I appreciate the attempt to transform the price difference into layman's terms, but in this case, it only serves to obscure the issue and understate the amount of money saved. I'd be willing to bet that a minority of those buying these phones is making the average tech worker's salary, and converting to "number of hours it takes to make up the difference" just muddies the waters further.

Stick with your original $480 number, which is the actual TCO difference for as close as you can get to equivalent plans. 480 bucks might not be much to the guy pulling in $78k, but it's still 480 bucks. If I saw 480 bucks sitting on the ground, I'd bend over to pick it up. If one phone is 480 bucks cheaper over the long run than another, it's relevant to my purchasing decision. And I *am* one of those lucky folks who are in the ballpark of the "average tech worker" salary.