Apple to Allow iPhone Subsidies?

[gianly1985]

If this article is true then I would imagine that every one and their mom are going to be eligible. I still have a year in my contract because I bought an iPhone on launch day. I highly doubt that Apple would tell me "tough luck". The contract I have will just jump forward 2 more years (3 total) or would start over back at 2.

WAIT WAIT WAIT.....this is non-sense! You signed a 2-years contract for the last iphone and you must COMPLETE IT till the end! IF you want to INTERRUPT the contract, you should PAY a PENALTY!! (say 300$). Then you are free again and you can do the NEW contract for the 3g iphone. IT'S CRUEL but it's like things should work! That's why I hate contracts, it's fool to BOND YOURSELF for TWO LONG years in such a rapid changing market!!

Now I am curious if I will be allowed to trade in my current phone. That would rule.

I hope it for you but I think it wouldn't be fair! And neither Apple nor AT&T are supposed to make you this FAVOR!!

 

[Wigletbill]

WAIT WAIT WAIT.....this is non-sense! You signed a 2-years contract for the last iphone and you must COMPLETE IT till the end! IF you want to INTERRUPT the contract, you should PAY a PENALTY!! (say 300$). Then you are free again and you can do the NEW contract for the 3g iphone. IT'S CRUEL but it's like things should work! That's why I hate contracts, it's fool to LINK YOURSELF for TWO LONG years in such a rapid market!!


I hope it for you but I think it wouldn't be fair! And neither Apple nor AT&T are supposed to make you this FAVOR!!

I bet you a $200 rebate you are dead wrong.

(edit) And it isn't a favor when you pay $100+ a month for service.

 

[gianly1985]

I bet you a $200 rebate you are dead wrong.

So I can take a phone with 2-year-contract and then after one year cry like a baby "ueeee! ueeeee! Me want new one!!"...is this the seriety of contracts in USA?? Compliments! Bravi! Now I know why you have so many lawyers....

 

[Wigletbill]

So I can take a phone with 2-year-contract and then after one year cry like a baby "ueeee! ueeeee! Me want new one!!"...is this the seriety of contracts in USA?? Compliments! Bravi! Now I know why you have so many lawyers....

I love the noise I make when I cry!

 

[imwoblin]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/4A102 Safari/419.3)

Only a complete moron or someone who has more money than sense would pay full retail for a 3g iPhone (current iPhone ATT contract customers). If ATT & Apple tell me I have to wait until my contract is up to get the current deal (subsidy), I'll wait till my current contract is up and then buy the latest greatest thing that's available. Let's hope they have some love for us lemmings who waited 5 hours in line on launch day a year ago.

 

[gianly1985]

(edit) And it isn't a favor when you pay $100+ a month for service.

It wouldn't be a favor if it was WRITTEN FROM THE BEGINNING in the contract! For example, there are some PROFESSIONAL or BUSINESS contracts in Italy where IT IS WRITTEN "every 18months I will give you a new phone and you give me back the old one". I don't think this is written on your contract.....so it would be a FAVOR.

 

[louisvillesown]

I haven't read all the posts..but in my opinion if the phone does come with a subsidy then those who are still in contract, with their existing iphone will be available for the rebate. With the first iPhone no discounts were given with the new contract. I used to work for AT&T and am now in the boat of many of the people on here. Like I said it goes by when your last discount on a phone was as far as getting the discounted rate. If you upgraded to an iphone or just started out with one, you could have went in the next day and upgraded again to any regular phone with the new customer discount.

 

[Wigletbill]

I haven't read all the posts..but in my opinion if the phone does come with a subsidy then those who are still in contract, with their existing iphone will be available for the rebate. With the first iPhone no discounts were given with the new contract. I used to work for AT&T and am now in the boat of many of the people on here. Like I said it goes by when your last discount on a phone was as far as getting the discounted rate. If you upgraded to an iphone or just started out with one, you could have went in the next day and upgraded again to any regular phone with the new customer discount.

Exactly. The lack of a subsidy on the original iPhone makes this situation a bit different for all of us iPhone 1g purchasers. We had to sign a contract just to use this cool, new phone. Actually, looking backing on it, that was dumb of us!

J

 

[mikes63737]

Couldn't the $200 AT&T credit be applied to your cell phone bill? What's wrong with that?

AT&T should not be allowed to deal with money. From my experience with them, they always mess up our bill somehow (always overcharge for included stuff), and when I ordered a prepaid phone from them (to use with my iPhone's SIM while camping so I don't break my iPhone) they double-billed me twice (charged once, charged the same thing again, took the second charge off, and then placed the same charge on a third time, and took the third one, leaving only the first charge), causing two overdrafts for the same order, which wouldn't have happened if they only charged me once! Also, my dad got a replacement phone from their insurance service and they charged him the $50 deductible every month.

Also, when they mess up, they refuse to admit responsibility. I called customer service about the prepaid phones and they want me to spend more money to send my bank statements via fax (I don't have a fax machine, but they don't care!) to prove that they actually messed up. It's so annoying, in fact, that I've just given up on trying to get my overdraft money back. (Only $20 because I have overdraft protection.) So I'm sure they'd mess up the $200 thing just because of past experience.

I've had T-Mobile before, and I've never had a problem with them. So I hope T-Mobile gets the iPhone and subsidizes it.

 

[TwinCities Dan]

Exactly. The lack of a subsidy on the original iPhone makes this situation a bit different for all of us iPhone 1g purchasers. We had to sign a contract just to use this cool, new phone. Actually, looking backing on it, that was dumb of us!

J

Yes, that is what I am thinking, but you will of course have to extend your current contract for 2 years from the point of purchase of the new iPhone. But, yes, you should get that subsidy this time around...

(BTW, no stroke, it might have just been a blood clot in my brain or something )

 

[Wigletbill]

Exactly. The lack of a subsidy on the original iPhone makes this situation a bit different for all of us iPhone 1g purchasers. We had to sign a contract just to use this cool, new phone. Actually, looking backing on it, that was dumb of us!

J

Ok, I am tired of cannibalizing this thread but I went to attwireless.com and clicked upgrade phone. It then allowed me to opt into a FREE phone with a 2-year contract, therefore proving the point that:

Because the original hardware was not subsidized all us 1g iPhone owners officially have a hardware discount waiting for us. Which means someone will owe me a $200 gift card. Wigletbill FTW!

Back to lurking.

J

 

[gianly1985]

I haven't read all the posts..but in my opinion if the phone does come with a subsidy then those who are still in contract, with their existing iphone will be available for the rebate.

Exactly. The lack of a subsidy on the original iPhone makes this situation a bit different for all of us iPhone 1g purchasers.
J

U.S.A, the land of RETROACTIVE promotions.
Someday I'm gonna move...

 

[JasonK]

WAIT WAIT WAIT.....this is non-sense! You signed a 2-years contract for the last iphone and you must COMPLETE IT till the end! IF you want to INTERRUPT the contract, you should PAY a PENALTY!! (say 300$). Then you are free again and you can do the NEW contract for the 3g iphone. IT'S CRUEL but it's like things should work! That's why I hate contracts, it's fool to BOND YOURSELF for TWO LONG years in such a rapid changing market!!


I hope it for you but I think it wouldn't be fair! And neither Apple nor AT&T are supposed to make you this FAVOR!!

New Contracts written with ATT void the old contract and begin a new term. What Louisvillesown is talking about is within the contract however, because no subsidies were originally recieved by the buyer. (LOUISVILLESOWN) am I right on this?

 

[acrafton]

10 million iPhones in 2008, that's why, it helps because it will sell more iPhones

Selling them unlocked would sell more IPhones which I doubt we will see on Monday.

 

[Fonzijr1964]

Ok, I am going to have a stroke in a minute

I read your link and that is all fine and dandy BUT...

It's funny how the article breaks down all the individual technologies that take to make an iPhone.

Some of the holes in this defense...

This is all related to the first gen iPhone, which I don't believe we are discussing...
Its funny there is no mentions of R&D costs, Software costs, Advertising costs, etc.

Like I said before if it really is too cheap for you, offer them some extra money maybe you'll get a iPhone t-shirt (So EVERYONE knows you have one, even when you're not using it)

but we know the iPhone will most likely be the same thing with a 3G and GPS chip so it will end up about the same price

 

[JW008]

Two things:

First, the iPhone won't be in the hands of everyone--there's still that pesky little $20/month fee--that's still a hefty price for most people.

Second, the way I would assume the subsidy would work would be that it is based off of how long you keep the two-year contract--if you cancel it early, you will have to pay not only for the contract cancellation, but also a pro-rated amount for the subsidy on the phone.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

Most likely this is how it will work for U.S. ATT customers w/ Gen 1 iPhones IF the story about subsidized phones is true:

You pay full boat like everyone else for the phone then:

if you want to continue with your current contract., i.e., 1 year left, swap out the ATT SIM from the old phone to the new one and done. The Gen 1 iPhone has a 3G SIM. You will not get the rebate from ATT b/c you are keeping your original contract. This was the procedure when people upgraded their Gen 1 4GB to 8GB or 16GB.

if you want the $200 rebate then you'll "sign" a new 2 yr contract. Your existing contract will become null and void and you will NOT have to pay a penalty. The penalty is only if you cancel the contract AND leave ATT.

 

[jackjason]

Just because a few things are up in the air regarding an upcoming event or adventure doesn't mean that you can't let yourself get all jazzed up about it! Uncertainty is its own kind of excitement, and you should get comfortable with it. Sure, things could fall through and your plans might not come to fruition, but so what? At least you enjoyed that happiness and anticipation. Plus, you will feel more grounded and comfortable about not knowing every little thing in the future.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

First, the iPhone won't be in the hands of everyone--there's still that pesky little $20/month fee--that's still a hefty price for most people.

I know of no other smartphone that doesn't also have a data fee. ATT's is fairly low compared to T-Mob and Verizon. The $20 data fee is not going to stop anyone who wants an iPhone. If you don't need a smartphone then that is a different issue, but the iPhone w/o data is nothing but a pretty brick. Might as well just get a Touch and "free" phone.

 

[megfilmworks]

IMHO, I read this as:

If you buy the iPhone full fare then you can elect to have a 2 year contract on activation. If so then you get an Apple rebate or credit. If you don't want a contract, no rebate or credit.

If you buy it at ATT then you are only charged the reduced price (if you sign up for the contract) or pay full if not.

If you have a current contract ATT has always just extended the contract from the time of purchase if you want the reduced price.

Also, I was under contract to ATT (for a Razr) when I bought my iPhone on iDay. I am now currently NOT under contract. They never tacked on additional months to my original contact which expired 2 years form my Razr purchase.

 

[zepharus]

YES!!!! I just sold my phone on eBay for 500 dollars! I can get a new phone + extra cash! Life is good...

What retard bought that?

 

[JW008]

I know of no other smartphone that doesn't also have a data fee. ATT's is fairly low compared to T-Mob and Verizon. The $20 data fee is not going to stop anyone who wants an iPhone. If you don't need a smartphone then that is a different issue, but the iPhone w/o data is nothing but a pretty brick. Might as well just get a Touch and "free" phone.

I agree 100%, but I guess my point is that if someone is willing to pay the monthly data fees, then they are willing to pay a higher up-front price. Those of us who own 1G iPhones obviously fall into this category. My only point is that knocking $200 off the initial price of the phone won't attract a significant amount of new people because of that monthly fee...

 

[El Carbonite]

If you think you can't upgrade or aren't sure - log into your AT&T account online. I bought an iPhone on launch day and it says I'm eligible for an upgrade.

 

[/dev/toaster]

If they don't allow existing customers to upgrade via a subsidied contract I will be rather pissed.

 

[suckhinder]

first they got their subprime loans, then they got their the Bush stimulus check, then they got that "$99 down" used car, and now they want subsidized iphones. I hope Jobs puts out a low end model just for these folks. A pink colored student-version subsidized iphone would be nice.