Apple Removes '2 Year Contract Required' Note on Ads

[CharlieX]

This is easy.

The "2 year..." line is called the "legal" in the commercial broadcast world. They're generally considered exactly like the fine print in any other situation.... and generally considered ugly. Things that the lawyers working for ATT and Apple and the FCC all require to go on the commercial when it airs.

However Apple is a private website and are not beholden to those rules. They simple took it off (called a "Generic" version of the commercial) because it looks better.

 

[tribulation]

Just to get you in the store?

Probably just to get people into the store to see it for an impulse buy without scaring them off with a scary ad.

 

[bross00]

Hype and hope clouding reason

Things we've been told (and should assume are accurate):
1. The iPhone is not subsidized
2. The iPhone is exclusive to at&t / Cingular for five years

Thing that have been leaked (reliably?):
1. Existing customer can purchase an iPhone at the same price as new customers

Things we know:
1. Apple and at&t have invested significantly in preparing for the launch of the iPhone
2. Apple and at&t are in the business of making profits
3. Attracting and maintaining customers is a critical component (and major expense) of the cellular phone business.

Things we should all be able to deduce:

1. at&t will need to hold onto customers for some time to recoup their investment (preparing for visual voicemail, installing repeaters, advertising, staffing, onboarding new customers).
2. at&t will want to maximize that gain
3. Apple decided to go exclusive with a provider because they were dictating terms (new technology, apple store sales, support protocols, new business model) and will need to ensure at&t is rewarded for agreeing to adapt to their demands.

4. There will be contracts for new users and likely contract extensions for existing users. The cost of the phone will be the same for both parties.
5. The cost of services will be comparable to exisitng at&t plans, though they could create a special bundle.

Curiously, are there any smart-phone pay as you go plans that include data?

It should be noted that other markets use a buy the equipment and choose your provider model. In these markets the providers still, generally, require contracts (for premium services) or premium priced pay as you go plans (for basic services).

I'd love to get a free iPhone with unlimited voice and data for $40 a month. But I stopped smoking pot some time ago. Also, the way apple controls their product distribution I suspect it will never happen (lest it's bought used on ebay and a few years have passed for the cost of service plans to come down).

 

[Gators Fan]

The cell phone industry "standard" seems to be 2-year service contracts, especially when it comes to getting deep discounts on the equipment. I'm thinking Apple dropped mention of contract requirements so as to not discourage potential customers, as in "Let them find out what's required when they come into the store, but don't do anything to turn them off beforehand." Then, again, it could be that there's to be a smorgasbord of choices --"A one-year contract pays this much, and a two-year contract pays this much," etc.

I'm interested in what insurance or extended warranty plans will be available, how easy it'll be to update firmware and software "patches," etc, and whether each six months will bring a new model to market ("iPhone 2"), as in the case of the iPod ("Just out. . . the iPod Redux Platinum Maximus").

Quick! Pinch me before I faint from the anticipation.

 

[odHbo]

- Even if iPhone is "locked" to AT&T (a common practice for US GSM carriers), ALL GSM phones to date are able to be unlocked, e.g., for international usage with prepaid SIM cards, etc. If iPhone isn't able to be unlocked for such use, it would be the first phone from any US GSM carrier that I've seen that wouldn't be.

Case and Point-

Tmobile SideKicks... I have yet to see an UNLOCKED Tmobile SideKick through it's 4 generations which didn't require hours of hacking and OS reprograming.

The iPhone being locked to AT&T is very possible. It's just that locking the iPhone down will be more detrimental to Apple and Cingular seeing how this phone will be more World-bound than the Sidekick will ever be.

 

[hilgers08]

ya they prob will require some service, but just wont advertise it

 

[peharri]

Curiously, are there any smart-phone pay as you go plans that include data?

Again, it's important to note that the iPhone is not really a smartphone.It's a consumer level communications device that does phone, web browsing and multimedia. It's more like a Sidekick than a Treo, in terms of intended market, though neither does the multimedia side that well.

To that end, T-Mobile USA does, indeed, do a Sidekick prepaid plan ($1 per day of use, unlimited data, plus 10c per minute airtime.)

There are no specific data-phone plans on AT&T, but AT&T's basic GoPhone rates, both PAYG and monthly plan (yes, AT&T's prepaid service includes a set of monthly plans similar to their post-paid plans) do have a rate for data. It's just relatively expensive, at 3c/kb for anything that isn't WAP browsing from a cellphone.

 

[wigby]

you dope

- Jobs said during the keynote announcement that the SIM card slot was on the top of the phone, near the headphone jack. That implies an accessible SIM. From 12:50 in the iPhone introduction: "So let's take a look at the top now. We've got a headset jack, 3.5mm, all your iPod headphones fit right in. We've got a place, a little tray, for your SIM card. And we've got one switch for sleep and wake. Push it to go to sleep, push it to take up." Why would you mention, when talking about *external* physical features of the iPhone, that there is a place, "a little tray", for the SIM card if it wasn't externally/user-accessible?

- Even if AT&T is the "exclusive" provider for 5 years, it still remains to be seen how iPhones will be able to be obtained with/without calling plans/contracts/etc. iPhone may represent a new model of unsubsidized phone sales.

- Even if iPhone is "locked" to AT&T (a common practice for US GSM carriers), ALL GSM phones to date are able to be unlocked, e.g., for international usage with prepaid SIM cards, etc. If iPhone isn't able to be unlocked for such use, it would be the first phone from any US GSM carrier that I've seen that wouldn't be.

- There is NO TECHNICAL REASON iPhone couldn't work on any GSM carrier. *Of course* things like visual voicemail won't work, but GSM is a standard, and at a minimum, the basic data/voice functionality of the phone will work on any GSM carrier with a valid SIM. This presumes that there will be an way to get Cingular to unlock the phone, e.g., for international travel, which, yes, they do in fact do routinely, AND that the SIM slot is accessible. (If the SIM slot is not user-accessible, this may be the justification for keeping iPhone locked to only AT&T.)

- Some people have said some ridiculous things in other threads about "WiFi probably only works if you have a plan", etc. This is ridiculous. I don't even need to see the phone to know that WiFi will absolutely work without a plan. It would be stupid for the phone to be set up any other way. (Imagine a scenario where you are out of range of ALL GSM carriers - that's the only way iPhone would know if it has any sort of service agreement - in that scenario, why on earth would WiFi not work? Answer: of course it would. And it's silly to say that WiFi would only work if you had a plan; that's like saying the iPod functionality will only work if you keep paying your bill. The ONLY thing that won't work without a plan is things that depend on the phone functionality/GSM service).

jobs only said that so that skeptics wouldn't ask "well how does he make calls if it's not fcc approved yet". there will be no slot for apple users to swap out sim or memory or any cards. apple has and never will do that. of course you could technically modify the iphone to do gsm or whatever. no one who buys an iphone is going to waste time on this unless they're being payed to or have an extra iphone to screw with. apple users want simplicity that just works, not kludgy electronics. apple has never recommended users to alter their hardware. the only possible exception being the apple tv but even that's just an absence of a warning and it's only for software not the hardware.

 

[YoYoMa]

According to the Macbreak Weekly podcast, the iPhone will be $999 without a contract.

 

[sbbruiser]

Isn't it obvious

Isn't the answer here pretty straightforward?

Carriers force people into two year contracts so that they can recoup the value of the subsidy they give consumers on their phones. You are more than welcome to get service from most any carrier without a long-term contract, but you will have to pay the full price for the handset.

On the iPhone, there is no subsidy, so there is also no reason to hold anyone to a two year contract. Even if Ma Bell offers a discounted data or voice plan for iPhone users, there would be no need to lock in customers to long-term contracts because they won't need to recover any initial outlays.

Also, as far as prepaid plans go, there seems to be little reason that T wouldn't offer them for the iPhone, but I doubt that they would concentrate heavily on this market. Prepaid users are a lower income demographic who do not use their devices as much. People who are willing to pay $500+ for a cell phone aren't likely to go with the more expensive prepaid minutes and data plans.

 

[bross00]

jobs only said that so that skeptics wouldn't ask "well how does he make calls if it's not fcc approved yet". there will be no slot for apple users to swap out sim or memory or any cards. apple has and never will do that. of course you could technically modify the iphone to do gsm or whatever.

"to do GSM or whatever"?!? The iPhone is a GSM phone. GSM phones rely on SIMs to identify the phone number / user. It will "do GSM" because it depends on GSM.

Of course, I don't know for sure, but I can see no logical reason that the iPhone wouldn't have a SIM card slot accessible by the user. Of course, most users never swap out a SIM card (at least in the US).

On an unrelated topic: other than wishful thinking why would anyone believe the iPhone would be unlocked? 5 year exclusive in the US with at&t. If it is unlocked or readily unlockable the exclusive deal with at&t has no legs and therefore little benefit to at&t.

I suppose there are two possible scenarios. Unlocked, 2 + year contract. Locked and shorter terms. But, that seems to over complicate things in an un-apple like way.

I suspect you'll see it sold locked to at&t with required contracts. It's a bold new model. No subsidy and no benefit to the customer. But it's business. (Personally I'll be thrilled if it is unlocked but requires contracts; that arguably rewards at&t and us).

 

[sananda]

Maybe they're going to finally allow those "pay-as-you-go" cards that Tattoo so despises!

oh i hope so. i was a contract customer ten years but am now a pay as you go person because i hardly use the phone in the country where i had the contract.

tattoo would hate me. getting my top up cards from the convenience store. and i drive a bmw. so he'll hate me more as he thinks pay as you go people like me shouldn't have a bmw.

 

[ncbill]

Or buy the European model.

As numerous posters have pointed out, it is illegal in some countries over there to sell phones locked to one provider.

I suppose there are two possible scenarios. Unlocked, 2 + year contract. Locked and shorter terms. But, that seems to over complicate things in an un-apple like way.

I suspect you'll see it sold locked to at&t with required contracts. It's a bold new model. No subsidy and no benefit to the customer. But it's business. (Personally I'll be thrilled if it is unlocked but requires contracts; that arguably rewards at&t and us).

 

[JGowan]

this has to be good news. hopefully some light will be revealed next monday!

I just don't know if it's the good news you all are hoping for.

I believe it was removed for the simple reason that it was a DOWNER. That's all. Apple shows you the coolest device and you're drooling for it and then, WHAM: they throw cold water in your face with a contract notice.

I think they'd rather a person find out that information when they're at the store, holding the thing and having to decide than for some viewers to never make it into the stores because of the disclaimer and being turned off in their living room.

 

[sbrownla]

Exactly

This is easy.

The "2 year..." line is called the "legal" in the commercial broadcast world. They're generally considered exactly like the fine print in any other situation.... and generally considered ugly. Things that the lawyers working for ATT and Apple and the FCC all require to go on the commercial when it airs.

However Apple is a private website and are not beholden to those rules. They simple took it off (called a "Generic" version of the commercial) because it looks better.

Exactly. The "2 year..." line is still on tv. Just saw the advertisement 5 minutes ago.

 

[artifex]

I really hope the SIM card is easily changeable...

Have you seen an access port for a SIM card?

 

[caliguy]

A few things I've noticed:

The Ad:

Three rows of buttons. Four, four, and three icons per row.

Old Ad:

The last row of buttons (row three) now has four icons. Unveiled icon not shown?

New Ad:

Apple chose to cover this up and simply zoom in on these shots. They do this on each of the first three ads.


Also an unimportant change: The updated ads do not have the vertical black bars covering part of the picture as seen above.

I'm finished scrutinizing

 

[HitmanX]

I hope if you sign up for 2 years the phone will be under $600. Maybe $500/$600 was the phone price without a plan, no reason for apple to announce the price of the phone with a plan, thats AT&T's job.

 

[PSPFourLife]

Maybe we won't need a "Two Year Contract." Hopefully we can just buy the phone. And, if you do get a contract, you can get X amount of money off.

It could go any way, really.