[3GScottishUser]

Its interesting looking at SIM free phone costs. You can get a Nokia N80 for about £400 - a little less if you shop around.

But wait a minute.....

I was in Tesco today and they have an Acer 15" Widescreen laptop with 40GB HDD, Wireless Networking, Modem, TV-Output, 256MB of RAM (Expandable), DVD RW Dual layer drive, Windows XP Home and Works for £299!!!

Now if Acer can provide all of that via Tesco for that price there seems some considerable opportunity for the mobile manufacturers to reduce retail pricing...

What do you think?

[hecatae]

http://www.mobiletoday.co.uk/content/3174.asp?men=1&sub=2


Sales have been lower than expected for the highly anticipated Nokia 6233, leading to a substantial price drop and leaving distributors with a surplus of stock.

The handset's price plummeted by about 25%, from around £210 to £160 since its release late last month.

so trade price is £160, retail price for 6233 is?

google results

£220 to £245.95

Yes i'm sure prices will go down, the day networks stop locking handsets

[Hands0n]

I have always said that the retail price of handsets does in no way reflect the factory door price. It does not in other industries either. Mass production will reduce the price of the most complex of technology to a minute fraction of what the retail price will be.

A good example is the current trend in the 32" LCD TVs. Prior to the World Cup these were retailing for well in excess of £1,000. Today a 32" Samsung or Hyundai LCD TV can be had for around £550. Interestingly the Wholesale price for the same is £220 - still a handsome profit by any measure.

So, given that Mobile Phone handsets of the N80 ilk are in the £400 bracket, that would place the Wholesale (not factory gate) price at around £90 using a similar profit margin. Factory gate prices would be a fraction of even those, given that each step in the chain wants its 450% profit.

I'm not entirely sure why the pressure of competition has not made its way into the SIM-free handset market. Perhaps it is still too exclusive - I do not know of many of my peers and associates who would fork out for a handset independently of a contract. Especially as the handset is bundled into the contract price.

I think anyone buying SIM-free is being ripped off, big time. The market [price] has come about precisely because of the networks locking down handsets. So relatively few are sold in comparison to the MNO outlet that, to the manufacturers, SIM-free buyers are but a blip in the chart. Insignificant.

Could that change? Extending Lifestyle choice into the Mobile Handset arena may well do something like that. Catering to faddiness (i.e. the Chocolate) may well light a fire, but the price at the moment is utterly wrong by many 100's of percent!

[freddyg]

Its interesting looking at SIM free phone costs. You can get a Nokia N80 for about £400 - a little less if you shop around.

But wait a minute.....

I was in Tesco today and they have an Acer 15" Widescreen laptop with 40GB HDD, Wireless Networking, Modem, TV-Output, 256MB of RAM (Expandable), DVD RW Dual layer drive, Windows XP Home and Works for £299!!!

Now if Acer can provide all of that via Tesco for that price there seems some considerable opportunity for the mobile manufacturers to reduce retail pricing...

What do you think?
Wel I was in Tesco on Sunday (Edinburgh) and saw no sign of a £299 Acer laptop! You sure you didn't just dream that up after having too many sherries one evening? lol.

[3GScottishUser]

No Tesco offer two Acer laptops right now at my local branch - one at £299 an te other at £449.

Both 15.4" Widescreen, the more expensive model has crustal lcd screen, 80GB HDD, and 1GB Memory. Lower cost model has 40GB HDD and 256MB memory. Both have Wi-Fo.

Sdaly neither are on-line but are definately in-store and they also have a Lexmark scanner/printer/copier for £39.97...

No sherry purchace or consumtion required to buy the above.

[Ben]

Lol, I've seen some pretty cheap machines in Tesco myself of course. Not that any of them are actually worth buying, a bit like Three's ZTE!

I do agree that handset prices in the retail space need to fall, though. I don't understand why Nokia isn't being more competitive on its own online store to undercut all this 'grey market' SIM-Free stock.

[hecatae]

6233 is down to £195 already, 6234 is £129 @ thelink website on payg.

[3GScottishUser]

£129 is realistic when you look at SE V600i and Samsung Z140 really.

[Yssybyl]

As I'm sure I've said before, the N70 made back its worldwide development costs within a month of general release (when it was about 600 quid SIM free) the way current trends are, mobile manufacturers need to recoup costs within the first few months or not at all as the next new shiney thing is out (unless they are very lucky and have mass appeal) It is this demand that is driving prices just as for the flat screen TVs and HD decoders atm

Basically, if we stop buying then the prices will fall :)

but we're all gadget freaks, so we ain't gonna do that :P

[Hands0n]

Interesting comparison with Flat Screen TVs - I've just ordered a Hyundai 32" DVB-T HD-Ready yadda yadda yadda for a shade over £600 delivered! These things are commodity items already!

I do think that, while they do indeed need to recoup dev costs, the reality would be that they could recoup them certainly and easily within 12 months if they were priced (SIM free) more in reach of the average person's disposable. The high prices for SIM free put these handsets out of reach of the vast majority of buyers who, inevitably, opt for a contract-supply option. No doubt the manufacturer wins anyway, so the perceived need to reduce prices is not apparent. But I still maintain that the manufacturers could carve a market out for themselves, independently of the mobile ops, in the lifestyle area (a handset for each occasion!). It is somewhat happening despite the retail prices for SIM free - they are sitting on a powder keg of opportunity but not exploiting it.