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Lower-Income Buyers Snatch Up iPhones

Increasingly, consumers are turning to the iPhone for music, Web browsing and calls

By Jim O'Neill,  Newser User

Posted Oct 30, 2008 8:00 AM CDT

(Newser) – Lower-income households are snatching up iPhones at a faster rate than their more financially flush counterparts, reports the Wall Street Journal, potentially attracted by its multiple uses—and single fee. By relying on the “Swiss-Army knife kind of device” to make phone calls, listen to music, and access the Internet, consumers save on the cost of individual gadgets as well as broadband connections.

Households earning between $25,000 and $50,000 showed the largest percentage increase in iPhone ownership over the summer and also outstripped overall growth in mobile web browsing. But others attribute the boom to the iPhone's declining price tag: "You had this device that inspired gadget lust suddenly put within reach," said one professor.

A man uses his iPhone in Moscow, Friday, July 18, 2008.
A man uses his iPhone in Moscow, Friday, July 18, 2008.   (AP Photo/Sergey Ponomarev)
The Apple iPhone 3G up close in New York's Apple Store, Friday July 11, 2008.
The Apple iPhone 3G up close in New York's Apple Store, Friday July 11, 2008.   (AP Photo/Ed Ou)
Apple customer uses an Apple iPhone at an Apple store in Palo Alto, Calif., Thursday, Oct. 16, 2008.
Apple customer uses an Apple iPhone at an Apple store in Palo Alto, Calif., Thursday, Oct. 16, 2008.   (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
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