Yes it is. Unless Verizon knocks 400 off the cost of your contract for the following two years. It is a bad decision. You're paying a price that factors in a subsidy that you're not using. That is flushing 400 dollars down the toilet, essentially.
If you're happy with the phone you have, the smart move economically is to buy and sell the new phone. Buy the phone the 650 dollar phone for 200, sell on craigslist for 500, keep the 300. Otherwise, you're flushing money down the toilet by paying a monthly rate that factors this in without pocketing the money.
Mac products are cheaper than comparable products from other merchants. There are countless quality articles about how other vendors cannot match their low prices in tablets, sub-notebooks, etc. In notebooks and desktops, Apple products are competitively priced with similarly spec'd machines. You're misinformed.My boss still uses his old Droid because it's in good shape. He likely will not upgrade until the next time he wants to leave the country (provided I don't just loan him an old, global-ready non-smart phone). If my old Droid didn't blow up in the earthquake, there's no way I'd have a new phone right now. P is looking at the world from the perspective of the privileged assuming that everyone will "have" to have it. Problem is 14 million people are out of work and buying power of most Americans is decreasing. You're right. An iPhone is a luxury as are most Mac products as they cost significantly more than comparable PC products. Luxuries are the first things to go.
Smart phones are a luxury to you, perhaps, but to the average consumer they're looked at as an essential part of life, which is why sales are blowing up. Right or wrong, it is what it is.
Microsoft doesn't make hardware. I'm not at all worried about Samsung. There is space for competition. They make okay products because they blatantly rip off Apple software. They have to be able to sell their products in America to make money in America. Amazon will be the chief competitor long term to Apple due to the infrastructure they have of delivering content, but at this point they're way behind the game and would take a lot to catch up.Apple has the program to donate to schools, but so does Microsoft. And from this morning's paper: Analysts expect Amazon will be releasing a tablet, possibly by year end, as a lower-cost alternative to the iPad. And an interesting story on Samsung that it's probably best to pay attention to before counting your dollar signs. http://www.washingtonpost.com/busine...WJK_story.html
Apple will dominate the tablet space. There is no doubt about it. Amazon can sell non-useable tablets for 300 a pop and try to make the money in content, but schools are not their market.