They will more than likely also offer a Verizon version.
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if you mean a CDMA, no they won't. Apple has been very clear on this issue. they picked GSM to avoid making multiple models.
Now what they will likely do at some point is unlock the phone so that any company that supports the correct technology can be used. so in the US at this point that is ATT and T-Mobile. As the tech updates and moves into whatever will be 4g, if Verizon and Sprint choose to go that way (and apparently Verizon is researching the issue even now) then you are go to go.
The downside to the unlock/any carrier issue is that you might only be able to buy the handset at Apple for full retail which will be in the range of $499-699 likely. Upside to that is that it seems a lot if not most states have a law that if you provide the phone and the carrier just the service, they can't make you sign a termed contract or charge you an ETF cause they claim those two items are to recover device costs they paid. and since US law says you own your number til you give it up, you could then bounce providers to the best offer whenever you want
If you have to wait until January anyway, then that actually is the perfect month since there might be something new at Macworld. Unless that doesn't exist any more.
Apple stopped doing MacWorld after January. They are going to do all their own announcements. so any thing about the phone will likely be at the June WWDC just like this year and last.
Apple sold the original iPhone direct, and people freaked out over the price (because it wasn't subsidized by the carriers).
they freaked cause of required contract when usually gets a subsidy. and then you might recall a rebate to all early buyers and a price drop to match that new price.
so the carrier(s) prices still apply when you buy from Apple.
and the carrier rules. Apple can't override eligibility, deposits etc.
you are slightly wrong about one thing though. as of about two months ago in the US you could go into apple an buy the phone outright. no contract, no onsite activation. for full retail. still locked to ATT
Im in America in September could i no get a cheeper pay as you go there and pop my sim card in that when i get hame???
your plan is no good.
1. no pay as you go plans
2. activation requires a US tax id/social security number which you likely don't have
3. non activation requires payment of the full retail price ($499-699 depending on the model you get), but is still locked to ATT which may not be a valid provider where "home" is
they know it isn't the same, which is why they still lock you into a 2 year contract even if you do not accept a subsidy on the phone (i.e.. pay full price for it).
have you actually bought a full price phone.
for at&t no contract no commitment plan. lets say if i happen to buy a 3g s for $499. would it still be locked for at&t?
yes.
Actually, I bet most people put their iPhone purchase on their credit cards. Double whammy!
more like smart move. many CC companies now do like AmEx and offer a replacement protection on electronics bought on the card. which is good for when you water damage the phone and you can't get it service replaced. the protection only covers the original price paid but hey if they will pony up some of the cost, it hurts less.
oh please. Apple and ATT care about as much about this sort of thing as the networks do when they cancel a tv show. which is to say that they don't.
. If Apple wishes to remain exclusive with a single carrier
do you really think they want to be forever on ATT. probably not. But it is very likely that ATT fronted some R&D funds and this exclusive contract paying it off, like of like how your two year contract pays off device subsidies.
Can't I just purchase the phones from Apple on the eligible lines and activate them on the lines where I WANT to use them?? ATT gets their contract, I get my phones, life is good.
by letter of the law, no. eligibility is by line.
that said, go to an ATT store (NOT apple cause they have no control over the issue) and bitch and moan a lot and threaten to not only not buy the new phones but to take your business to Sprint and buy Pres and the people there will likely bend over backwards to work something out.
I completely disagree with you. Are you telling me that Apple spends far more on research for the iPhone than their Mac products?
at this point, yes they probably have. remember that the Mac products come from a long line of research dating back a couple of decades. and there is a lot of similar art they can refer to
the phone was a fresh new product unlike any other and the research is only perhaps 5 years old at the most.
so within the last 5 years they have probably spent more time and money on the phone than the Macs. because they needed to.
Apple was seeing a slowdown in sales. That is why they came out with a $99 iPhone.
so what is your job at Apple. you must work there if you know why they came out with the $99 8gb
perhaps the answer is simply that they marked down an existing model that they likely had a ton of stock on cause folks were so certain there would be a new phone that they stopped buying the current models. knocking down the price was a way to try to get rid of the phones into the market instead of eating the cost and profit by scrapping them.
