Someone could say the same thing about your phone or gadget of choice. There's no need to call people stupid just because their preference is different to yours.

Surely the question should be, is any phone worth £450?

Iphones are not the only phone that are priced in this band, and yet when this question arises it always seems to be apple focussed- why?

The smart phone market is a three horse race according to Nokia & that does not include Research In Motion.

Funny how the BlackBerry is the most popular smart phone in the UK.

Perhaps I should have said 'commit an act of stupidity by paying £450' , I could have said 'More money than sense', 'Fashion victims', 'Living in ga ga land spending that on a phone' or something along those lines. Happy now?

No need to be obtuse.

I bought an N900 for £500 when it first came out. It is still a real beast and probably still one of the most under-utilised handsets on the market, but in hindsight "gadget fever" got the better of common sense.

Apple is an "easy target" with a bit of a history of premium pricing. I think the iPhone is priced about right compared to its peers, but some Apple computers are, shall we say, much less competitively priced than similar-performance alternatives.

That's not really any less insulting. Maybe you'd do well to refresh your knowledge of the Digital Spy Acceptable Use policy.

Can we play nice people? People may have different preferences in smartphones but that doesn't make them stupid or their choice in phone any less or more valid. If people didn't have different preferences for phones, there would only be one manufacturer and network

To answer the OP £450+ is a lot to pay for a phone (though not these days as phones get more advanced and it's not just iPhones that can cost this much) but if someone wants to pay that, it is down to them. Not to mention a lot of people would have got their phones subsidised by the network on contracts

You certainly picked the right user name. Did you spend £450 on a iPhone?

No. I didn't.

Just checking

Good boy.

Again, like others have said, it really all goes on what YOU want out of a phone....

Personally, no - I don't think that price for an iphone is worth it - no way ! But - and here's the "but" - I don't want a phone like the iphone as for one I detest touchscreens and secondly I want a phone that I can safely use for a good few days without having to keep on charging it. That's what's important to me - hence why I wouldn't even look at a iphone/HTC/Sony etc..etc..

In the end I went for a Blackberry Bold 9780 - this cost me £349 on PAYG - alot of money - but there again it does what I want - I only have to charge it about once per week and it had a great physical keyboard, fairly decent camera, good music player and loud ringtones... so although I accept that £350 on PAYG is still an awful lot of money for a handset, it fits my bill - therefore I am happy with it and I think, for me, it was worth it....

Whilst I have download some useful apps for it, obviously these aren't a touch on the iphone apps - but there again - these just don't really interest me at all. I am one of those rare people who really want a phone to be a phone upmost and foremost - but with the added convenience of a fairly decent camera and music player tagged on - I know the iphone is "all singing and all dancing" but - again, personally, couldn't give a monkeys about all of that!!!!!!

As I say, all comes down to what you want from a phone....and then I guess if you can afford it!

No. My Sony Ericsson (running on Android) for £130 does the same as my fiancees £450+ iphone and then some.

I think for pretty much any tech, if you add up the cost of the parts you get far less than the purchase price of a device but that's not the point. For me, the iPhone is worth the money because:

- I think iOS is pretty simple to use and slick
- it syncs with my Mac seamlessly
- it has a good app ecosystem
- call quality is good (for me) and battery life is better than I expected from a smart phone

You could of course, say all of that about Android phones too. My partner has an Android phone and that works just as well as my iPhone I think. My view is that iOS has the edge but others' mileage may vary.

I spent £200 on mine on a contract with 3. I like the data plan which was why I switched from O2 and went with them.

The difficulty with the iPhone is not just the premium price (the 32GB iPhone4 is around £700 SIM Free) but that when you opt for one the networks give you less inclusive minutes/texts for the same price per month as a similarly spec'd smartphone. So you don't just pay more but also get less and have to pay a higher monthly subscription to get the same package deal as an alternative phone make.

Add to the above the deliberate policy of making users return their handsets for battery replacement which costs a lot of course and the iPhone whilst an attractive user experience has lots of drawbacks to consider.

Apple did a good job creating the smartphone market but their greed looks set to sideline them as Samsung, LG, HTC and Chinese companies produce alternatives at more affordable prices. Nokia are committed to producing lower cost Windows Phones soon too so Apple will have to produce some very novel new models to keep their market share.

Overall you pays your money and takes your choice but I think the profit margins Apple now make from the iPhone are excessive when compared with alternatives of a similar specification.

Don't understand your first point at all - if i buy sim free I can choose from any tariff on any network (obviouslydifferent on contract, but this thread is discussing SIM free pricing).

I had a Blackberry Bold 9700 and went to iphone 4 and can't begin to describe how much better the iphone is. I haven't been able to put it down since I've had it I think its worth the price tag

the iphone isn't worth the money on a purely technical and value for money level, but Apple keep their products at a higher price than their rivals to keep their brand's perception of exclusivity and desireableness, plus they know people will happily pay the higher cost for their products - its a similar sort of model to the luxury handbag model. Apple's massive profits show how big their profit margins are.

This business model will only work though if Apple can keep their brand at this level. In the near future eventually there will be a bit of a backlash against Apple, its what happens to all massive multinationals eg MacDonalds, Microsoft etc.

£612, actually, under the current VAT rate. £599 under the old VAT rate.

It's worth it for those willing to pay for it, but for me personally, it's far too expensive.

Other manufacturers offer products that are 99% as good for a lot less money.

Still a lot when you can get a Samsung Galaxy S 16GB for £367 compared to iPhone 4 16GB at £510. Then there is the is issue of expanding the memory on the iPhone.... you can't easily!

Another laugh is the price of iPhone accessories. £26 for a bit of rubber to stick around it! Who are they kidding? I know there are plenty of compatable products but why do Apple have to be such a rip-off.

Still I dare say if you have lots of money then £15 for an additional USB cable is nothing to be too bothered about. (I bet they import them from China for less than 50p each).

why would you spend £510 on a payg phone and be locked to 1 provider for a few months when you can buy sim free from apple direct or instore for £499 and have your choice of tarrifs

i've just sampled 6 different blackberry 9780. all 6 had different defects that were not worthy of keeping. all 6 went back to the reatilers involved. current qc coming out of the 3 blackberry plants is pony. you wouldnt get that from apple. yes you pay premium prices for apple products. but you certainly get your moneys worth.

It was brilliant pre planned marketing to an ever willing audience..