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Comment by _pi | Hacker News Reader

I'd say that Freedom is a good price to fool around, after you break $200 for an iPhone + Contract price, + $100 for SDK, + $1,000 for a basic Macbook for development (AFAIK you can only use Mac to develop for iPhone) you've got a $1,300 investment. I'd think that anyone serious about writing a iPhone program would do it after spending that much capital, however not everyone is willing to spend that much cash to fool around. The difference is that after that level of monetary involvement people want to make it back, or just want to make a product (IE, I spend $1,300 on nothing). However it stops people who wish to make a serious product but don't wish to be so financially involved.

IMO, Android hasn't really launched yet, and Google isn't pushing hard enough to counter the iPhone.

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That Macbook can be used for many other things besides iphone development. In fact many developers I know already have a mac so for them it is $0. And unlike the random BestBuy laptop that you can get if you don't like the macbook you can actually sell it and get a good chunk of money back.

Point taken, however financial involvement is still needed. Not only that but I already have a damn computer why should I buy a different one because you decided to lock development to one platform?

Also interesting tid-bit, I've found that resale value on Apple PC's is sustained only by the fact that they're stylish. The resale market has thrived with Mac's more-so because they're an expensive commodity rather than a commodity whose value deprecates at a slow rate intrinsically. It's the same reason why recent (5 yr old)CISCO routers and switches keep price as well.

I agree there is a good amount of stylish that sells the laptop, but there are several other factors:

  - The apple hardware runs OS X.  Looking to have OS X, but without buying new hardware this is a very well known route.  Not only that, but OS X runs pretty well on  yesterdays hardware.  Can't say the same about Vista.
  - The apple hardware is pretty well known.  If I am selling a macbook you can easily look it up to see if that model supports X, or can be upgraded to Y.  Can't do that as much with random Windows laptops
  - People don't go looking on ebay for a lenevo T61, they do search for macbook.  More buyers, better price.
  - The mac hardware is usually pretty good which helps at resale time.  gig networking, wifi, cd/dvd burner etc have all been in every laptop I have sold.
  - And of course, factor X which is the fact that people actually want to have a Mac laptop, be it because it is cool or the fact that it just works for so many things.

I am probably missing other factors, but I can tell you this: This spring I sold my G4 667 laptop (from 2002!) and still got $350 dollars for it. I don't know if I could get over $50 for a Windows one.

The Mac Mini is a cheaper development box.

Okay so say 600 + 200 + 100 + contract, still well over a thousand for what the kill you with on a contract.

$300-$400 on eBay.

The point is even if you get everything used and at eBay pricing, you still have to buy the SDK and you still have to be financially involved.

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