Very interesting analysis

Sorry, but this is old news, inaccurate news, and just lame. What exactly is the point of this?

Any cellphone you buy is going to cost you at least $960 per month for 450 mins ($1400 in monthly service fees for the more likely chosen 900 mins). Plus the cost of the phone and activation fees. Say, at least another $50 even for a free phone (activation, taxes, etc)

If you're going to calculate an iPhones cost that way, then you have to do the same thing for any phone you're buying. Additionally, the debate is meaningless unless you're in the market for a device that is at all similar to the iPhone in capabilities. That narrows you down pretty much to the Palm Treo 700 or any of the Blackberry devices.

Let's price out a Treo Wx from Verizon with the same logic: $499 for the phone, $39 for taxes, $100 rebate and $100 online sale available = $299 for the phone (though the discounts are after taxes. Okay, you're saving $200 up front, but wait, let's see what service options are required.

Hmmm...minimum plan is 450 mins for $79.99 per month. The same plan for iPhone is $59.99. Interesting. Okay, so my 2 year contract with Verizon is $1896. So, with the iPhone I'm going to save $20 per month ($480 per 2-year contract). That's just about the price of the phone isn't it.

So, compare the figures in the post:

iphone
$599 iPhone x 8% sales tax ($47.92) = $646.92? $60 required cellular plan $5 (taxes & fees) x 24 months = $1560
= Total cost: $2,206.92
Treo
$499 - $100 sale = $399 x 8% sales tax ($31.92) - $100 rebate = $330.92
$80 required cellular plan $5 (taxes & fees) x 24 months = $2040
= Total cost $2370.92
DOH! Oh, oh, the iPhone's actually CHEAPER than a heavily discounted Palm Treo - and I promise you, anyone who's owned both will never ever pick the Treo over an iPhone. So, you get the sleeker sexier device with similar functionality for $164 over the life of the contract. Seems like a no-brainer to me.

Oh, and wait, Verizon will cancel your account if you try to use your "unlimited data" to stream audio or video. Wow...the iPhone ENCOURAGES you to stream audio and video, and has YouTube built right in. Thumbs up on the Treo for faster CDMA data speeds than EDGE, but what good's all that speed if you risk losing your account for streaming?

Like most of us who were interested in the iPhone we thought of this before we started to say we wanted an iPhone. Sure it is alot of money but can you user that iMac anywhere to listen to music and make phone calls? THe iPhone is also good because it is making other cell companies work to make cool phones.