Apple iPhone

[wolf]

Originally Posted by glatt

How did the market end up having contract be standard anyway? I mean, you didn't have to sign a contract to get a land line. Why for wireless?

I suspect it has to do with the actual cost to the vendor of the phone that you're being given, either for free or for a significant discount. Landline phone service also evolved under different sets of regulations. Cellphones are fancy radios.

I don't remember there being a contact on my first couple phones (I had one of those massive bag phones to start), this was more of an innovation after people other than drug dealers and lawyers started buying cell phones.

[Kitsune]

Originally Posted by wolf

I suspect it has to do with the actual cost to the vendor of the phone that you're being given, either for free or for a significant discount.

That'd be it. People are much more willing to sign a two year contract and pay $50 for a phone rather than no contract and dish out $400+ for the same set. Cellphones are considered disposable, anyway, and people expect to get a new one every two years or so.