay a little more for them on ebay. A little, not much more....


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