I'm so not looking forward to the 19th. I know tons of people will be calling customer service and wanting supervisors because they aren't eligible to get that damn phone. I think it's funny too, they are eligible, they just don't want to pay for it. They want to get the cheapest price even though they upgraded recently and think they are being mistreated because new people could get the best price. They think owning the iPhone obligates the company to make an exception whenever a newer model comes out to give them the lowest price, which is ridiculous.

Originally posted by Ryoohki:

---

I'm so not looking forward to the 19th. I know tons of people will be calling customer service and wanting supervisors because they aren't eligible to get that damn phone. I think it's funny too, they are eligible, they just don't want to pay for it. They want to get the cheapest price even though they upgraded recently and think they are being mistreated because new people could get the best price. They think owning the iPhone obligates the company to make an exception whenever a newer model comes out to give them the lowest price, which is ridiculous.

---

Well... I upgraded to a Blackjack via AT&T. That "contract" would be up in August. Last month, I made a call and tried to get the upgrade price on an iPhone. AT&T was WILLING to give me ANY phone other than an iPhone!

It made no sense at all to me, because it would increase my bill about $20 a month, and when presented the option of tacking 2 more years onto my contract from the AUGUST date (meaning I would be paying iPhone plan rates for 27+ months instead of 24) the reps could not give me an answer and just refused to work with me.

I wasn't trying to beat the system, afterall, I've had AT&T for 7 years, but someone off the street could go and buy an iPhone today and get the discounted price. Now, who's in the wrong here, me or them? ;-)

I might actually think about getting an iPhone if ATT's service didnt suck ass where I live.

It definately doesn't make any sense that AT&T would be trying to shy away people from upgrading to the iPhone. Surveys have shown that the average iPhone user's plan is 1.6 times that of other smartphone user's plans.
Here is some helpful information to get a discount...
Microsoft/AT&T is offering 35% off if you go through bing Cashback.

This only works with new contracts!

iPhone 3GS 16GB - $199 ($129.35 with Cashback)
iPhone 3GS 32GB - $299 ($194.35 with Cashback)
iPhone 3G 8GB - $99 ($64.35 with Cashback)
iPhone 3G 16GB - $149 ($96.85 with Cashback)
iPhone 3G 8GB (Refurb) - $79 ($51.35 with Cashback)
iPhone 3G 16GB (Refurb) - $129 (83.85 with Cashback)

1. Click here and you should see a link to get 35% off on the top

2. Follow popup instructions on AT&T's site to get the 35% off

3. Order your iPhone 3G!


I provide support for Apple desktop and portable users via AppleCare and I can sympathize with the people all calling up and demanding free upgrades or trying to return outside of the return period due to new computers and events like the WWDC happening.

Go on. Just keep drinking the Kool-Aid

This is a joke right?
This is all they are offering on the 3GS?
For that price?
When you can get a regular 3G for $100 less? (with contract)

I'll guarantee there will be a iPhone 4G (or something like that) in less than a year. Anybody that falls for this is seriously lost.

AND..... If you already own a 3G AT&T wants you to pay full price for the phone and still except a new 2 year agreement. Maybe those features would be nice for some people and if they had an extra $100 laying around but to not get the lower price for a new 2 year agreement is a rip off. Anybody that buys a 3GS at full price and still agrees to a new 2 year contract is just stupid.

I completely agree. I mean this is just shameless. Apple is the biggest yuppie company ever. They've learned they can take advantage of their trusting (read: obsessive) clientèle and spike them with the smallest most insignificant updates for a full price knowing that they'll still buy the new one.

Just for fun I looked at pricing some smartphones today.

First I priced out one of those google g1 phones from tmobile. I went with a modest plan. 600 minutes, unlimited weekend minutes. Data plan required. I use texting, but there wasn't an option to only pick someting like 200 or 500 txt's a month, so I had to spend $35 on the data plan with unlimited texting.

The iphone, I had a similar plan. 450 minutes, 5000 night and weekend minutes, 200 txt's a month.

Both of them came out being $75 a month before taxes. I just gotta say you guys waste too much money on this crap. If you actually need the digital hookup and use it productively then I say go for it. If it's just for fun well, is it really fun enough to spend $30 to $35 a month on over just a plain phone?

I exchanged a Nokia E71x (what a piece of garbage) for an iphone about 3 days before the 3gs was announced. So in other words I couldn't return the iphone because of their 1 return in 30 days policy. The only thing that was biting me was the fact that I would've gotten double the memory for the same price, 32gb instead of 16gb. I could care less about a crappy video camera, I already have a MinoHD that rocks. Anyway, I went back into the store to see what they could do. They gave me $160 back no questions asked, I didn't even have to talk to a manager. The best part was that when I returned the Nokia the clerk screwed up somehow and now I'm not under contract. I had gps activated on the Nokia but when he was trying to activate the iphone it wouldn't let him and he couldn't figure it out. So evidently he screwed something up out of confusion. Don't ask me how, but needless to say I'm a happy camper. I can sell this one and buy the new one or just enjoy not being under contract and getting a 16gb iphone for $140.