Will the iPhone be sold without a service plan through Apple?

No. Apple is preventing the phone from being unlocked. So why would they sell it unlocked? If they sell it through their site, still locked with Cingular, there's no point, since you can get it through Cingular anyways. I'm also thinking that various models will be sold, but for different providers, so if you don't have Cingular, you'll be able to get an iPhone through your current provider. Or, if you want to just "swap" SIM's rather than upgrading (if you have Cingular), have fun paying the retail price

classof2011 said:

I'm also thinking that various models will be sold, but for different providers, so if you don't have Cingular, you'll be able to get an iPhone through your current provider.

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Cingular have an exclusive deal on ALL iPhone models (including unannounced ones) in the US till 2009.

CDailey said:

So Apple plans to sell the iPhone through their online store, right? Will we be able to buy it by its self, without a service plan from Cingular, so we can just swap our SIM cards from our current phones into the iPhone?

Edit: Why did I put this thread in this forum? Whoops! Can a mod move it please?

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I haven't seen anything that says Apple will sell the iPhone thru their stores. Most likely you will have to go to Cingular to get it.

skubish said:

I haven't seen anything that says Apple will sell the iPhone thru their stores. Most likely you will have to go to Cingular to get it.

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I believe Steve himself said it during the Keynote.

I believe Steve said that the phones will be available from either Cingular or Apple, but in either case they will be tied to a Cingular service contract.

CDailey said:

Bummer, I'm due for an upgrade next week, and I really don't want to keep using this POS phone untill June Guess I'll have to wait till 2009 for the iPhone, and get a Sony Ericsson W810i next week...

edit: thanks for moving the thread

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What you can do is buy another phone from a retailer like TigerDirect.com for example (I just bought a maroon Moto V3i from them), and that way when June comes, you'll be able to upgrade to the iPhone...

Also, it doesn't matter where you buy another phone from, just as long as you can get it unlocked. Or, as a second option....upgrade to the W810i (awesome phone ), then purchase the iPhone from something like eBay Express.