Smart Phone Apps, Dating Fees Added To UK Inflation Measure

silvercar

Famous enough for a wiki entry!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angry_Birds

and trailer,

http://www.rovio.com/index.php?page=angry-birds

You can even buy cuddly versions,

http://www.firebox.com/firebox/search?searchstring=angry%20birds&tc=1

Lokolo

Angry Birds is popular with us games programmers.

It makes more money from the adverts than it does from app sales

Cleaver

PasturesNew wrote: »

Need two baskets now then:
- regular cost of actual living/staying alive
- cost of living for people who spend money on tat

I would put smart phones in the first catagory. For everything they allow you to do, they are remarkably cheap and pretty much everyone has one nowadays. They're not 'tat'.

The wife and I spend about 0.8% of our net joint income each month on servicing our 'smartphones', which I think is great value. Our council tax is over 2%, so I know which I feel I get better value from.

PasturesNew

Cleaver wrote: »

I would put smart phones in the first catagory. For everything they allow you to do, they are remarkably cheap and pretty much everyone has one nowadays. They're not 'tat'.

The wife and I spend about 0.8% of our net joint income each month on servicing our 'smartphones', which I think is great value. Our council tax is over 2%, so I know which I feel I get better value from.

Maybe everyone in your neck of the woods has one, but not down here near Lands End, where it's rural and people are poor.

0.08% is a lot. On an income of, say, £1000, that's £80/month. Surely you got your decimal point in the wrong place.

I pay about £8-10 for my old phone. I make about 10 calls/year and I receive about the same. I send about 15 texts a year and receive about the same. Often there's not even a signal where I am in these parts.

Edit: Ah, no, I got my decimal point wrong. 0.08% of £1000 is £8. Well, that's what I pay for my old phone, without a contract.

My phone: http://www.cellular.co.za/phones/nokia/2001/nokia_6310.jpg

Cleaver

PasturesNew wrote: »

Maybe everyone in your neck of the woods has one, but not down here near Lands End, where it's rural and people are poor.

Not really 'everyone', but I think they are pretty much becoming the norm for most people when they upgrade their phone.

On this forum (not just you Pastures) we seem to equate having an iPhone or HTC as some form of very expensive, extravagant, flamboyant statement about lifestyle and that having one must be a drain on the finances.

I was on Orange on a standard phone and wanted to upgrade to a HTC (smartphone). As long as I signed up for a 24 month contract they were prepared to give me a free phone and an £18 a month bill for a load of texts, calls and internet use - basically more than I ever come close to using each month.

I know that every pound is vital to a lot of people, but we're talking a weekly bill of around £4. It really isn't that expensive to run one of these things.

PasturesNew wrote: »

I pay about £8-10 for my old phone.

So mine is only £8 a month more than yours, which isn't that much. When they upgrade me (again for free) in a few months I will sell my old phone on eBay, probably for around £50 - £100, so this offsets the costs further.

PasturesNew wrote: »

My phone: http://www.cellular.co.za/phones/nokia/2001/nokia_6310.jpg

I used to have that phone! Along with 90% of the population I think. Cracking little unit. If you don't want apps, internet, camera etc. on your phone then there's no need to replace it.

I work away from home a lot and value having access to my friends, family and e-mail on the move so like to be able to access my googlemail, facebook etc. when away. And whilst I'm not exactly Gordon Gecko, I do trade shares so I like to be able to have a quick check of the markets and buy / sell shares when I'm around and about. I also use mine as a sat nav, which is pretty handy.

So as I said before, I think £18 a month is cracking value for what I get out of it. But fully understand that not everyone needs or wants one.

thescouselander

Probably the reason people don't bother with smart-phones near lands end is because the network coverage is pants so you cant use the features as easily - I don't think its anything do do with being poor.

I think the term smartphone is a bit of a misnomer. The phone is the feature I use the least - I view my smartphone more as a computer than a phone and use it as such. You cant compare a smartphone to a normal phone because they are completely different things.

lostinrates

My mobile died ...had it less than a year I think....and I'm considering not replacing....but it could be a very bad business decision. As yet undecided.

DH has a blackberry for work and is always cursing it, and my dad is always huffing and cursing under his breath at his I phone....I don't need more stress in my life.

I'd rather do internet things on a bigger screen anyway

Cleaver

lostinrates wrote: »

I'd rather do internet things on a bigger screen anyway

I'd never sit and surf the net on my phone, especially if there was a normal PC or laptop available. It's more useful for those moments when you need to use the net but aren't near a PC.

I actually used it yesterday when my work suddenly sent me to London and I needed to book a hotel whilst on the train. Dead handy for that type of thing and, as sad as it sounds, I couldn't live life without a smartphone nowadays.

michaels

Oops - I had a sony ericsson p800 in 2002.

I now have the Orange San Francisco - for 80 quid you get a camera, music player phone etc and it can play live tv for the kids in the car when they are bored browse the proper 'net etc

And as for contract costs - I go cashback so pay about minus £2 per month (inc quidco) for 600 mins unlimited texts and 'unlimited' data - can't understand why anyone would pay to have a phone contract.

The on topic bit: I think in times of falling real incomes people probably cut back on 'luxuries' and spend on 'essentials' and if these essentials are the things that are going up most then the headline inflation is likely to understate what most people are experiencing. For example yes all the fridges and American fridge freezers that we were buying two years ago are getting much cheaper but actually now our spending patterns have changed to food, petrol and utilities.

lemonjelly

Cleaver wrote: »

I would put smart phones in the first catagory. For everything they allow you to do, they are remarkably cheap and pretty much everyone has one nowadays. They're not 'tat'.

The wife and I spend about 0.8% of our net joint income each month on servicing our 'smartphones', which I think is great value. Our council tax is over 2%, so I know which I feel I get better value from.

Really? You get more value from the smartphone than the local provision of refuse collection & recycling? Libraries? Social Care? Local parks & open spaces? Highways? Leisure centres? Education facilities? The local police and fire service? Your smartphone is better value than all this and more?