Apple iPhone to be available for prepaid users?
One thing we know about the Apple iPhone launch, is that we don’t really know much. Today we received a few screen shots that shed some light on one of the major questions regarding the sales of the iPhone — who will be eligible to buy this new dream gadget? According to some newly surfaced internal AT&T account codes the answer is everyone! We can infer from the 3 codes received that the iPhone will be available to Go Phone Pay As You Go subscribers, Go Phone Pick Your Plan subscribers (hybrids), and of course postpaid users. You heard it here first – prepaid iPhones baby! What we can also assume is that since the masters of prepaid can purchase these, anyone will be able to snatch one up, whether they are in contract or not. This means that if you’re not up for an "upgrade" you will still be able to enjoy your Apple goodness. Now if we can only get the official no-commitment pricing…Who are we kidding, we’ll have that soon. Check the full screen shots after the jump!
UPDATE: There have been a couple articles stating that feature codes are generated automatically when a handset is entered into AT&T’s system, even phones that are not available prepaid. That is true. What is not true is that these feature codes were not generic codes, these are completely unique and never seen before. This was confirmed by multiple AT&T sources. Does this 100% mean the iPhone will be available prepaid? No. It does at least let us know either that the unique, never seen before feature codes entered one by one were incorrect and a mistake, AT&T is generating false information to get us to bite, or the iPhone will in fact be available prepaid.
Just to add one more point…the data won’t work on those unlocked Sidekick 3’s…only voice and SMS which for the iPhone might be exactly just what people want…I still don’t see it though.
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Ok. Last post, I promise. As far as unlocking the Sidekick goes, there is no point cuz you lose your sidekick account which does the data/email/IM services. You end up with a bulky phone for the most part and Sidekick 3’s & the new Sidekick iD are the only ones that can’t be unlocked.
As to the iPhone, it is an ipod & a phone. It doesn’t download over the air from the iTunes store AFAIK. Therefore it has to be connected to a PC. As I said much earlier, if you can connect it to a PC, and it is running OS X, it can be hacked. Apple touted that running OSX on their iphone was one of the key features. I fully expect an unlock code & hacked software (maybe even a complete OS replacement) to rapidly appear despite Apple trying to prevent such things from happening. It has happened with the ipod, it will happen with the iphone.
Someone will eventually spring for the $600 phone and do everyone a favor. Especially if Cingular/ATT allows prepaid iPhones (which I doubt they will). Look at what happened when Apple finally started using Intel chips. A bounty was offered for the first person to dual-boot Windows XP & OS X. Apple saw the writing on the wall and offered their version as well. Just my 4 cents (two wasn’t enough)
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As I understand it, the only “wow” iPhone feature that would be lost in an unlocked-iPhone-on-other-carrier scenario is the “super special” v-mail thingy. The other killer aps such as free push e-mail(the one that has RIM nervous). This is controlled by Apple and is therefore a carrier-agnostic feature. Ditto with iTunes OTA access.
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excuse my ignorance… but am i right in thinking the iPhone will retail for around $500 WITH a two year contract? if so, surely an offline (pay as you go) unit is going to cost around the $1500 mark?
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Lets just burst this bubble before it gets out of hand… There is currently no prepaid plan of unlimited pda usage. iPhone for the 500 or 600 2 year commitment price will be with unlimited data , after any and all rebates of course. Of course, you can all keep your hopes up, but someone shelling one grand for a phone at no commitment price, and then not getting the full use of it? Come on now…
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@Kane: I seriously doubt it. If the contract price point is, for the sake of argument, $500, the retail price should be $650.
@Brad: The largest buy-down that I’m aware of is about $150. Data plan add-ons usually do not give the agent additional spifs, therefore no additional buy-down. Given the contract price range you state, how can the retail price be $1000? And again, the only functionality you lose by taking the iPhone out of AT&T’s tent is video v-mail, the rest is carrier-independent.
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Well..to debunk all of these theories and ramblings about Retail, Prepaid, Unlocking and such…Iphone will not be sold at launch for retail..I DONT CARE WHAT ANYONE SAYS…I work for this juggernaut called ATT Mobility…And from first hand experience a phone like this will be reserved for Contracts only..IE all the people that I speak to every single day who have another carrier..just waiting to jump ship for this overhyped thing…Management and Marketing have no intention of selling this prepaid..nor will we offer it to anyone off the street who is not allready an ATT customer..Unlocking is not an option until someone finds a hack to do it..and you will not have MMS or ISP service on any other carrier until they launch the phone on that company due to the IP and network portal settings…SO…this endless pointless stuff can end…NO PREPAID, NO UNLOCK, RETAIL for $700 plus (maybe in August)…BUT NO CONTRACT NO IPHONE..Thank you and Goodnight
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As I recall the Iphone will have no subsidies correct? With no subsidies there will be no buydown in that case, am I mistaken?
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Everyone thinks that it all ATT not talking about when the phone is going to be out and this and that. well yeah of course att is not going to be saying anything about anything. It is in their contract with apple that they can’t. Actually no one that is involved with this phone cannot say anything. Try going to an Apple store and asking them something about the phone. HA good luck with that. The fact of the matter is we do not know anything that is going on with the phone and are not even able to try and talk about it. The most information that i have gotten is from apple.com and the little info on cingy.com
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Well, just so you all get the big picture here… The reason no authorized agents will not be able to carry this phone for at least 6 months… to keep the price steady. A grand to purchase this phone with no contract is feasible. And on the prepaid note… how many of you would buy a 8525 and slap that bad boy on prepaid… show of hands please… Given its at least 3G, wifi, Media Player, 2 MP Camera/Video, and a Qwerty Keyboard… yet less then the iPhone. I would love to see you put a pda on prepaid..
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Okay I’m one that knows why i use the pre paid. Simply TRAVEL i have the nokia 7380 that i bought in japan brought 2 america and found out that when i travel i don’t pay roaming i pay the same per minute fee. So for me its easy and it works where ever i am. The other great thing is that you still get the cing.-cing. free. The internet for me is a fee too i forget how much i think its the same as minutes but it does come out of your total right away.
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Regular plans with cingular have better coverage, no roaming, the same unlimited mobile to mobile, and is cheaper on a per min basis… yet you do prepaid in the US for travel? And how can you compare a nokia 7380 to the cingular 8525 or the apple iPhone?
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hey, but, perhaps, i can avoid roaming by simply unlocking the phone? here guys say they will be able to unlock iphone soon after it is released: http://www.fineunlock.com/products/Apple-iPhone/Apple-iPhone-Unlock.html
did anybody hear whether we can trust them? i wouldn’t like to use any sw for unlocking, probably i’d better unlock by imei, will that be available for iphone?
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the iPhone unlocked…. come on… there is a 5 year contract with AT&T, for exclusivity. This means no one else can sell the phone.. no authorized agents, no third parties, no one but Apple, and corporate AT&T stores, again to keep the price steady. And anyone who says the phone is unlocked already, without holding the darn thing in thier hand is not trustable.. especially a third party person.
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Can anyone explain to me what a hybrid plan and a postpaid plan are??
Thanks!!!!!!!!!
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Hybrid is a prepaid plan that is monthly… 29.99 for 200 min to the 69.99 for 650 anytime, unlimited nights and weekends and unlimited mobile to mobile. This is a more expensive method of service, but requires no contract, credit check, or social security #. A postpaid accout is paying monthly, bigger bundle of minutes, and far cheaper, requires a contract, at least at the beginning, and has to have a social security/credit check.
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Just to crystallize what Brad said, a hybrid plan is a cross between a prepaid and postpaid/contract plan. In the case of AT&T, you get a bucket of minutes based on what the amount you pay at the beginning of each month, and you can add minutes in increments of $15 and $25 if you run out before the next cycle. You get fewer minutes for your $$$ than a contract, but more than on a traditional prepaid plan.
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Based on the new iPhone ads, you need a contract.
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One question…with laws requiring number portability, how can a carrier not allow you to sign a contract, pay the penalty to get out of it, and then go to another carrier with that phone?
One comment…everyone is talking about a 5 year exclusivity contract when all accounts have it at 2 yrs http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2082059,00.asp
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I am a “Cingular - Now The New AT&T” CSR and just finished 2 hours of pre-sales training. The iPhone WILL be available using our Pre-Paid Pick Your Plan. The obvious advantage to this is that there will be no contact required and no deposit for less than adequate credit. This also creats a great opportunity for resale purposes.
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i hope this can be more ceaper than 400-600. the i-phone is preety nice. i wish i can get one for free because i can not effort that.
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I would also love this phone but the cost is too high. Does anyone know the cost of the phone without a contract?
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You would be surprised how many affluent Americans use prepaid. While I wouldnt consider myself wealthy, I always look at all options to leave more money in the bank. I work in the Petroleum industry mostly in deepwater/offshore. There is no cellular service out here. Most of us in this industry are only home a few days each month. Surprise you have thousands of people who use pre-paid cellular service out here. The iphone lets me have one item to carry bak and forth. Just my .02 cents on who uses pre-paid…
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T-mobile to go prepaid allows you to buy 1000 minutes (off ebay if you wish at a discount) and they are good for 1 year. Adding additional minutes will reset the year clock even if you add only 10 minutes and any additional minutes added after the first 1000 are increased by 15%.
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when you have bad credit and no choice.
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