AT&T Considering $10 Drop in iPhone Monthly Plan Rates?

[MacRumors]

TheStreet.com reports on comments from analyst Michael Cote suggesting that AT&T is considering reducing the basic monthly iPhone plan from $69 to $59 alongside an announcement of the next-generation iPhone at next month's Worldwide Developers Conference.

AT&T is considering a $10 price cut for the iPhone's monthly service plan when Apple introduces the newest version of the phone next month.

There is a "strong possibility" that AT&T will drop the entry-level price to $59 from $69, says Cote Collaborative analyst Michael Cote, an industry pricing strategist. The announcement, he said, will probably accompany the launch of the new iPhone on June 8, during Apple's World Wide Developers Conference.

Cote reports that iPhone sales through Wal-Mart have failed to meet expectations, giving Apple concerns about pricing barriers. While Cote does not see Apple introducing a lower-cost "iPhone nano" as has been rumored for some time, his comments indicate that AT&T is also recognizing the pricing difficulties and is willing to work to make iPhone contracts more affordable, thereby stimulating demand.

Recent sales success for Research in Motion's BlackBerry models, as well as increased competition from the upcoming Palm Pre and forthcoming touchscreen handsets from Nokia, are placing pressure on Apple to continue to find ways to generate new customers.

Finally, Cote points to an approaching "fashion milepost" for the iPhone, as popular phones and other gadgets tend to lose their appeal in their third year on the market, although Apple would certainly argue that continued innovations on both the software and hardware fronts should allow the iPhone to remain at the head of the pack.

Article Link: AT&T Considering $10 Drop in iPhone Monthly Plan Rates?

[sideline3]

That seems nice but by the time they add their stinkin taxes it'll be the same price.

[OasisNYK]

Isn't the 550 minute plan already $59? Its not the minutes, its the data plan that kills it.

[Grimace]

I'll gladly take my $240 back! Thanks AT&T!

[sbrhwkp3]

Please do this.

[notjustjay]

Hey Rogers, are you listening?

I might just jump on the iPhone bandwagon if they'd drop the data plan by $10 here in Canada. Or at least give us more than 500 freakin' MB's per month.

[BG-Mac]

$240 a year! Loving it..

[Stately]

Originally Posted by sideline3

That seems nice but by the time they add their stinkin taxes it'll be the same price.

Haha, exaactly . . along with their other hidden charges that they throw at you when they decide they want a few extra dollars.

[NightCastle]

Yeah, but will the phone be the same pricing structure or will they charge more up front?

[zombitronic]

This would be great. I've currently got an iPhone classic and I'm not eager to upgrade to 3G due to the extra $10 data fee every month. I'm interested in the new iPhone that's due this summer and for me, confirmation of this news would seal the deal.

[TalkAboutApple]

Current pricing is brutal. Yeah, I'm paying it, but AT&T is smart if they are getting that a cell customer is worth more than 2 years of being hosed.

[NightCastle]

They will probably have pricing for texting seperately and pricing for MMSing seperately. $5 for texting and $10 for MMSing.

[MarlboroLite]

Still too expensive.

Here in France, the cheapest plan from Orange is €39 which includes 120 minutes, the "unlimited" data, and unlimited texts nights and weekends (under 26s get unlimited texts 24/7)...oh and of course as in all of Europe ALL incoming calls are free.

For someone who doesn't MAKE the phone calls all that much, 120 minutes is just fine for me. Some months even excessive.

[alm99]

Sure, it will be a $10 drop in price for a limited amount of data use, say 250mb, with ridiculous overage charges.

For $10 more you get unlimited plan.

[jnguyen4]

texting packages are the worst...

[mkrishnan]

Originally Posted by sideline3

That seems nice but by the time they add their stinkin taxes it'll be the same price.

That shouldn't quite be true -- the taxes are there now, and if anything, the ones that scale with the plan price reduce.

And, so, I use T-Mobile, so forgive me if I have this wrong, but... AT&T made the data service plan $10 more expensive when they launched the 3G iPhone, right? So, basically, if this happens, they would roll back to the original pricing scheme, by and large, that they offered in 2007 (that is, for people who continue to get the minimal voice and data plans for the iPhone, who would be paying $10 less for voice and $10 more for data than in the original AT&T plans).

[fleshman03]

This would make my only reservation over getting an iPhone almost dissapear.

Please do

[azentropy]

Originally Posted by BG-Mac

$240 a year! Loving it..

How many months are in your year?

[ferlauto]

The fact that Wal-Mart has not lived up to expectations does not surprise me at all. It should have never been done in the first place.

Most importantly its a dilution of the Apple brand.

Apple is symbolic of high-end, and high margins. Wal-Mart is the polar opposite: Anything and everything just to save a few pennies, regardless of the consequences.

Second, Wal-Mart could not add value. In this case that would mean a lower price, because lower prices is Wal-Mart's value proposition.

Why would anyone go to Wal-Mart (or any retailer for that matter, that does not have expertise in wireless) when they can go to any Apple or AT&T store and deal with someone who really knows the product line and the industry as a whole?

The simple answer is: They wouldn't.

[Le Big Mac]

Originally Posted by azentropy

How many months are in your year?

How many phones are on his plan?

[Le Big Mac]

Lower prices are good, but lets see details:

data limits?
less iphone subsidy?
calling plan price drops?

While I'm sure data is a cash cow for AT&T, and they could drop prices as usage goes up, I doubt they're going to give something for nothing.

[profets]

Originally Posted by notjustjay

Hey Rogers, are you listening?

I might just jump on the iPhone bandwagon if they'd drop the data plan by $10 here in Canada. Or at least give us more than 500 freakin' MB's per month.

hey.. at least we can use any voice and/or data plan we want. you can get yourself a good $20 voice plan and have $30 for 6gig. you can even go with just voice, and still get the phone subsidized at 250/350.. i cant imagine rogers makes too much $$ back from that subsidy/voice plan combination

[rollsroyce442]

right now I have two lines on verizon, charter internet and cable and no home phone. For the same price (if they lower it 10$) I get AT&T DSL, AT&T Home Phone, Directv (over 200 channels), AT&T WiFi access (at Starbucks and the like), and iPhone and one more phone for my wife, plus I will have roll over minutes! Plus, they'll give me over $300 dollars cash back. Man, now thats enough to cover my cancelation fee's and pay for the iphone (almost). I'm so switching, good bye verizon.

[SpinThis!]

I wonder if this is AT&T's/Apple's way to get first-generation iPhone owners to upgrade and get everyone on the same "platform" so to speak... or officially deprecate the old plan and have everyone move to the new plan. One of my big reservations with the iPhone 3G was 1) no 3g service around here and 2) $10 more a month for the service—the only big benefit was built-in GPS.

[azentropy]

Originally Posted by Le Big Mac

How many phones are on his plan?

Probably - but according to his sig just the one - I checked first!