What is Digg?142 Comments
- BlindingDawn, on 10/30/2008, -6/+66"The rich keep doing things to make themselves rich and the poor keep doing things to make them poor"
- benjhaisch, on 10/30/2008, -1/+54cause we're all college kids with no money.
- Hodor, on 10/30/2008, -10/+63because they think that having an iPhone would make them look richer/cooler?
- doublefelix, on 10/31/2008, -8/+37Because having a nice iPhone is actually not much more expensive than having a crappy LG on a similiar AT&T (excuse me, at&t) overpriced phone plan.
- BrendanSheehan, on 10/31/2008, -10/+35Jesus *****, the iPhone is a good phone Ok. It not just all about being "cool", "the logo" or "fanboys". It actually is a pretty good phone. There's a heap of great apps and games for it, its UI is excellent and very responsive, and both its email client and web browser are very impressive for a phone. It's a sleek and simple device. Sure it's not perfect, but it is very good. Enough with the hating already.
- InspectorGadget, on 11/01/2008, -6/+29Poor people suck at money management? I'm shocked.
- jamshid, on 10/31/2008, -4/+24Of course Apple marketing has a lot to do with style and image, what do you think successful marketing is about?
But "style and image over utility"? You mean like the utility of having a web browser with you at all times? How usable were mobile browsers before the iphone?
The Windows Mobile browser is equivalent to IE4, that's like 7 years old. And Blackberry thought the only use for a phone was to bring Exchange email to business boys. Recently the Sprint Instinct was released with tons of marketing, but it tanked because it is such a crappy piece of hardware and software.
The iphone changed the mobile industry. Others will catch up of course, but Apple started it by engineering an incredible piece of hardware and software, as unique and game changing as some of the things that came out of xerox parc. - NathanielJ, on 11/01/2008, -0/+18Technically, you *could* burn through it in a bit under 3 and a half hours.
- PeanutCheeseBar, on 10/31/2008, -8/+22People who make lower incomes buying items priced for people who make higher incomes?
...and people wonder why the United States is going into a recession. - financedude2, on 11/01/2008, -2/+14You know food stamps can only be used to buy food, right?
- MrTankJump, on 11/01/2008, -4/+15Well, it is people in the middle class that get screwed by everyone else. The lower class won't get jobs, so they stay on welfare, use up credit they can't pay for, and spend the money that isn't theirs on ***** they don't need, while the upper class skips on paying taxes by going through loopholes that shouldn't exist in the first place.
- sh0rtstop00, on 11/01/2008, -3/+14bought my iPhone refurbished (an one time deal at att online store) for $250, been using T-Mobile ever since but only costs $10 a month cuz my line is part of a family plan. i may look cool using the phone but i have no friends to call or receive calls from.
- inactive, on 10/30/2008, -17/+27Because being tech savy is hip.
All techies have already known most Apple/iphone adapters are psuedo tech wanna-bes.
That's what Apple's marketing has always been, style and image over utility!
- notoneofus, on 11/01/2008, -0/+8You've missed the point of gadgets in several ways. There's always a new one coming out. And, like buying a Chevy, it's an expense, not an investment. Unless you're buying a '68 Camaro.
- Rikkochet, on 11/01/2008, -1/+9If you're in business you're GIVEN a Blackberry. iPhone and BB can easily go toe to toe.
- ruarctb, on 11/01/2008, -2/+9It's a multi-purpose gadget for $200. Its a good deal.
- qwerter, on 11/01/2008, -3/+10How is this about welfare? According to the article, the iPhone became more affordable, and so folks with lower incomes were more able to afford it. Besides, the largest growth was in incomes between $25k and $75k. Not exactly people in the poorhouse. No need for the political non-sequitur.
- DarlokDC, on 10/30/2008, -2/+9yes, because we think that.
- arraz, on 11/01/2008, -3/+9I'm a 'poor' college student and I have an iPhone. Big deal...?
- Chompy, on 11/01/2008, -2/+8Poor people buy ***** they can't afford, making sure that they remain poor, news at 11.
- loconet, on 11/01/2008, -3/+9Low income spending money they don't have, eh..yah, we all know how all _that_ ended up...
- Anim8tor, on 10/31/2008, -1/+7That sounds like the most plausible.
- JoshuaGross, on 11/01/2008, -0/+5Elitists tend to be jerks.
- FatLoser, on 11/01/2008, -1/+6Exactly. That welfare money should be spent on education instead of thrown into the food stamp bonfire. I'm glad we agree.
But the "poor" folk living in $1400/month Section 8 apartments next to me might disagree. - inactive, on 11/01/2008, -3/+8Being poor doesn't preclude you from burning your ***** money. What these morons don't consider is how much money it costs to use one for a year.
- dimension, on 11/01/2008, -0/+4Just because you have zero income, doesn't necessarily mean you're poor. It means you have no income.
I'm thinking along the lines of Mr or Ms Silver Spoon living off daddy or mommy. They have zero income, but can easily afford that BMW or iphone. They might even have a job in which they work a couple of hours a week for less then median. - Eric1285, on 11/01/2008, -1/+5This isn't surprising at all. Wealthy people didn't get that way by wasting money.
I can afford an iPhone. I would like to have an iPhone, because I think it'd be a neat toy. I don't have one though, because I think it's a phenomenal rip off. I will not pay double what I currently pay each month for the privilege of owning an iPhone. - inditech, on 10/31/2008, -3/+7That gets a dig from me. Not a fanboy of any genre, but a perfect comment. I love my iPhone, but not because it is Apple to the core. I love it simply because it is the best mobile I have ever owned.
Sure the battery could be better, but as mobiles move on in technology, but batteries don't, what does one expect? My previous mobile, a rather naff LG Viewty, had a very similar battery life, but a far inferior usability.
I think it is a thing of beauty (for which I expect to be dugg down for), but I have no bias here being a dedicated windows bloke.
It has moved the industry, and that is something that everyone should be eternally grateful for. - tkhan456, on 11/01/2008, -4/+8And this is precisely one of the reasons why the US economy is in the crapper. People no longer know how to live within their means. People think they deserve everything. Guess what, you have to work hard to earn money to spend on stuff like this. If you're making only $30,000, you shouldnt own an iPhone.
- FredFredrickson, on 11/01/2008, -0/+3The iPhone is the thing that put them below the median income.
- wilhoitm, on 11/01/2008, -0/+3I need that iPhone bling! Yo!
- Drizzit, on 11/01/2008, -0/+3Taxes are not "Wealth Redistribution" Over the last 25 years the rich have seen their taxes go from 70% back in 1981 to about 35% today. That's the top tax bracket.
It seems the Republican presidents have largely erased one of the biggest tax pools in history in this country. Clinton managed to raise it back up to 39.1%, but Bush brought it back down.
Source: IRS
Also you anti-redistributors, I would like to see you all sign statements that you will never take Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, or send your children to a public school, or put your children on the CHAPS program.
I would like you to never go into a county or public hospital. Stay off our interstate highways, drink water out of the lake and not the tap.
Fact is that most of the things you use on a daily basis are only there because of taxes and to state that taxes is wealth redistribution is just an example of how gullible 50% of this nation has become. - poxonyou, on 11/01/2008, -0/+3Right. Fantasizing means it's going to happen. We all know homeless people are secretly rolling in dough. This article is about low income folks buying iPhones, not homeless people or people buying them with food stamps. All it suggests is the iPhone is within a low income person's price range and maybe buy it thinking it will make them feel/appear to be more wealthy, or, more likely, think they're getting a good deal overall. It's not /that/ expensive, considering they're getting a phone and MP3 player in one device, and can use it to access the Internet and send emails...anywhere. What other options does a person have? $500 budget computer+Internet($15 dial-up or $40+ broadband)) $100 budget MP3 player. Crappy free cell phone locked into a 2 year phone plan ($60/month+). Or none of the above and feel completely isolated from the world and more depressed about the state of their life?
- huff51, on 11/01/2008, -2/+5maybe if more money was spent on education/extra curricular activities in areas that are known for being "***** wasteful douchebags" this wouldnt be a problem
- WRXFiles, on 11/01/2008, -0/+3Cosmetic surgery is similar. I have a friend who is a plastic surgeon. I was surprised to hear that his largest group of clients are lower income and must either save for years or finance their operations.
- Jrr6415sun, on 11/01/2008, -0/+3most people who own an iphone and have a lower income are students or entry-level employees who will be earning much higher than the median income in the near future. It's not like the poor and people on welfare are all going out to buy iphones..
- poxonyou, on 11/01/2008, -1/+4* Explain please. Are you totaling in the monthly phone charges over 2 years? Phone charges everyone pays. If you're buying it just for the MP3 player and touch screen, it's stupid, but otherwise, it's comparable to the rates you'd be paying on a ***** $100 cell phone for similar service. Also, if you're like many and only use your computer to check a few sites and use email, you can cut out the money blown on a PC and home Internet access.
- BossKey, on 11/01/2008, -2/+5If Apple was all about style over utility, they would not have bothered with building a new, efficient OS from the ground up based on Unix. They could have just become a Windows licensee and made a pretty case.
- Skuzzlbut, on 10/31/2008, -1/+4It is actually valid in that many people respond to "aspirational" purchasing - which is the banking reference to people who purchase on straight credit.
- HigherLogic, on 11/01/2008, -1/+4I'm much more productive with my iPhone than I thought I'd ever be. I never was a heavy phone user, just used them for talking and the occassional text (previous phone was a Blackberry). Never owned an iPod, but now I have one because it's part of the phone. Don't own a handheld game player, but now I have one. Use it all the time for emails as well, and browsing the internet and a number of other things.
I also use it in the car for streaming Pandora or Last.fm, and use the Google Maps for directions and finding stores or whatever else I need to around me. So it can replace satellite radio and GPS system for the car.
It's not _just_ a phone. My work pays for the phone and service as well. And it's a great phone too (and now the first thing I have from Apple). - BossKey, on 11/01/2008, -4/+7No, not necessarily for the coolness. If a single voice and data plan means they can replace a cell phone and a broadband subscription with a phone that uses a real web browser and real email, then they saved money. Also there is no debate that buying a $199 iPhone is cheaper than buying a computer, even a netbook. If you are poor and you need phone and data to stay in touch with kids and to try to get a job, a $199 plus $70/month iPhone can be cheaper if you are starting from zero, not adding it onto the traditional $600 computer plus $50/month broadband plus $40/month cell phone that the rest of us are accustomed to having first.
- NidStyles, on 11/01/2008, -0/+2I agree, I have a Blackberry Pearl, and pay 43 a month for voice and unlimited data. I can't see spending that much for the phone and then the outlay monthly for what I already have, just not in such a fancy interface.
- najackbair, on 11/01/2008, -0/+2The crazy thing is that this country considers making 25,000-49,000 as "poor"! That shows how materialistic and unconnected to reality we are. I am now 33 years old, husband, father of 3 and have lived between 20,000 and 45,000 my whole life. I own a large, 4 bedroom house, have 2 cars, nice tv, and am still able to give a way thousands of dollars every year and I have ZERO debt currently. Am I getting an Iphone... yes, saving up for it and will adjust my current internet/cable package to get it to work in my budget... but it will work. There are people making 6 figures who should not buy an iphone because they have made such poor financial decisions and now their houses are being foreclosed. Learn to live in your means, save money instead of accruing debt, be content with what you have... don't expect people who don't know you to bail you out. Whoops... that just got political... sorry. The poor in our country are still some of the riches people in the world.
- peestandingup, on 11/01/2008, -1/+3If that were true, all their stuff would be junk. It isn't.
- slickwatson, on 11/01/2008, -1/+3no one out here is wondering...
- geodescent, on 11/01/2008, -0/+2win
- miggyb, on 11/01/2008, -0/+2Economic Darwinism? Didn't that cause the French Revolution?
- superkendall, on 11/01/2008, -4/+6Which is why the iPhone ads only show the phones being actually used for various tasks, while other phone ads have people checking themselves out in the mirror finish on the back?
Snort. - reallybigname, on 11/01/2008, -0/+2I'm a PC guy, always have been. But, my boss gave me his old 4gb iPhone when he got the 3G, and I'm way loving it. I've never said that Apple couldn't make a good UI. I just love PC stuff because most people in the world use PCs, and Apple has always kept lots of secrets and limited their market... but, Apple makes good UI innovations. The biggest innovation they made this time was the multitouch stuff and accelerometer. But now, Android will slowly start to beat them - with more functions, more flexibility, and lower cost. I'm sure of it. But, until the "Google Phones" are a bit better, I still have the best phone in the known universe. No other mobile phone browser is as cool to use as the iPhone right now. Apple will lose this battle, but maybe they'll stick around by coming up with the next big UI innovation. They make the first real home computer with the Apple, then the first mouse and mouse-driven windowed ui system with the Mac, oh then they almost died... then they made the iMac, which was mostly cosmetic and had a stupid mouse, then finally the iPod, the iPhone, and beyond...
- Eric1285, on 11/01/2008, -1/+3Seriously. The only thing I can see it really replacing is an MP3 player, which most people have already spent money on.
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