"Eliminating carrier subsidies would give Android an extraordinary advantage, and severely disadvantage Apple, IMO."
It's more accurate to say that a world without subsidies would eliminate Apple's huge advantage, rather than giving Android a different advantage. Worse case scenario, Apple has to bring their pricing down to the level of the high end Android phone ($450). Still, differentiation with end users favor the iPhone, obviously, and real competition at that level would commoditize Android phones even worse than they already are. Obviously, all handset manufacturers suffer, as overall sales would drop across the board.
I'm not sure carriers would benefit from the loss of handset subsidies, anyway. They would either have to come up with other ways to incentivize customers to sign contracts (eg. By offering them lower monthly rates), or fight tooth and nail to retain non-contract subs every month. |
