plain and simple if you buy the i phone you cannot buy the insurance for it ....any other carrier will offer you insurance on a pda the treo smart phone full retail at 679.99 but with insurance you only pay 95 to replace it, was this at&t doing or apple ? either way it is not good for the consumer i was also advised that if the battery goes bad it will cost 86 dollars and 5 days to send it back to apple ( the entire phone) just to replace the battery !
Two answer your first question, it's neither Apple or at&t. It's the other A.. Asurion. That's who at&t does it's insurance program through and they're the ones that decide what phones are covered and which aren't. To answer the second part of that, why complain about the amount of money you have to spend to replace a part of the iPhone when you already shelled out $499 or $599? That's like the people who purchase the iPhone the complain about being required to have a data plan for it.
That is an Apple design issue and it is going to cause them a problem, especially they will "Loan" you a phone for $29.99 a day while your phone is being repaired for the 3 days. As for the insurance, there are other model phones that can not be insured and most of them are of the higher end models. As Joe stated it's the insurance company & not the carriers that decide this, some people have had success getting their home owners insurance to cover these type of devices, so that is an option. I agree with the battery it was a bad move by Apple & bet the next model with have a removable battery.
Fire, Someone has already filed suit against Apple and att for the iPhone battery issue. The battery is soldered into the phone and inaccessible by the consumer, so they are stuck sending it to Apple. The suit alleges that the battery is good for 300 charges, making annual replacement necessary. Apple says that after 400 charges the battery slowly becomes less efficient. I wonder what will happen (though I am happily watching my small position in Apple stock appreciate!) And I cannot stand class action lawsuits-- seems like the only ones who do well in those are attorneys! AppleInsider | iPhone: class-action battery lawsuit, mass AC adapter failures When you do send in the battery, it is 29 dollars for the entire repair (3 days), not per day. Though still steep for the whole deal....
Yes that lawsuit was already brought up here and it is sad that Apple did this and I believe their next model will have a replacable battery, I was under the impression the lease rate was per day but I could have been wrong, either way it's sad they are doing this. I think Apple will loose the case since it's not part of the normal for cellphones but it all depends on how the lawyers argue their case I guess.
I'm certainly a big Apple fan, but I think it bites that they soldered the battery into the phone. They can protest all they want, but everyone knows it is so they can charge an arm and a leg for replacement. It's amazing that att gave Apple so much control over the iPhone. It is a great device, but with some big limitations. I have several batteries for my phone and have a desktop charger so I always have charged batteries ready. I just ordered a desktop charger for my wife's Verizon RAZR, too. What's one to do with the iPhone? You can say just charge it at night, but what if you use the phone heavily and the battery dies? You are stuck having to recharge. It would not be a big problem if the battery lasted days and days, but I'd think if people are using the internet, phone, and iPod functionality, the battery will die pretty fast. Maybe the next generation one will have some of these issues addressed.
Maybe AT&T was looking at this as a way to get away from Subsidizing phones and is a test? It would be nice, but yes I would like to see them solve these problems & have a removable/Replaceable battery, I have spare batteries & chargers & would be mad as heck if I had one of these phones with a soldered battery.
I was speaking last night to a friend of mine who has the iPhone and I asked about the battery issue. He said it was not that big a deal to him. He figured the life of the phone was longer than that of the battery since in a year there will likely be a much better version (I don't think I will be buying 600 dollar phones annually). If that were true, then factor in that the phone costs 50 dollars a month in addition to service? Seems steep. I suppose at the end of the year you could upgrade the battery. Apple argues that even once the battery starts declining, it won't just die, but just be less efficient. I still think a user swappable battery would be a better idea, especially if one is to use it as a phone, iPod, and wireless internet device. Yes, perhaps att is testing whether people will pay "full price" for a phone, but then I argue that you should not be restricted into using att's service for two years or face an early termination penalty for leaving. You wouldn't face that with any of their other phones if you paid full price... Perhaps it has something to do with Apple, since they are reportedly getting a piece of the monthly subscription?
Yes I agree but until the norm is set, they would test it little by little & see what the responses would be, of course this is speculation but I do wonder if it's part of their thinking. It seems it could be a natural cycle as the networks get built out & we get to saturation for customers, this could be the next step. I still don't know why we went the route we did here in the US vs the rest of the world except we weren't being backed by the goverment.
Actually, its not an assurion issue. Its Cingular/ ATT policy to not offer insurance on PDA/ Smartphones. I have assurion through verizon and know others have it through sprint. I think if ATT offered it, assurion would supply the policies.
Insurance now covers the Samsung Blackjack... so maybe the policies will change for other phones. FYI, if you have insurance on your line and upgrade to a Blackberry/Treo/Whatever PDA and the insurance is not removed from your line at the time then Asurion has to honor the claim if you've been paying for insurance. Of course this does not apply to the iPhone and the insurance premium is refunded entirely to the day that the phone was activated. Just found this stuff out today after speaking with an Asurion rep today, figured I'd let you guys know.
You can get applecare insurance for the iPhone that will extend the warranty to 2 years. If the battery fails during that period they will replace it. It also covers the bluetooth headset and any licensed apple accessories that you bought for the iPhone. Its $69. The only thing it doesn't cover is you dropping your iPhone, so if you do it be careful.
