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iPhone 3G will sell for $599+ without contract, says AT&T

1 July 2008 15:31 by Andre "DVDBack23" Yoskowitz | 18 comments

Apple and AT&T have both confirmed that US customers who cannot, or simply do not want to sign into a two-year contract, will be allowed to purchase the new iPhone 3G, for $599 USD and $699 USD for the 8GB and 16GB models respectively.

For those who purchase the phone along with a 2-yr contract including mandatory data plan, the cost is only $199 and $299 respectively when the phones go on sale July 11th.

There is of course, a hitch to the new announcement. AT&T says to be able to buy the phone at all, consumers must sign up for some type of AT&T wireless subscription.

There was no word on when this new type of agreement would become available.

Permalink to this article | Topic: Phones

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Discuss this article!
philipman (Senior Member) 1 July 2008 15:43
I need to get AT&T they seem to have the best phones anymore. [ + quote]
jetyi83 (Member) 1 July 2008 15:47
this isnt the best phone. i can wait another year for cheaper plans, and the i900 [ + quote]
blueroad (Newbie) 1 July 2008 16:08
*Originally posted by jetyi83:* this isnt the best phone. i can wait another year for cheaper plans, and the i900 i keep hearing bout this i099 thingy..can anyone link me to it? [ + quote]
jemaric (Junior Member) 1 July 2008 16:30
http://www.slashphone.com/the-samsung-i9...announced-09623 [ + quote]
beanos66 (Newbie) 1 July 2008 18:15
and in Britain �599+ [ + quote]
Hunt720 (Junior Member) 1 July 2008 21:45
Wow. That is pretty dick. I guess now that unlocking the phone is basically common place (takes about 4 minutes or so I hear). I guess At&t REALLY wants the exclusivity... and if you want to go around it.. you are going to have to PAY to do so.. if that isn't the definition of capitalism I don't know what is. Fortunately for me, I happen to have At&t... I didn't jump on the first Iphone after I saw my wife with it.. and I wasn't impressed. Now there are a buttload of features that have been added along with 3rd party apps.. so this seems to be more worth my while. Does anyone know if you can just EXTEND your current/existing plan for two years when you buy one? [ + quote]
Pop_Smith (Senior Member) 1 July 2008 22:04
Wow, I wonder how much they make off each of those sold. [ + quote]
rvinkebob (Member) 1 July 2008 22:07
And people complain about the PS3.... [ + quote]
chaos_zzz (Junior Member) 1 July 2008 22:11
*Originally posted by rvinkebob:* And people complain about the PS3.... it's amazing really [ + quote]
Hyasuma (Inactive) 1 July 2008 22:43
man, they just forcing people to pay more, even with the contract. What is the damn point? 2 year contract? the service plan is additional 30 dollars each month due to the damn 3g. so, 720 dollars additional for the 3g service plan for 2 years. So in the long run u still have to pay the money. Even if you buy the phone itself for 600 dollars, and u want to use the 3g plan, u still end up paying the fees. If the phone is so great and we pay so much damn money for the phone, the fudging 3g should be included. this is pointless, I like the iphone, but i hate the freaking plan they charge u for. is super gay [ + quote]
susieqbbb (Member) 2 July 2008 2:08
This is funny At&t doesn't own the iphone apple does so i will go to a apple store and buy it there without contract for 199.99 and at&t can go to he$$ for all i care. [ + quote]
TSRSteve (Newbie) 2 July 2008 9:03
*Originally posted by Hunt720:* Wow. That is pretty dick. I guess now that unlocking the phone is basically common place (takes about 4 minutes or so I hear). I guess At&t REALLY wants the exclusivity... and if you want to go around it.. you are going to have to PAY to do so.. if that isn't the definition of capitalism I don't know what is. Fortunately for me, I happen to have At&t... I didn't jump on the first Iphone after I saw my wife with it.. and I wasn't impressed. Now there are a buttload of features that have been added along with 3rd party apps.. so this seems to be more worth my while. Does anyone know if you can just EXTEND your current/existing plan for two years when you buy one? I spoke with a salesman about 3 months ago and was told if I wanted to purchase one that my contract would start over and it wouldn't extend by two years. After reading this article though it sounds like they may have changed it. I decided to wait once I read on this site that a new one was being released. One of the things I don't understand about these long 2 & 3 year contracts is are these devices durable enough to actually last that long with daily use? I mean 2 or even 3 years is a long time, my razor starts looking fatigued and scratched to pieces after about a year. [ + quote]
ikari (Newbie) 2 July 2008 10:30
*Quote:* *Originally posted by Hunt720:* Wow. That is pretty dick. I guess now that unlocking the phone is basically common place (takes about 4 minutes or so I hear). I guess At&t REALLY wants the exclusivity... and if you want to go around it.. you are going to have to PAY to do so.. if that isn't the definition of capitalism I don't know what is. Fortunately for me, I happen to have At&t... I didn't jump on the first Iphone after I saw my wife with it.. and I wasn't impressed. Now there are a buttload of features that have been added along with 3rd party apps.. so this seems to be more worth my while. Does anyone know if you can just EXTEND your current/existing plan for two years when you buy one? I spoke with a salesman about 3 months ago and was told if I wanted to purchase one that my contract would start over and it wouldn't extend by two years. After reading this article though it sounds like they may have changed it. I decided to wait once I read on this site that a new one was being released. One of the things I don't understand about these long 2 & 3 year contracts is are these devices durable enough to actually last that long with daily use? I mean 2 or even 3 years is a long time, my razor starts looking fatigued and scratched to pieces after about a year. I sure the phone will, but the real question is: will you want to keep a phone for 2 to 3 years? Personally, I change out phones every 1.5 years and I never get my new phone through T-mobile. I have been contract free for 3-4 years now! BTW, I just checked the specs on the i900. Wow. [ + quote]
Hyasuma (Inactive) 2 July 2008 10:41
*Originally posted by susieqbbb:* This is funny At&t doesn't own the iphone apple does so i will go to a apple store and buy it there without contract for 199.99 and at&t can go to he$$ for all i care. Good catch there, didnt think of it at first. But how are u going to activiate the phone? thats what i like to know, so i can tell my friend to get it lol [ + quote]
SProdigy (Member) 2 July 2008 11:39
*Originally posted by susieqbbb:* This is funny At&t doesn't own the iphone apple does so i will go to a apple store and buy it there without contract for 199.99 and at&t can go to he$$ for all i care. That's if they sell it for $200 at the Apple store. Don't forget, even a $50 RAZR is not "technically" a $50 phone. AT&T is subsidizing the phones to offer them at a lower cost, which is basically done with every phone brought to market, and has been for years. I read somewhere that Apple makes $25 per phone. The real question is "How much does AT&T make?" Don't forget, the phone is "cheaper" if you sign on for 2 years. AT&T must make up the difference and then some, over those 2 years, in order to offer a $200 iPhone. [ + quote]
Iguana775 (Newbie) 2 July 2008 12:40
I swear I read somewhere that it only costs about $180 to make an iPhone. man, talk about a freaking markup. [ + quote]
DVDBack23 (Staff Member) 2 July 2008 12:47
*Originally posted by sprodigy:* I read somewhere that Apple makes $25 per phone. Apple makes at least $200 for every unit sold. If they were only making 25 then they wouldn't have made this phone, would have been bad business. [ + quote] This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 2 July 2008 12:48
favosys1 (Newbie) 4 July 2008 12:05
*Quote:* *Originally posted by susieqbbb:* This is funny At&t doesn't own the iphone apple does so i will go to a apple store and buy it there without contract for 199.99 and at&t can go to he$$ for all i care. That's if they sell it for $200 at the Apple store. Don't forget, even a $50 RAZR is not "technically" a $50 phone. AT&T is subsidizing the phones to offer them at a lower cost, which is basically done with every phone brought to market, and has been for years. I read somewhere that Apple makes $25 per phone. The real question is "How much does AT&T make?" Don't forget, the phone is "cheaper" if you sign on for 2 years. AT&T must make up the difference and then some, over those 2 years, in order to offer a $200 iPhone. I called the Apple Store in Los Angeles, they will sell the Iphone on July 11th but you have to sign the AT&T contract right there or else they won't sell it to you. [ + quote]