[Drag0n]

Yahoo! News - AT&T to sell iPhone without contract for $599 by AP: Yahoo! Tech



AT&T to sell iPhone without contract for $599 (AP)
Posted on Thu Mar 19, 2009 4:37PM EDT


NEW YORK - AT&T Inc. said Thursday it will start selling iPhones without requiring a two-year contract, but they will cost $400 more.

Spokesman Michael Coe said AT&T will sell the phones starting next Thursday for $599 or $699, depending on the storage capacity. The two models cost $199 or $299 under contract.

The phone company had said in July, when the latest version of the iPhone was launched, that it would sell contract-free phones in the United States. Such phones are sold in some other countries.

The new phones will still be "locked" to AT&T and won't work with any other cellular carrier unless they're modified. AT&T will only activate them on the regular iPhone plans, which include a $30 monthly charge for data access. Prepaid service will not be available.

Apple Inc., the maker of the iPhone, has been selling the device from its stores and Web site, but would not say if it would sell the contract-free version.

Apple is widely expected to release a new version of the phone this summer.

 

[swmtnbiker]

SIX HUNDRED TO SEVEN HUNDRED DOLLARS??? Are they smoking crack? Whatever it is they're on, I want some!

 

[sachu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dpippel /img/forum/go_quote.gif SIX HUNDRED TO SEVEN HUNDRED DOLLARS??? Are they smoking crack? Whatever it is they're on, I want some!

They probably are and those buying it are their bitches.....

 

[stacey]

Ironically its way cheaper to buy the phone on contract, pay for a month of service, and then bail out of your contract for $175.

$199 iPhone 8GB
~$70 for first month of service (I think you can duck out of paying for this...)
$175 Termination fee
= $444 spent, a savings of $155

You can probably buy some IE8s with the savings.

 

[swmtnbiker]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sachu /img/forum/go_quote.gif They probably are and those buying it are their bitches.....

Too funny! You made my night! This explains the mechanics behind their business model perfectly.

 

[Drag0n]

Coulda got an 8gb itouch on woot today for $169, but theyre sold out already....geeez

 

[pata2001]

Paying full price for a provider-locked phone is the stupidest thing that will only happen in US market. Try this in any other markets like Europe/Asia, and they will laugh and walk away. Other countries have enjoyed officially unlocked iPhone sold by Apple directly for a while. Apple need to wise up and dump AT&T asap.

 

[analogbox]

Meh. I wouldn't pay that much money on a cellphone, ever. Good thing I got two iphones for less than $400.

 

[Azazel90x]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pata2001 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Paying full price for a provider-locked phone is the stupidest thing that will only happen in US market. Try this in any other markets like Europe/Asia, and they will laugh and walk away. Other countries have enjoyed officially unlocked iPhone sold by Apple directly for a while. Apple need to wise up and dump AT&T asap.

Even if they wanted to dump AT&T, they cant, they have an exclusive contract with them.

 

[Zill]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pata2001 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Paying full price for a provider-locked phone is the stupidest thing that will only happen in US market. Try this in any other markets like Europe/Asia, and they will laugh and walk away. Other countries have enjoyed officially unlocked iPhone sold by Apple directly for a while. Apple need to wise up and dump AT&T asap.

I concur that it's extremely stupid, but it's a win-win situation for both AT&T and Apple.

Thanks to the iPhone AT&T managed to lock down thousands of subscribers with contracts.

Apple gets a percentage of the profits AT&T made due to iPhone traffic. So instead of getting $300 from the consumer, it makes more sense for Apple to get $10 each month from AT&T for 3 years.

 

[Greymoor]

Apple's lock in with AT&T is why I do not have one. It is foolish to exclude a large section of the customer base. But it is their business to run . . .

 

[robm321]

I always thought you could buy the iphone for those crazy prices.

I heard this on the news too, but I don't get why it's even newsworthy. Why the H would you want this thing without getting service? You could get a laptop for that price if you're just going to use it to surf the web on a local network.

 

[analogbox]

Quote:

Originally Posted by robm321 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I always thought you could buy the iphone for those crazy prices. I heard this on the news too, but I don't get why it's even newsworthy. Why the H would you want this thing without getting service? You could get a laptop for that price if you're just going to use it to surf the web on a local network.

I agree. I don't even understand why it costs that much to begin with. If I remember correctly, iphone only costs about $100+ for assembly but they're charging a whopping $599? I know Apple usually costs more than competition but this is way too bloated. As you said, with that money, people can get a pretty decent laptop that can do so many more things than iphone. There's just no point of paying the full price.

 

[Uncle Erik]

I think Apple inked a five year deal with AT&T. In retrospect, it made sense. Apple entered a competetive field with a new, unproven product. They needed the support of a major carrier to pull it off. It looks like a sure thing today, but it wasn't back then.

Apple will probably drop AT&T exclusivity at the end of the contract - it's one thing holding back further adoption and dominance.

And I'm already excited about the new iPhone (or two) coming this summer. Word s that it will be a major revision as opposed to the update the 3G was.

 

[pata2001]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Greymoor /img/forum/go_quote.gif Apple's lock in with AT&T is why I do not have one. It is foolish to exclude a large section of the customer base. But it is their business to run . . .

Same with me. What really irate me is that Apple themselves are selling officially unlocked iPhones in other countries like Hong Kong, straight from the Apple store. And now we have AT&T selling locked phones at full price?