AT&T and How it Fits Into iPhone 3G

I’m tired so only the most important details:

  • Existing contracts will be replaced by new 2-year contracts, regardless of when you signed up.  This is pretty much what happened last time.  It’s like this perpetual relationship with AT&T.  Every time an iPhone comes out, you’re stuck in 2 more years of purgatory.

  • A $199 iPhone means subsidies which means you will only be able to buy the iPhone from AT&T, apparently.  No more purchases in Apple Stores, including the online store which is now pointing buyers to AT&T.

  • The “unlimited” data plan goes up by $10 per month and Apple is no longer getting any monthly cut.

  • There is no “no commitment” price now.  You can’t just walk into the AT&T store and plunk down $500 and walk out with a phone.  No 2-year contract, no phone.

  • Since you will buy the phone in the AT&T store, you will also activate your phone there.  This plus the above point should eliminate completely the use of iPhones on other networks other than AT&T (at least in the United States).