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Case Study: iPhone from Fido vs. iPod Touch and a Cell Phone

I was wandering around a mall here in Ottawa (and learned that is what retired people do as well, not just unemployed folk), while my wife shopped for a new snowsuit for my 3 year old son. I did what every other husband does (ok most husbands) do in this situation, I wandered away and looked at something I was interested in.

I wandered over to the Fido kiosk (Fido that is now owned by Rogers now) and talked to the young gentleman who was shilling (selling) the iPhone.

Now as background I have always wondered whether it is better to keep my current cell phone (or better still go for a cheaper pay per use phone) and buy an iPod touch (which is essentially the same technology as the iPhone) or should I buy the iPhone.

An iPhone from Fido with 16 GB of memory would cost me $299, however this is before I turn it on. A 32 GB iPod touch would cost me $409 from Best Buy, which already has more memory than the iPhone. The difference in price is about $110 right now, before I start using my iPhone (I can already hear my wife wondering what is he doing, we can’t afford an iPhone).

My current cell phone costs about $45.00 a month or so, but it does not include data. The two packages available from Fido is either for  $60 or $75 a month to use the HSPA 3G network with my iPhone. This means to recuperate the $100 price difference is about 8 months (if I go with the cheapest Fido plan).

For me, the choice is obvious, don’t buy any of this, since I am unemployed and this kind of discretionary spending is completely off the scale, however, if I did have a high paying job, I would buy the iPod touch and find a cheaper cell phone to use. No, in my model with a cell phone and an iPod touch, I don’t have a 3G data access for my touch, as I would with the iPhone, however, I do have Wi-Fi access with both devices, which is fine for me.

My only question is, who is buying the iPhone? Is it a toy or is it a business tool? Is it a status symbol or a piece of advanced technology? (it’s not advanced technology, everything in it is pretty old hat).

I also have come to the conclusion I need to go and find a cheaper cell phone plan, although I suspect with the coming competition, it may be much cheaper, much sooner.

Feel Free to Comment

  1. I recently went through the same decision process. I ended up buying a refurbished 32G ipod touch and keeping my existing cell phone. Only pain point I’ve found is when I’m listening to music and can’t hear the cell phone ring.

  2. I’ve seen a few people with iPhones instead of blackberries at meetings. Seems a lot of them are going on expenses. Wish I could swing that!

  3. I personally bought a 8GB iPhone from Fido just to flip it, and bought a 16GB iPod Touch with the profit.

    Longer version: I wanted to sign up for the $17.50 plan from Fido to reduce my cell phone cost, which comes with 3-year contract. Since I have collected $100 FidoDollars over the years and have no intention to buy any new cell phone from Fido because they’re all locked, I decided to use find a way to utilize all the loyalty points.

    With a 3-year contract on the cheapest plan available, I bought the 8GB iPhone–the phone with best resale value–for $249, with only about $180 out of my own pocket. Initially, I thought about keeping the iPhone for myself, but signing up for a $30 data plan for 3 years totally defeated my original goal to slash my cell phone bill. Instead, I turned around and sold the iPhone for $500 cash.

    I bought the 16GB iPod Touch in the States when the loonie was stronger, and with various discounts from Amazon it worked out cheaper than buying it in Canada even before tax. The “reason” I bought it (other than lust) was to provide portable entertainment when I’m in labour. (OK it was totally lust.)

    As for WiFi coverage, Bell offers free WiFi access to its ADSL customers, at least at Starbucks locations. While it is mildly inconvenient to log in whenever I need to use WiFi at Starbucks, the lack of omnipresent data coverage didn’t really bother me.

    The one complaint I have against the iPod Touch is its location service. Unless you’re at a public hotspot, it can never seem to locate where I am–consecutive location requests would jump from Kitchener to Guelph to downtown Toronto, but nowhere near where I was. The iPhone, with its A-GPS built in, does so much better in this regard.

  4. I’m not a pro-apple person, but my girlfriend has an Iphone through rogers and it is absolutely a game-changer. Your comment about the technology in it being ‘old hat’ is, bluntly, way off base. Sure, the individual components may have been done before, but there is no other device on the market that accomplishes as much and as ridiculously easy as the iphone. The gps/navigation/maps alone is worth the price of entry. We do a lot of long trips and it’s great to be able to pull out the phone, hit up locly (an app that uses gps to find events, stores, restaurants, etc. near you) and find great local spots to go.

    A touch / cell combo may sound cheaper in theory, but now you’re hauling around two devices, one of which is effectively useless in replicating many of the iphone features unless you have wifi coverage.

    I wasn’t a big fan of the iphone concept, especially the accompanying (and ongoing) pricetag. Once I started using it, seeing it’s capabilities, it’s a no brainer.

  5. Good comments CJR that is the kind of info I am looking for. I think I’d love an iPhone if I didn’t have to pay for it, but as Michael James pointed out I am a bit of a techno-junkie too.

  6. I have an iPhone 3G. I use it mostly for work. It honestly changes how things are done for me. If you have it in your budget I would highly recommend it.
    However, I wouldn’t have it if my business did not pay for it. An iPod TOuch is very similar in form and function. You can’t go wrong with the Touch and a cell phone. I am very happy with my iPhone though. Just don’t drop it. The screen breaks fairly easy.

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