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Apple Now Selling Contract-Free iPhone in Retail Stores?

I had a friend call me yesterday stating that he had purchased 10 iPhones from an Apple retail store in Jacksonville, Florida( He does not have ATT but has a jail-broken 3G iphone). I did not believe him at first until he sent me pictures of the iPhones and the receipt (He power sells on ebay).That being said. Apple/ATT have found a "new way" to liquidate supply.
1. ATT is holding the iphones still hostage to only current plan holders (In order to get them w/ w/o contract) and not opening the flood gate.
2. Apple is letting this be a free for all,because they know if they open the flood gates this way, then the stock and overhead stock will diminish before or by the time WWDC emerges.
Point?
If they are getting new customers to sign up right before a new iPhone comes out then it will be all hell and pandemonium , just like the clash that happened for the 1st Gen iPhone

" both GSM providers do not support the 3G network the iPhone 3G needs to connect at faster than EDGE speeds."
Im in a totally edge city where there isn't a 3G network for ATT. Edge works rather quickly, although I would love the benefits of being able to use the 3G iPhone network.........
 
I think thats entirely reasonable. This is only to start dumping 3G inventory anyway. ;)

A normal activation costs a user $200 the first day and at the bare minimum, $1800 over the next 2 years. So an 8 gig iPhone costs $2000 in the US under a contract.

It now costs $600, all at once, with no contract. You have no contractual obligation to pay more than that. You can keep it for 6 months then activate, or Pay as you Go, which has some good plan options, but all in all, you're paying more for no contract is you use the thing.

Here comes iPhone 3.0!!!!!:D
 
This is stupid! In order to use the phone, you have to sign up for AT&T and sign a 2 year contract. What's the point in buying an iPhone 3G and then not activating it? You can't even currently unlock the latest baseband. Also, it's cheaper to buy the iPhone with a contract and pay the ETF.
 
Court case

HarleyMan said:
I know its late, and I'm tired ......let me see if I have this straight....I can get an Iphone that doesn't have a contract with AT&T :). It can be broken to use other providers. :) But the 2 main ones other than AT&T don't have the G3 speed needed to run the thing.:( Oh and its around $500-$600 :( My Question....What is the up side of this?:eek:
Click to expand...

The upside is Apple and ATnT can pretend to not have a monopoly on the thing in the court cases brought against them.
 
Ouch. At that price, no thank you.

EULA? What EULA? I did not see a EULA when I, uh, I mean my friend bought his used iPhone and put it on his T-Mobile account.
;)
 
haravikk said:
I think it still isn't a subsidy; the cost of the contract includes the cost of an iPhone, if you already have one then score one for AT&T, they've just suckered you into paying a premium for something you won't get.
Click to expand...

I agree that AT&T has built the cost of the iphone into their contract pricing. Thats the only reason they do it. and by "it" i mean subsidize a phone. ...i'm just not understanding how you can't call that a subsidy.

sjo said:
it doesn't really make that much sense to compare to offerings att may of may not offer you... but if you really think that you don't pay the whole price of your whichever phone you might have during the contract period and the company offering you the contract isn't squeezing the "subsidy" out of your wallet, you're quite welcome to keep your faith.

no wonder the us economy is in the state it is... people don't recognize loans even if they are slapped with one.
Click to expand...

I never said you won’t end up paying full price for the phone in the long run. AT&T prices are the main reason I don’t have an iPhone. I just don't see it as a loan. it would be better if it were a loan because eventually you would stop paying off a loan. If you buy a full priced iPhone, you pay the same price for your AT&T contract as someone with a subsidized one. Going back to your farmer subsidy analogy, it'd be like a farmer paying out of pocket for everything he owns, and then the bank calling him up and saying "hey, pay us some interest on everything you bought because we LOAN money to other farmers when they buy stuff." it makes no sense to call it a loan.

I do agree though that a lot of economic problems here could have been avoided if people understood long term cost, but not everything with a long term cost is a loan, and there are a lot of companies that subsidized the sort term costs in order to get more customers to be lock into the long term.
 
Works with Metro PCS?

How can the iPhone work with Metro PCS if the company is using CDMA technology? Does Metro PCS offer sim cards now? I would like some information about this. Thank you.
 
lftrghtparadigm said:
I think thats entirely reasonable. This is only to start dumping 3G inventory anyway. ;)

A normal activation costs a user $200 the first day and at the bare minimum, $1800 over the next 2 years. So an 8 gig iPhone costs $2000 in the US under a contract.

It now costs $600, all at once, with no contract. You have no contractual obligation to pay more than that. You can keep it for 6 months then activate, or Pay as you Go, which has some good plan options, but all in all, you're paying more for no contract is you use the thing.

Here comes iPhone 3.0!!!!!:D
Click to expand...

Pay as you Go does have some reasonable plans.... But, How would one set up a pay as you go with the 3G as I have read countless reports of people receiving kind little notifications that if using the 3G iphone then the appropriate plan needs to be associated with the 3G iphone
 
butterfly0fdoom said:
The fact that CDMA phones need to be encoded for the network that they're going to be used on? The fact that GSM replaced TDMA? Apple's not going to go non-GSM. WCDMA replaced GSM while EV-DO replaced CDMA. LTE, for the most part since Sprint likes to be non-conformist, is replacing EV-DO and WCDMA. Why go backwards?
Click to expand...

OK OK, forgive me, what I meant was EV-DO and LTE. I didn't realize those technologies were replaced, I simply meant whatever technology is currently used on Verizon and Sprint networks.
 
xDYLANx said:
... $90/month for 450 minutes and data and sms is completely unreasonable
Click to expand...

QFT ... as I completely agree. I think the AT&T iPhone unlimited data plan should include SMS, but it doesn't and won't because the tech. supporting SMS is being touted by all the carriers and their apologists as cost prohibitive and necessary to offset the investment of their infrastructure, pay employees, and their operating expenses. I believe rather, that the cell companies simply joined hands to fleece whatever more they could get from their consumers desiring SMS.

So, messaging will remain a separate a la carte pricing scheme that is totally out of control, justified by nothing but greed, and needs to change for every carrier. With luck, the carriers will eventually be forced to comply with regulations that bring pricing back down to earth.
 
SouthPhillyPT said:
How can the iPhone work with Metro PCS if the company is using CDMA technology? Does Metro PCS offer sim cards now? I would like some information about this. Thank you.
Click to expand...

Yes they offer sim cards, Well at least in south florida. I used to live in Miami where Metro PCS had some really good plans and the phones sold (Which could be purchased at kiosk, walmart , moms and pop stores) some of everywhere with different models w/ sim cards.
You can find Metro PCS sim cards on ebay as well.
 
When are the 5 years up?

It will interesting to see whether AT&T gets some competition for iPhone service whenever that 5 year contract they have with Apple expires.

I think as more competition fights for the consumers' business, not only will the data and voice pricing plans be adjusted, but the iPhone's premium price might be tested as well (making the unlocked pricing issue relatively moot). That's a good thing - given an uncertain economy.

:apple:
 
HarleyMan said:
I know its late, and I'm tired ......let me see if I have this straight....I can get an Iphone that doesn't have a contract with AT&T :). It can be broken to use other providers. :) But the 2 main ones other than AT&T don't have the G3 speed needed to run the thing.:( Oh and its around $500-$600 :( My Question....What is the up side of this?:eek:
Click to expand...
for selling it abroad from usa
 
RichardI said:
Wow! I can't believe they charge those prices for an iPhone. It's even harder to believe someone, anyone, would buy at that price. I sure as hell would never pay that kind of money for a mobile 'phone - not even a really, really fancy one. Good luck Apple or AT&T or whoever.
Click to expand...

Don't think of it as a phone with some extra features. Think of it as an ultra-portable computer/netbook that just happens to be able to make phone calls too. $699 isn't unreasonable at all if you think of it that way.
 
Rumour has it that in April, 02 in the UK will be selling iPhone 3G's FREE with 18 month contract (£35 per month for 600mins and 500 texts per month plus unlimited data, Wi-Fi etc) At the moment the 8GB phone is £96.89 - possibly the "free" offer is to clear stocks in readiness for the new model?
 
There is a big mistake in the article, MetroPCS is CDMA, not GSM as it says. Fix Please.
 
kallisti said:
Don't think of it as a phone with some extra features. Think of it as an ultra-portable computer/netbook that just happens to be able to make phone calls too. $699 isn't unreasonable at all if you think of it that way.
Click to expand...

What they need to do is realize that that is the price ATT is already paying Apple for the phone!
 
stock

it's easy to tell that they are just clearing out stock so that when july comes around and the new iPhones come out that there will be room for them. Phones loose subsidy after they are discontinued. The last thing AT&T or other carriers want is all these old iPhones that no one wants to buy since they don't have subsidy on them anymore
 
Depending on your plans a contract-less iphone could save you money. For example in Canada we have to do a 3 year contract. If my total outlay was $30 (all included) a month that is $1080 over 3 years + 299 phone + startup fee $35 = $1415

If my calling is such that on a PAY AS YOU GO PLAN I really only am a light user that uses $10 per month over that same 36 months I pay $360+ $599 phone = $960 = savings of $455

This is perfect for my wife
 
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