Android [LWN.net]

Android

Posted Jan 7, 2010 23:51 UTC (Thu) by marcH (subscriber, #57642)
In reply to: Android by drag
Parent article: Looking forward to 2010

> No carrier in the USA forces anybody to do anything. People volunteer for it since they can do things like get a 600 dollar phone for 200 dollars.

Same in Europe.

> Once you agree to a contract then it's a contract.

Merely signing a contract is not enough to make its content legal. If some country decides for consumer protection that phone contracts can never, ever be longer than 1 year, then you can sign whatever you want and legally cancel the contract after 1 year. I guess that's what Zenith meant about the 6 months limit in Denmark.

Although at a much different money scale, such a consumer protection law is similar to... forbidding subprime loans: a very strange idea implemented in some European countries.

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Android

Posted Jan 8, 2010 17:31 UTC (Fri) by giraffedata (guest, #1954) [Link]

But aren't there common products in the US that are offered only with 2 year commitments? ISTR AT&T/Apple sell their i-phone that way.

I think the laws in the US differ on the ability to have long term phone service contracts. I know for a while at the beginning of the wireless phone era, in California it was not possible for a consumer to commit to any phone service at all in exchange for a handset.

BTW, I think it's misleading to view it as getting a $600 phone for $200. Even California sales tax law doesn't look at it that way -- the sales tax due is based on a $600 selling price (CA sales tax applies to hardware, but not phone service). The healthy way to look at it is as a phone service bundle that includes a handset and 2 years of service, with a $200 upfront payment and the rest spread over 2 years. As opposed to buying them separately, which involves a $600 initial outlay.

I'm not entirely sure why companies that offer month-to-month service demand the same monthly price as for the bundle, but it may be because they expect service prices to go down over the next two years and it may be because they expect customers to switch around and it costs lots of money to re-acquire a customer. IOW the commitment itself is worth $400.