The
author's point in this aticle - http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-iphone-wireless-subsidies-20120912,0,7775846.story - is mostly correct.
I would add that subsidizing handsets works in
a similar way with taxation - a few benefit but everybody pays. The subsidies
of the mobile phone companies are eventually costs, "shared" by all
the subscribers of that network - the recovery of the "hole" from an
increase usage of mobile data is made over a long period of time and sometimes the recovery does not come at all.
Subscribers often refrain from using network data in favour of free wireless
hotspots, which are at hand in more and more places (besides, most smartphones
allow to activate a setting which allows downloads and streamig only on a
hotspot).
Another issue is that there is no direct correlation between the price of a handset and its utility. This means that a more expensive smartphone does not trigger more data usage than a lower-price smartphone. The number of applicatons available on each smartphone has a much larger impact on the volume of data.
In the current context, the producers of handsets enjoying high brand reputation enjoy significant market power over the carriers. On the other hand, the carriers may fight back by offering mobile devices under their own brand. There are such devices in the offer of any major carrier. Their role would be somehow similar to the role of the private labels in the retail trade.
On the other hand, the carriers may decide to give up the subsidies on the mobile handsets, or at least of the most expensive ones.
There is hence a major problem here: which network will give up first in this
"arms race"? High-end devices tend to be also "must'have" items, important for marketing purposes too - enhancing the image of the network as promoter of the most modern technology.
From a competition perspective, this issue deserves an in-depth analysis, based on the specific information from the market.
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