Why Android smartbooks will eventually be free

If I have to buy an expensive subscription from a 3G provider then the machine is anything but free.

Obviously he's referring to Price, not Freedom.

if the contract is payable per month, then people will go for it. If they have to buy a laptop//netbook at $250 cash , it hurts them more in the pocket, or better, they feel it harder at that moment.

Here where I live, nearly all laptops get sold over a one year pay-of periode. Bottom line: contracts go...cash doesn't.

Don't forget where I stay, $500/600 p/m salary is average , not $5000 like in the states( including benefits )

> ...not $5000 like in the states( including benefits )

That depends on where you live. In some areas in the US, it's only about $2500/month, and that's family income, not individual income.

It's not free as in price or free beer either. The price is just built into the monthly contract. I'd bet you end up paying one heck of a high premium price for the netbook in the end. This doesn't fit any definition of free I'm aware of.

Oh, and yeah, there are lots of less than brilliant people who will go for it. No doubt about that.

true

It is free in the sense that if you take a 3G plan without receiving a subsidized machine you usually pay the same price than when you receive a machine. In you subscription there is anyway an amount of money that is used to pay for "client acquisition costs" i. e. the money the operator spent to get you to sign the contract. That money usually covers advertising and subsidized machines. What these offers allow you to do is to reclaim some of that money.

It's like saying that roads are free: they are actually paid by your taxes, but since you would pay taxes anyway they end up being free, the state would simply spend the money somewhere else if they didn't pay for roads.

Quoting:if you take a 3G plan without receiving a subsidized machine you usually pay the same price than when you receive a machine.

That may not be and likely won't be true. In many of these cases the "free" equipment requires a more expensive plan than if you don't take the equipment. It also usually requires a long commitment locking in a high price when, as we've seen in the past, prices for mobile services drop over time as newer services are developed.

It is true that subsidized machines are usually for the most expensive 3G plans, but if you intended to take one of the biggest plans anyway, then it's free. Also this could change in the future as the machines become cheaper. The contract length is a more annoying issue: what happens if you want to change operator before the end of your 3G contract? For mobiles some operators have a plan where the consumer can pay some money to have the plan terminated early and still keep their devices. I suppose that something similar could be worked out for Smartbooks. In that case the machine would indeed not be free anymore since you would have to pay part of the machine price.

Robert Heinlein comes through on this one:

[shout]There ain't no such thing as a free lunch!!!![/shout]

Everything, everywhere, obtained by someone, costs something at some level. Even the fruit of the apple tree involved someone picking it and washing it.

With a 100% discount on a computer after you sign a telco contract, the vendor is taking a hit on the profit margin in order to make the sale, but thanks to the commission from the telco, the vendor still makes a profit. And the telco makes a profit by locking you into a contract for something that costs them a lot less to provide than what you're paying.

All the costs can be accounted for. None of it is free (gratis). It is foolish to think otherwise.