The phone costs RIM $203 to manufacturer, that's raw parts. Take cheap labor into account $225. (I'm not sure how much time is spent to make one phone.) Regardless... Rim needs to make their money. So they sell it to Verizon for $400. Verizon sells it $500 to make their money. (Full retail without contract.)
Yes, RIM gets a small percentage of the data package's price. (Less than 10%, exact figures are around here somewhere, I think it's more like 5%.) This helps the upkeep of their network as all the data services on the phone are routed through RIM as well as provide a little bit of income.
Now verizon sells it to you for $200 when they paid $400. Average plan with data for a blackberry is approx $100. With that two year contract, you do the math. ($2400) That isn't exactly what they make when you take out network costs. (Each tower costs between $75,000 - $200,000 to build, the land is usually leased, so that adds on to the cost.) So in reality, they aren't making as much money as you think they are. It still pays for the phone, pays for the network, employees/operating expenses and lands a small bit of the original sum in their pockets.
verizon not making as much money as we think?...Didnt realize Verizon was a philanthropic endeavor...Yawn at the pseudointellectual drivel that is rampant on this forum
