What would you pay for an unlocked N900?

[penguinbait]

Just wondering what you would pay for an unlocked n900?

[zerojay]

http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=31050

[penguinbait]

http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=31050

I am aware of this poll, mine is different though, ;)

[penguinbait]

allnameswereout, I probably should have said, what the most you will pay, I guess you will pay any amount. I should have put in first born child as an option too...

[christexaport]

I think the tablet community is very cheap, and it will be the phone guys willing to buy apps and support the OS with financial investment more than the old blood. What would you guys have paid for the N95, E90, N97, Palm Pre, or iPhone? This isn't the N8xx with a middling processor and a sad camera. I bet this device cost nearly $180 to manufacture, and after marketing, carrier profits, OEM profits, etc, how can they make any money from a $300 lick?? Be realistic, fellas. We won't pay for most of the apps, so at least pay for the device. This isn't a Honda, it's a BMW, and no one else's phone is close. Being King comes at a premium, and $600-700 is standard for smartphone flagship kit of this level. Wake up!

I think this community may be a thorn to the device for lack of recognizing value. I hope not.

[bunanson]

I think the tablet community is very cheap,....

"And 700$ isn't that much money anyway imho" Not really, http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?p=317236#post317236 thread #4.

bun

[sjgadsby]

What would you guys have paid for the N95, E90, N97, Palm Pre, or iPhone?

I'd pay between $10 and $20 U.S. for any one of those in good condition, with all original accessories, and in box. None of them are interesting devices, but it'd be worth $10 to $20 to play with the buttons, blinky lights, and whatnot for a while.

[sachin007]

What is the point of buying an unlocked phone atleast in the US since the n900 would not work with any other 3G other than t-mobile. It is better to switch and get it at a lower price rather than buy it unlocked and use it only for edge.

[zerojay]

...and it will be the phone guys willing to buy apps and support the OS with financial investment more than the old blood.

I think this community may be a thorn to the device for lack of recognizing value. I hope not.

The old blood have been supporting the OS with their time and effort being given freely since 2005. It's because of the old blood that these tablets are more than just a small experiment that died out.

[allnameswereout]

allnameswereout, I probably should have said, what the most you will pay, I guess you will pay any amount. I should have put in first born child as an option too...In that case you should have made sure only 1 choice can be made.

[penguinbait]

What is the point of buying an unlocked phone atleast in the US since the n900 would not work with any other 3G other than t-mobile. It is better to switch and get it at a lower price rather than buy it unlocked and use it only for edge.

Well #1 I am already a t-mobile customer. #2 what?? Why would it only work with T-mobile am I missing something??

[ysss]

The old blood have been supporting the OS with their time and effort being given freely since 2005. It's because of the old blood that these tablets are more than just a small experiment that died out.

So.. you're looking for a (financial) return on your investment of some sort?

[sachin007]

Well #1 I am already a t-mobile customer. #2 what?? Why would it only work with T-mobile am I missing something??

The n900 has WCDMA 900/1700/2100 MHz. So in areas where at&t uses 850/1900 there will be no 3G for At&t users. They have to depend on edge speeds.

[lemmyslender]

I think the tablet community is very cheap, and it will be the phone guys willing to buy apps and support the OS with financial investment more than the old blood. What would you guys have paid for the N95, E90, N97, Palm Pre, or iPhone? This isn't the N8xx with a middling processor and a sad camera. I bet this device cost nearly $180 to manufacture, and after marketing, carrier profits, OEM profits, etc, how can they make any money from a $300 lick?? Be realistic, fellas. We won't pay for most of the apps, so at least pay for the device. This isn't a Honda, it's a BMW, and no one else's phone is close. Being King comes at a premium, and $600-700 is standard for smartphone flagship kit of this level. Wake up!

I think this community may be a thorn to the device for lack of recognizing value. I hope not.

Perhaps today the N8x0 has a middling processor and sad camera. But 2-3 years ago that wasn't the case. Many of the members here paid top dollar when they were new, on par with the smart phones, for a much more advance product.

I paid $299 for a Palm TX and had I know about the tablets, would have gladly paid another $100 to get one instead of a Palm.

I don't think this community will be a bothersome thorn.

[zerojay]

So.. you're looking for a (financial) return on your investment of some sort?

Uh... no. Where the hell did you get that from? My "return" on my investment is seeing this platform - something I highly believe in - succeed.

[ysss]

@zerojay: ah sorry, i was just thinking of something else and when I read your post I made the connection to it:

I saw many remarks about the N900 being too pricey in the polls, and many of them came from the FOSS community which contributed heavily to Maemo's success. What would it be like when a good majority of the community cannot afford to purchase the end products (we'll still wait for community discount, of course) where they'd (naturally) feel the biggest sense of ownership?

And to push this idea further, they're witnessing the 'less worthy users' (ie: iphone crowds, etc) are the ones who can afford the end product and start to propagate their own brand of fanboyism.

[zerojay]

@zerojay: ah sorry, i was just thinking of something else and when I read your post I made the connection to it:

I saw many remarks about the N900 being too pricey in the polls, and many of them came from the FOSS community which contributed heavily to Maemo's success. What would it be like when a good majority of the community cannot afford to purchase the end products (we'll still wait for community discount, of course) where they'd (naturally) feel the biggest sense of ownership?

And to push this idea further, they're witnessing the 'less worthy users' (ie: iphone crowds, etc) are the ones who can afford the end product and start to propagate their own brand of fanboyism.

Honestly, I think that's a scary reality. I'd like to think that Quim and company would make sure something like that wouldn't happen... but with the high cost of the new phone... It's kind of hard to say.

[ysss]

On the other hand, we can't expect them to guarantee the constant affordability (through discount programmes) of all future models (there will be many) to the FOSS community as the community will grow bigger....

...can we?

[danramos]

This isn't a Honda, it's a BMW, and no one else's phone is close. Being King comes at a premium, and $600-700 is standard for smartphone flagship kit of this level. Wake up!

I think this community may be a thorn to the device for lack of recognizing value. I hope not.

I'm pretty sure I remember they tried a similar analogy when they announced the Playstation 3's price up on stage.. and the audience simply stood dumbfounded. Nobody clapped. Someone else (I think a head designer or something) had to come out and TRY to whip the crowd into enthusiasm with very little success at the time.

We still don't see any real Playstation 3 success, even with their most recent price drops and new 'slim' unit. Maybe the company should have been the realistic one. They, too, weren't listening to their own customers and in time have lost all their marketshare in the next generation systems to their rivals and it may be too late for them already. NOW how much would you pay? :) For me, it still comes down to seeing what the competition brings--but so far, I'm not impressed with the price we're being asked to pay for the product being delivered. For the price of a pretty decent laptop or a big television? Naw.. that's okay. I'll wait and see what else comes along.

[klinglerware]

What is the point of buying an unlocked phone atleast in the US since the n900 would not work with any other 3G other than t-mobile. It is better to switch and get it at a lower price rather than buy it unlocked and use it only for edge.

I am a T-mobile US customer, and I would still rather buy an unlocked version of this phone (assuming that it would have the AWS 1700 band of course) rather than a T-mobile subsidized version. Simply put, US carriers are among the worst offenders in stripping their subsidized phones of functionality. Who knows if T-mo will insist on disabling tethering, Skype, and so forth. T-mobile has a significant hand in the firmware updates pushed to their subsidized Android phones. I'd rather not see that same model applied to the N900.

For these reasons, I'd rather spend more money to get an unlocked device that works as the developers intended. A subsidized price is not worth it to me if it means that I am getting a compromised device.

[cesarcesar]

600€ and worth every cent IMHO

[zarf]

£499 and it was so good I bought 2 :)

[scouser]

Well I cant answer in dollars. But I paid £290 for my unopened BNIB Vodafone n900 on ebay. But it isn't locked even though so. In the UK that's quite a good deal.

[Dave999]

500 € , that is what I paid. I would never want to pay more or less than that exact amount!

[Prospector]

what I paid for it? £429