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Apple's refurbished iPhones retail for $499 and $399

Apple's iPhone has only been on the market for about two months, but the company is already selling refurbished phones to customers with a one-year warranty.

The "Apple Certified Refurbished" iPhones are available online for $499 and $399 respectively for the 8GB and 4GB models. The $100 price cut represents a 17 percent and 21 percent discount respectively.

Apple offers free shipping on both models and says that the refurbished phones ship with 1-3 business days. Apple also offers the AppleCare Protection plan for the refurbished phones at the regular price of $69.

The news of the refurbished iPhones comes right on the heels of the announcement of a second iPhone lawsuit. Sydney Leung is seeking more than $5 million USD in damages from Apple over the cost and replacement of the iPhone's battery. The first lawsuit -- filed by Jose Trujillo in July -- made similar claims.

The price cut should be welcome news to potential buyers looking to get a deal on an iPhone. The full one-year warranty should be enough to entice many buyers who might otherwise be turned off by refurbished devices.

Now if Apple would only cut those tiresome iPhone commercials with the lullaby music...

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How in world
By qdemn7 on 8/20/2007 1:02:52 PM , Rating: 5
Can there be a sufficient supply of refurbished phones to be able to offer them for sale after only TWO months.

Something is rotten somewhere.




RE: How in world
By Combatcolin on 8/20/2007 1:07:30 PM , Rating: 2
Yes, makes you wonder.


RE: How in world
By tuteja1986 on 8/21/2007 12:40:12 AM , Rating: 2
I wonder that if they are even Refurbished because i haven't heard any major hardware compliant. Maybe the iphones aren't selling well and Steve doesn't want to tell the public it ain't selling well by doing a price drop so he just retags the unsold stock as refurbished and also reduce the price by $100 to get it selling again.


RE: How in world
By FITCamaro on 8/20/2007 1:07:27 PM , Rating: 5
Exactly what I was thinking. Thats like seeing a brand new model car for sale used a month or two after it comes out. If there's already a sufficient supply of refurbished ones less than three months after it was released, that tells me something about its reliability.


RE: How in world
By mikecel79 on 8/20/07, Rating: 0
RE: How in world
By TomZ on 8/20/2007 1:32:13 PM , Rating: 5
There's no reason that a "reworked" unit that never left the factory and wasn't in customer hands could not be sold as "new."


RE: How in world
By crystal clear on 8/20/2007 2:00:32 PM , Rating: 1
Appears they are operating a basement store or as they call it in the UK-bucket shops selling heavily discounted airline tickets


RE: How in world
By mikecel79 on 8/20/2007 2:32:49 PM , Rating: 2
While true it doesn't always happen that way. Reworked units are routinely sold as refurbished units. A previous company I worked for marked any units that came off the assmebly line that did not work as defective in their system. They were then sent through QC to evaluate why they were defective. Any that could be salvaged were reworked and then sold as refurbished units or used for warranty repairs.

I'm not saying that none of these are customer returns it's just one possibilty why there are so many they could sell refurbs already. I think if there were a massive amount of defective units being returned the story would have been picked up long before this article came out.


RE: How in world
By retrospooty on 8/20/2007 6:03:22 PM , Rating: 4
no, if it was reworked in the factory, and never owned or used by a customer it would be sold as new.

Refurbs are 2 things...

1. Functional "open box" returns (from people that took it back to the place of purchase within the standard 30 day window)

2. Repaired units.


RE: How in world
By theapparition on 8/20/2007 6:06:16 PM , Rating: 2
TomZ is correct,
Until it gets into the hands of consumers, the device is new. Refurbished units MUST have been sold, loaned, or demo'd.


RE: How in world
By retrospooty on 8/20/2007 6:35:55 PM , Rating: 2
correct... But they not neccesarily broken and then repaired. they can easily be open box returns that passed whatever test. I imagine alot of people buy one try it out and then return it, deciding it is just not worth the $600 LOL.


RE: How in world
By masher2 (blog) on 8/20/2007 9:44:54 PM , Rating: 2
From what I've heard, this is exactly the case. These are customer returns that were received back by Apple, tested to ensure there were no functional problems, then offered up for resale.


RE: How in world
By theapparition on 8/21/2007 5:51:21 AM , Rating: 2
Nowhere did I allude that they were broken, just that they must have been sold at some point.


RE: How in world
By badmoodguy on 8/20/2007 1:31:14 PM , Rating: 2
I'd think they came from the speculators that camped out thinking there would be a demand for them on ebay. There was no market so they returned them and Apple ends up stuck with them.


RE: How in world
By FITCamaro on 8/20/2007 2:37:53 PM , Rating: 2
Heh. Thats a good point. There was a lot of people hoping to make a quick buck off extorting people on ebay who ended up looking like fools. Served them right.


RE: How in world
By Griswold on 8/20/2007 1:31:22 PM , Rating: 1
If theres something rotten with the iphone, its probably the display with its random dead (touchscreen) sectors. I wouldnt be surprised if the refurbished ones are equipped with the same (design flawed) panels as the original one, in order to use up the stock, while the brand new ones get different panels without this nasty habit of going dead after a couple weeks...

Anyway, the return rate must indeed be pretty high if they can offer something like this. Point and case why I'll be waiting for the next iteration of the iphone before I consider buying one.


RE: How in world
By dagamer34 on 8/20/07, Rating: 0
RE: How in world
By Gul Westfale on 8/20/2007 2:04:04 PM , Rating: 2
for them to offer it through their store there must be sufficient supplies to last quite a while; and if the iphone is really selling as quickly as apple claims then 1000 is not nearly enough, especially at a 100 dollar discount.


RE: How in world
By Gul Westfale on 8/20/2007 2:01:30 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
Can there be a sufficient supply of refurbished phones to be able to offer them for sale after only TWO months.

Something is rotten somewhere.


my thoughts exactly. now i just wonder whether these come with new batteries or "refurbished" ones?


RE: How in world
By kilkennycat on 8/20/2007 7:49:01 PM , Rating: 2
My son is on his 3rd iPhone in less than 3 weeks. His first failed because it erratically refused to recognize the presence of the SIM card. The second failed as follows:-

'The second iPhone did not reliably ring when incoming calls came in (even though I would see it as an incoming call), and it also kept losing track of time. Tried firmware restore, etc, etc, but nothing worked. So I took it back to Apple and they replaced it again.'

No hassle from Apple AT ALL. Got a brand-new unit every time. Seems as if there were serious quality control problems with the first shipments. The quantity of refurbished units may be quite large by now.


RE: How in world
By rcc on 8/21/2007 7:03:50 PM , Rating: 2
If there were "serious" QC issues, these and other boards would be screaming. However, I'll grant you that if you, or someone close is the recipient of a defective product of any type the apparent failure rate is quite high. : )


RE: How in world
By mars777 on 8/22/2007 2:53:29 AM , Rating: 2
The failure rate of X360 in the first two months wasnt nearly high as that of today.
Just two months have passed. Boards will scream if its a QC issue but not as soon as now.


iRefurb
By HardwareD00d on 8/20/2007 1:17:35 PM , Rating: 5
Apple already selling refurbs after only 2 months?? Why doesn't that surprise me? iJunk. let the negative ratings commence.




RE: iRefurb
By Razgriz20 on 8/20/2007 1:50:18 PM , Rating: 2
No surprise here. This their first venture into the mobile phone industry so the failure rate would be significant. I guess they should have partnered first with a veteran mobile phone manufacturer.


RE: iRefurb
By crystal clear on 8/20/2007 2:07:10 PM , Rating: 3
And yes they claim to have Re invented the Phone


RE: iRefurb
By Master Kenobi (blog) on 8/20/2007 2:46:58 PM , Rating: 3
Apple claims to re-invent anything they touch, it's all marketing BS.


RE: iRefurb
By crystal clear on 8/21/2007 8:16:04 AM , Rating: 2
The next claim-

"We re-defined marketing"


RE: iRefurb
By crystal clear on 8/21/2007 8:20:35 AM , Rating: 2
Apple themselves claim-

The iPhone is the best iPod we ever made !

So the iPhone is better suited/used as an iPod rather than a cell phone.


RE: iRefurb
By onereddog on 8/21/2007 8:28:26 AM , Rating: 2
That isn't a logical conclusion.
If it is the best ipod it beats other ipod models, being the best ipod doesn't extend over cellphones.

It be like a car manufacturer saying that this is the sexiest SUV that has ever been made, doesnt mean that it is a bad SUV.


RE: iRefurb
By feelingshorter on 9/6/2007 8:17:55 PM , Rating: 2
Man, i would rate you up further if i could! People hardly believe me when i say the iPod is junk.

I used to work at Hollister (pretty much the EXACT type of crowd of young and sometimes rich kids that would buy Apple stuff just to look cool.). And while there, almost everyone had an Ipod, and during casual conversation, they all told me that their ipods keeps breaking. Many people i met had their ipods break 3-5 times, and yet they still come back and buy more! Who buys a product multiple times if it breaks? I would ask them why their ipod breaks and they just say one day it stops working. No reason dropping or any roug handling at all.


Still worthless
By PeteRoy on 8/20/07, Rating: 0
RE: Still worthless
By omnicronx on 8/20/2007 1:00:07 PM , Rating: 2
As is your comment


RE: Still worthless
By TomZ on 8/20/2007 1:07:26 PM , Rating: 5
It's not worthless, it's just that it is worth less to you than the cost. (...and to me.)


RE: Still worthless
By eomhS on 8/20/2007 1:16:58 PM , Rating: 2
by that standard almost everything is worthless (...except maybe the e6600 ;) )


RE: Still worthless
By Etsp on 8/20/2007 3:23:19 PM , Rating: 1
How about a $30 8-port gigabit switch with free shipping after a MIR? http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82...

If you get the newsletter than you can use a promo-code to get another $5 off... $25 for an 8-port switch is good... for a gigabit switch is just great!


Strategy?
By DRMichael on 8/20/2007 3:44:15 PM , Rating: 5
While Apple is referring to these phones as refurbished (I personally don’t believe it), I think that this is a strategic decision to better evaluate the market at a lower price point. Apple may not have met their initial sales forecast. If this is the case, their refurbished sale is a brilliant way to accurately track demand while continuing to skim the first adapter market with the ‘new’ phones.




iSmoke?
By andylawcc on 8/21/2007 12:51:20 AM , Rating: 4
did the Will-it-Blend guy RMA his?




cingular?
By omnicronx on 8/20/2007 1:02:50 PM , Rating: 1
I wonder why AT&T is going back to the cingular name. I guess the NEW AT&T was just not new enough..




RE: cingular?
By TomZ on 8/20/2007 1:09:54 PM , Rating: 2
No, they are not going back to the old name. It's just an old photo. If you look at the marketing on the AT&T iPhone web site, you'll see it's all "AT&T," including the name of the network on the iPhone is also AT&T.

http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/spe...


sales
By AlvinCool on 8/20/07, Rating: 0
RE: sales
By Vanilla Thunder on 8/20/2007 3:36:38 PM , Rating: 2
Really? Right around the corner? Do you have some proof of this, because it's the first I've heard of it.

Vanilla


Value
By Egglick on 8/21/2007 4:17:38 AM , Rating: 2
Considering the cost of the AT&T service you need to pay for, I'd be willing to spend about $75 for an iPhone. Why so much you ask?? Mainly for the music playback features.....which kill the battery and make the phone less useful.




They read it on D.T.
By crystal clear on 8/22/2007 3:35:11 AM , Rating: 2
Its nice to see how other sites read our comments on D.T. & then pick up the news item & give it a good write up & post on their sites.(see date & time)

This is how it started-8/20/2007 12:03:48 PM

1) It started with this-

RE: Owned?
By crystal clear on 8/20/07, Rating: 1
By crystal clear on 8/20/2007 12:03:48 PM , Rating: 1

quote:
AT&T has a 14-day return policy on the iPhone

Now they sell them cheap & maybe even more cheaper sooner or later.-

Apple Certified Refurbished iPhone

2) Brandon Hill (Blog) - August 20, 2007 12:54 PM

3)Apple Offers Refurbished iPhones

By Antone Gonsalves
InformationWeek
ÐÕÒÕáØ 20, 2007 05:57 PM

4)Refurbished iPhones Available For $100 Less
Posted by Eric Zeman, Aug 20, 2007 03:11 PM

http://informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2007...

5)Apple puts refurbished iPhones on sale
By Tony Smith
21st August 2007 00:08 GMT

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/08/21/apple_offe...

5)August 21st, 2007
Apple cuts prices by $100 for “refurbished” iPhones
Posted by Russell Shaw @ 1:04 am

http://blogs.zdnet.com/ip-telephony/?p=2228

The is just a few to name.....




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