Free iPhone 4 Cases Will Cost Apple About $175M

Giving iPhone 4 customers free cases will cost Apple about $175 million, Apple executives said during a conference call with Wall St. analysts.

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Leander Kahney is the editor and publisher of Cult of Mac, and author of three books about technology culture: Inside Steve’s Brain, the New York Times bestseller about Steve Jobs; Cult of Mac; and Cult of iPod. Leander has written for Wired, MacWeek, Scientific American, and The Guardian in London. Follow Leander on Twitter @lkahney and Facebook.

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Posted in Apple, iPhone, News |

james
Good. I wish it were more pay for your sins, evil one!
Me
They ummmmm, should’ve thought of that before they designed it the way they did.
SiliconTlaco
Auch!!!!!!!!
Mark
Real cost make the cases are under $1.00.
JD
Yeah…about $1.00.
Sooo, do they really think they are going to sell 175 million iPhone 4′s?
if so… $175M should be pocketchange.
Maybe my math is off. But assuming the ‘bumpers’ cost them $15 each (which isn’t so). And they sold 10M iphone4′s by September 30th (highly unlikely).
That still only puts them at $150M.
Plus, you should consider that the bumpers cost them LESS than $15 each…and there is NO WAY they will sell 10M iphone 4′s in the next couple of months.
Something doesn’t add up.
Jesper
But also consider that theyll have to buy cases of other companies since you can get other cases than the bumpers.
Casegate
I wonder if they are also considering the profit they would have made if they sold the cases instead of giving them away?
Ryan
Brief but interesting.
iFanboy
It’s not, cost: 1 dollar times 175 million
A big part of that sum is admin and POSTAGE
Nordin
In my opinion the real problem is that when would somebody ask the real question, when apple is going to fix the iphone 4 problem, when would they make a real fished working product and not cover it with a stupid bumper
Figurative
It will COST Apple $175M in LOST Revenue.
It’s not just the cost it takes to make the cases.
Sheesh.
Figurative
Please Nordin… Take your silly FUD elsewhere.
Yes, there is a problem for a tiny percentage of users who are also located in poor reception areas to begin with.
This so-called problem affects other cellphones too – but in those instances the problem has been kept in reasonable perspective.
I’m sure Apple will continue to improve their product, but in the meantime this problem is a meta-problem that has been blogger and media generated. It’s also fueled by stock-shorters and competitors who realize an economic gain by bashing Apple over a trivial problem that affects a few thousand users (out of millions).
The vast majority, like me, love their iPhone 4 and have no problems with reception at all.
Dennis
That’s a drop in the bucket of Apple.
http://www.mpthemes.com Nick Zhu
This will be a blow to apple?
http://www.thecasewarehouse.com TheCaseWarehouse.com
It’s also a shame about the delivery times of these Cases,I mean come on guys 3-5 weeks or at worst 2-3 months is just not acceptable. If you can’t wait that long you will just have to buy one.