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iPhone 3G Finally Available In US Contract-Free

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the long-time-coming dept.

Engadget is reporting that the iPhone 3G is finally available contract-free if you are willing to pay a much higher premium. Without a contract consumers are looking at $599 for an 8GB model and $699 for the 16GB. AT&T has the added restriction that you must be an existing AT&T customer, but Apple (retail stores only, sorry) will sell one to anyone willing to pay the premium. This change brings the model much closer to the prevailing European model where phones are sold as hardware and the plans are handled completely separately.

4 of 265 comments (clear)

  1. Re:So it's true by ausekilis · · Score: 5, Informative
    Lets do a little math with AT&T's contract
    • $36 activation fee for each new line
    • $175 early termination fee of contract
    • $199 8G iPhone w/2yr contract
    • $411 to get an iPhone via broken contract

    Or I could spend $599 for one without a contract, and still give AT&T a boatload of money.

    How exactly is this a good deal?

  2. Re:So it's true by quangdog · · Score: 5, Insightful

    See, AT&T (and many other carriers) count on the fact that most of the general public has difficulty doing simple arithmetic. When most people are standing in the store holding the shiny new phone, they just can't (or don't care to) add.

    --Kimball
    http://www.incredicode.com/velocity.html

  3. Re:It's funny. In Japan, they can't give them away by je+ne+sais+quoi · · Score: 5, Informative

    Low iphone sales in Japan is FUD to which the blogosphere and the WSJ caught on. In fact, Japan ranks second in iphone sales. Of course the U.S. is where the majority of sales are, but the idea that iphones aren't selling in Japan is the result of somebody trying to manipulate Apple's stock price. It's all exposed here.

    --
    Gentlemen! You can't fight in here, this is the war room!
  4. Re:But why *must* I have an iPhone? by akozakie · · Score: 5, Insightful

    O-kay... Now WHY is parent modded as funny? Fanboy mods probably think that any comment suggesting that some product is better than iPhone must be tongue-in-cheek (with the possible exception of Android).

    Just like iPod never was the perfect MP3 player, iPhone is not and never will be the perfect phone. Sure, for many users, including a couple of my friends, the iPhone is great and nothing comes close, but "many" isn't the same as "all".

    I played a bit with the iPhone. It's fun. It's well designed. It's not for me. I definitely wouldn't exchange my Nokia E61i for it, and that's an old phone now, better ones are available. If I had a choice - get iPhone for free or buy E61, E71, or something like that - I'd reach for my wallet. For me it's far more functional.

    For example - I don't really like touchscreen interfaces, especially with small (<10") screens, multitouch doesn't change this. Typing an SMS or working with SSH is so much faster on a full qwerty keyboard, after you get used to it you can actually touch-type with your thumbs.

    Still, I read articles in newspapers and feel that I'm expected to want an iPhone. Even here on /. it's the same thing - it seems that I should want one. So many interesting designs on the market, but only iPhone and Android seem to get any attention.

    So, the parent was right in both the title and the comment. The iPhone is not for everyone and it is a bit irritating to see it mentioned everywhere and get weird looks from iPhone owners when they show it to you and you say "It's nice, but I prefer something else".

    Unless of course I missed the joke?