Hammer of Jobs

[kickaha]

Okay, if true, this is just freaking sweet. Jim Cramer is a screaming madman of a stock analyst who has a huge following. He's usually right, too. (Well, for some value of usually that is greater than your average stock analyst, which admittedly isn't saying much, but he tends to have the right info at least...)

From http://www.thestreet.com/_mktw/funds/realmoneyradiowrap/10334546.html

Cramer said AT&T (T - news - Cramer's Take) is one of the most interesting stories coming out of the tech period. In its call, the company made it very clear that it's going to use Apple's (AAPL - news - Cramer's Take) iPhone to get customers from Verizon Wireless (VZ - news - Cramer's Take) by giving away its service for a year and a half to those customers who buy the phone.

I'd heard yesterday that AT&T neé Cingular was planning on using the iPhone as a cudgel, but Holy Hand Grenade of Cupertino, this isn't a cudgel, this is a smart bomb.

Suddenly that $500-600 price tag looks cheap... and so does $86-87 for AAPL stock.

Comments

[jason0x21.livejournal.com]

Even with some of the cheapest plans, that makes the phone effectively free. Probably to the point of also buying out my Verizon penalty.

Then again, 18 months is about a generation in cellphones. The 2-year contract is sort of optimal w.r.t. cellphone life cycle.

So, what happens at the end of two years when you have to get a new iPhone and there's no free ride?

Also, 18 months is plenty of time to get you hooked on all sorts of pricey "services".

So is there an process for certification of software add-ons?

[kickaha.livejournal.com]

Yup, yup, no idea, yup, and dunno yet. Exec comments have indicated that they have plans to, but nothing has been announced.