| Profrektius said: England and Japan do offer subsidies (some of the rare exceptions). India doesn't. Not sure about Australia. It is true that in countries where the carrier subsidies don't exist the marketshare of the high end smartphones is lower. I can't be bothered to find sources, but from personal experience in the few European countries I have lived in, there aren't really any options for such contract subsidies. You can take credit to the get the phones but that's about it. Most people buy the phones full price, and if they can't afford the more expensive phones they buy lower end or midrange or simply older models. |
So what you're saying is that in countries where there are subsidies, people purchase modern phones more often, and in countries where they do not most people tend to buy older models and use them longer. That's exactly what I thought. Apple wouldn't be churning out phones every year if millions of people are year weren't buying them, and most of those people are getting those phones with subsidized contracts.
I rest my case here.
| Profrektius said: That is no reason for them to avoid doing this. If they believe they will benefit from it, they will do it. Also I could see them trying some kind of subsidizing model for consoles as well especially in the USA. Bundle it with some subscriptions for 2 years and they'll subsidize part of the cost. |
Microsoft did that with the X360 and quickly cancelled it. It turned out to be a disaster.
