Iphone price vs ps3 price disscusion  

Personally, I was wondering this myself. It all just depends on how the media is slanting it.

cellphone (Especially apple phone) = trendy pop culture

Videogame console \\= trendy pop culture

The Apple marketing machine is second to none. That's all there is to it. If Sony could market half as well as Apple, everybody would have Vaios, PS3, and SXRDs.

From everything I've read, the iPhone shouldn't be all that impressive, just very, very pretty. The public at large doesn't want substance, they want pretty. 2 words: Paris Hilton. All looks, no substance.

There actually is a lot of substance to that iPhone. My brother got one and it is very impressive. Overall, a solid piece of equipment, especially if you're an Apple fanboy.

Marketing

Not silly at all. What phone is just like the Iphone. What game systems offer what the PS3 is supposed to offer? Still wondering.


Answer: games

Not to mention in 2 years time you'll feel like an outcast if you don't upgrade to the iPhone2, whereas the PS3 will have a shelf-life of 5-6+ years.

You can theoretically use the iPhone anywhere, while you have to use the PS3 at home in front of a TV. People are already used to paying $300-$400 for a high-end iPod, while most folks have never spent more than $200 on a console. The iPhone works all by itself, while the PS3 requires a spiffy HDTV setup to get the most out of it. Cell phones aren't seen as kiddy devices, but according to the unwashed masses, game consoles still are.

It's not hard to see the reasons, even if they don't hold up to scrutiny.

- Jer

I feel like the iphone is nothing more than a little toy for the obsessive apple fan boys and people that think it will make them look cool. It isn't a real "smart" phone and if you are a power user or any business man in general it is probably more of a pain in the butt than anything...

I'm just not a fan of apple... well I take that back, I'm not a fan of the people that feel apple is a god send and without everything apple they would die. haha. It also doesn't help seeing the iphone EVERYWHERE... on TV, computer, newspaper, magazines...

I think it can be broken down into 3 major reasons.


1) The first reason being use. People dont mind paying alot of money for something they tend to use alot.

How many times a day do you use a cell phone?

How many times a day do you use a gaming console or movie player?

If you bought an Iphone today.. it has the killer apps included right now for you use. A big complaint of the PS3 is that killer apps or great software isnt available yet. If the Iphone didnt have the killer apps (Itunes, browser, OS) and was just another pretty touch screen.. it would be any near as popular as it is now. As someone said before.. the Palm phones have had touch screen capability for years now.

Also what do you need to use every feature included with a iphone. Basically nothing.

What do you need to use every feature of a PS3. And HDMI cable, HDMI 1.3 receiver, 7.1 setup, and 1080P tv.

To get the full PS3 experience you need another $2000 in electronics.

To get the full Iphone experience you only need a monthly service plan.. which any cell phone already has.



2) Reason number two would be geniunely impressive features that are unique.

The iphone has no other phone that has the set of features it has. LG has a Prada labeled touchsreen phone, but it still doesnt have the Itunes connectivity features and capabilities. And still doesnt have the webbrowser and media capabilities. Hell even a regular Ipod doesnt have the Itune capability the Iphone has. You browse through album covers using the touchscreen.. and tap the screen to play and view information about the media.

The PS3 has a major competitor thats cheaper, more popular and has many of the exact same features. The PS3 really only has 1 unique feature and thats bluray.




3.) Id have to say Bling factor. Bling meaning how much cooler do you look buy owning the product.

Apple products are usually cool by nature. So people are willing to pay a premium for it just to be cool. There are plenty of MP3 players available that are cheaper and work just as well an Ipod.. but because of the "cool" nature that goes with owning an Ipod alot of people want to pay extra for that. The iphone is without a doubt the coolest product Apple has ever made.

The PS3 on the other hand.. does have coolness about it. But it has also recieved alot of negative press. You could almost argue its cool to say or spread negative things about the PS3. In other words its "cool" to hate the PS3 right now. The other thing taking away from the PS3 is the PS1 & PS2 were no way near as expensive so it has sticker shock.

As I said before all Apple products come with a high premium.. people are used to paying $200-300 for a phone and $200-300 for an Ipod. And you could also argue 99% of the millions of Ipod owners also own a cell phone. So to combine the 2 devices makes their life easier and makes the price somewhat viable.

You cant make the same argument for the PS3. Probably less than 1% of the Millions of PS1 & PS2 owners own a standalone Bluray player. So combining a bluray player and a playstation isnt any as close of combination in popularity as what you get with the combination the iphone offers.

So far I am very happy and still impressed with all the ps3 does. I currently stream music and video's off of my PC across the house and it works great. Blu-Ray works better than great and hasn't froze once on me during playback.. I like the XMB in menu features and know they plan a lot of improvements over time. Stability is rock solid and a few years ago I couldn't have dreamed of owning an all-in-one entertainment center quite like it..

My best friend got lucky and bought an iphone. At first I thought it was silly to be spending that much for a phone, however after using it, it has some impressive features. My favorite is when you recieve a missed call or a voice mail message, it lists them for you so you don't have to sit thru one by one all the messages before getting to an important one. It's still missing internal GPS, voice activation, and better bluetooth wireless capabilities for me to get more interested. However it is a very cool device that is very quick/responsive which makes me wonder what proc power it has underneath.. I will wait until the second generation iphone comes out before spending that much on a phone..

But that isn't the point. Thats great it works for you now what the point of the thread was how come the Iphone is popping off at $600 dollars vs the PS3 at the same price. Again what is offered like the Iphone today vs what is offered compared to the PS3. The 360 offers similar features as the PS3. At a lesser cost.

iPhone is an overpriced and a completely incomplete phone. You can barely call it a phone. I really do feel sorry for the suckers that actually bought one.

It costs apple $220 to make the 8GB version and it's selling for $600. You do the math.

I feel sorry for some that come on here and complain about no games for the PS3 after buying it.

I think that the biggest difference is the core demographics for the iphone and PS3. Apple sold 1 million at launch and have aggreesive expectations of selling 10 million by the end of next year. Similarly in an article I have read, Apple's plan is to sell 100 million A YEAR by the year 2010 (worldwide). That being said, at this moment in time, the 'heavy' user base for the iphone will be older (thus have more disposable income) than the PS3 heavy user (gamer, younger and rely on others to buy them the 'toy'), AND iphone include females likely as much as males vs mainly males for PS3. Similarly, many people have bought Ipods for the last several years, and many people have paid upwards of $400 for them. Now several yeras latter, its time to get the 'new' ipod that will do video as well (iphone will do that well) . Also, spending a lot of money on a phone is becoming the 'norm' as if you remember 2 years ago, the Razr came out and was going for 250-300. Spending a 'little' more and getting a mobile computer, ipod, 'cool' gadget is not far fetched. Blu-ray player is still a niche market, next gen gaming is still a niche market as children still play their PS2 and gamecube, and now the Wii. Plus we all accept that phones are 'recyclable' every 2 years, and it has become part of our 'bugdet' (considering that one will have to get a data plan with the monthy phone charge, one could be spending upwards of $1000/year on iphone bills). That being said, spending $599 (or $399, or $199) is really not that big a deal compaired to the usage charges.

The bottom line is that is is a mindset. It is acceptable to spend that kind of money on a phone, but not acceptable to spend that kind of money on a 'toy'.

iPhone - $600
Calling plan - $1200/yr
Watching your friends laugh when you have to send you non-3G phone in for a battery replacement - Priceless

I had no problem spending $600 on a PS3 because I know the games will eventually show up and the shelf life will be at least 5 years.

Paying $600 on a neeto phone that will be replaced with a cheaper, better version in less than a year is straight up fanboyism.

I don't need an ipod/phone combo. I'll wait for the 30gb widescreen/touchscreen iPod that will probably be half the price.

I think of my iphone and my ps3's as toys, but my iphone is much more important to my day-to-day existence as it relates to my job. My ps3's are just luxuries. The price for the iphone was acceptable for me b/c I can afford it, but it is going to be a lot easier for me to feel at ease when I write off my ihpone on my taxes. My ps3's -- not so much...

I feel sorry for the people who feel the need to feel sorry for a purchase someone else made.

As people pointed ouy before is a mix of a) how much you use it: (many more use their cellphones everyday than gaming), b) Portability: the ps3 looks cool but you need to invite people over on the other hand you can carry the iphone with you everywhere and showoff c) Coolness, person with iphone = cool, person with gaming console = geek

I love when the early adopters of one group act all haughty and bag on the early adopters from other groups. The latent Apple hatred/jealousy is almost as amazing as the ridiculous ps3/360 fanboy battles.

Why can't we just enjoy our purchases and not feel the need to act like dicks about other people's choices?

AMEN

Seconded.

Come on, I know there have been lots of times when you were talking on the phone and thinking "Damn, if only this thing played music!"

I just think it's ironic how the $600 telephone is the media darling and the $600 game console/blu ray player is "overpriced."

A perfectly valid point. And there are a number of reasons that come to mind. Foremost among them (IMO):

1) Phones/PDA's are used in the daily lives of much of America's working world, particularly just the kinds of people that write articles and report the news. Gaming consoles, OTOH, are generally used by their kids. There is an inherent bias that you're gonna see when the adult population will actually USE one toy, but will mainly think of another toy as an expenditure for the kids.

2) Apple has made major inroads w/ popular culture w/ the ipod and itunes, and is VERY chic w/ those that work as reporters and members of the media. There's an inherent bias there as well.

3) The format battle and console battles really end up forcing a choose-this-side-or-the-other mindset. Folks like me that have the wii, the 360, and the ps3 always end up feeling like orphans in the pissing contests. In phones, OTOH, there are a million players in the market, and no one seems to be as blindly attached to their providers or phones. For whatever reason, people become personally invested in their consoles, while phones seem to engender a much more logical and practical approach. Does it work? Does it do what I need it to do?

4) The pricing issue is an interesting one. Part of it has to do w/ the perception that Apple is high-end hardware, and there is an expectation that high-end hardware is expensive. Sony, OTOH, has a number of products that are just plain cheap. And, while I would argue that the ps3 is truly the highest of high-end hardware b/c of its capabilities, there is still the basic misconception that 'a gaming console is a gaming console,' when the ps3 is truly so much more.

5) The Blu ray thing. Not too many people are fully on-board w/ HD formats, and even fewer are able to use them to their fullest capabilities, whereas pretty much anybody w/ a pc can do all of the neat things that the iphone is capable of.


Just my $.02 on the pricing double standard.

Thats just it. The PS3 is not overpriced. On the contrary it is the best value of for a consumer electronic item maybe ever!

But mindlessly repeating what the idiots at Joytsiq, Kotaku, etc. are blabbering is a self fullfilling prophecy.

Remember the media LOVES to crown a King and then root for the scandalous fall from grace. Doesn't matter if it's celebrities, companies, products.

They crowned the Palystation brand the "world beater", and mega hyped the PS3. Then when it didn't meet their expectations (depsite strong sales relative to their "world beating" PS1 and PS2 machines), they piled on. Where are the AAA mind blowing games, man.

I know some will say that Sony created the unrealistic hype and it's their fault. WRONG. MS did the same marketing hype (lucid dream, etc, etc) and they were still given the benefit of the doubt when the games were basically up scaled Xbox games, becaue the press knows that it takes TIME to develop great games that will harness a console's power. Where was the outrage over the 360 not producing the amazing next gen experiences right out the gate? Companies will always over hype their product, but "journalists" should know that and judge a console on the reality of the situation (dev time, etc.).

You want to talk about hypocrisy, where is the outrage that the 360 has not been "next gen"? Come on now. Where are the lucid dreamlike games blow me away games. We don't talk much about how underwhelming the quality of the games has been overall in the context of the Next gen lucid dream visuals. Thats because the media is busy tearing down their "King", the playstation brand.

Gears of War had amazing textures, but it was really short, so so draw distance, and it's not liek a "next gen" amount of things are going on screen at any one time. Besides that game, there are no "oh my god, th enext gen is here" type games visually.

But you never hear any journalist question MS, "when are we gonna be blow away?"

Botton line: It is not overpriced. The media has repeated it so many times people just assume it as so. Wow, $100 more than a 360, plus you get BLU ray playback, HDMI 1.3, etc!

Why aren't the media piling on MS fro not including HDMI, badmouthing it, then doing a 180 and coming out with a more expensive machine with HDMI! There were a few notes here and there, but not a constant drumbeat of attacks and snide comments, and jokes.

And they didn't even include HDMi 1.3!! You would think they would be crucified for that as well.

Where is the next gen experience on the 360, to justify $500??!!! It's just a pretty paperweight.

Wow you just keep reaching don't you When deep colors are available on Hi-Def disc then brag to me about HDMI 1.3

Amazing- It's not enough to rag on the 360 in this forum, now you have to piss on Apples head over a phone that's in a completley different product catagory JUST because it and the PS3 both happen to be $600. Are PS3 owners really that insecure?

Apple has an awesome Marketing department (I'd love to work for it after I graduate), but also, the iPhone provides instant gratification. You can walk into an Apple store and instantly pick up an iPhone, flip through your music, take calls, use SMS, and watch a movie (all while surfing the internet). With PS3, you MIGHT see a demo at a store, but unless you really have researched it (not like us, but like the standard Joe Consumer who simply goes to the store to buy something without doing online researching in blogs), you don't really get to see what it's capable of. PS3 doesn't have instant gratification. Personally, I have the iPhone, it's an amazingly capable device, and I am buying the PS3 next month, because it's an amazingly capable device.

Cysquatch - It's not "fanboyism" to buy a device that fits a person's needs. If you dont' want an iPhone, don't buy one. We don't want to hear your justifications for why OTHER people who buy it are "fanboys". If anything, the term applies much more to the video gaming platform, since most "average consumers" don't blindly walk into a store, and end up purchasing a $600 game console. Compare this to Apple, where I spoke with many regular people (not tech junkies) who were in line to buy the phone because, after using it, saw it did everything they needed a phone to do (email, video, wifi browsing, google maps, etc..). Get over yourself.