AT&T bringin’ sexy back, offering iPhone 3G at no-commitment price, no activation
Time to clear out some inventory, boys! AT&T, starting March 26th, is going to start offering the 8GB and 16GB iPhone 3Gs at a no-commitment price. These prices are $599 and $699 respectively. The good news is that you do not need to perform an activation/unbrick at the point of purchase, so you can buy the devices for your grandma, your best friend, or for half of China before you head back home. There’s a limit of “one per line” which makes us think you’ll need an active AT&T line to purchase an iPhone (AT&T stores typically don’t sell you no-contract phones unless you provide them with an active line of yours), but the presentation also says that they basically have no way of tracking this. Still, at $599 and $699, are these going to move? Time will tell. Hit the jump for some more shots of the presentation we got a hold of!
LOL It does not anywhere I saw say it is carrier unlocked… So ATT still owns you. Or you bought an expensive iPod Touch…
Personally they could offer the iPhone for $50 and I would not buy it, give me my Blackberry any day of the week!
Does this mean you can stick an ATT gophone sim card, and avoid paying the $70/month voice+data?
Keep in mind that “no commitment” is not identical to “SIM-unlocked.” If you can only use the device on AT&T anyway, why would you not buy it on a contract?
when with i phone be for sale on the exclusive side?
The Blackberry Bold is a better phone anyway…
@Blackberry fanboys: stop trolling.
This is still a shitty deal, but will probably appeal to iCrazies who dropped/dipped/destroyed their phone and can’t renew.
You could travel with it; you could have an old AT&T Wireless (pre-Cingular plan) that you could use without switching to a newer, more expensive current plan…
The reason the ATT website says that it is only 200-300 is because right now all the iPhone require activation and a 2 year service commitment and you have to get the data plan. Basically the iPhone is subsidized This article is saying that in the future you might be able to purchase the iPhone 3G at a higher price 600-700 and not have to sign any contract or commit to 2 year service or have a data plan. They are probably doing this to clear inventory because of a new iPhoen coming out.
You’ll also pay more $$ in tax if you buy it outright.
$770 after tax (Chicago,IL) for outright.
$330 after tax
+ $240 ETF
+ $36 activation
+ $35 (portion of 1month’s service)
= $641 Total cost to sign, activate and cancel.
Besides, the next version iphone is too near to pay $641 for the old one.
Stupid move, AT&Tingular
P.S. If you want to go without data @ $30/month, you’ll save $740 + taxes over the course of the 2yr contract that you don’t have to fulfill. That more than offsets the extra cost of the phone.
Damm.
I am outside of the 30 day period but would love to have the phone w/o commitment. Such is life.
As silly as it sounds. I wanted to get an iphone until the lease of Windows Mobile 7 on the Touch Pro 2 but i did not want to get locked in for two years with the iphone. so this option works for me. even at 500 bucks.
it states that you have to add the 30 unl data package to the customers account so that a no on the go phone and wobbly u still have to add the data plan …. whats the point of having the iphone without data anyways
I’m constantly in a wifi area since I’m a university student, so the $30/mo data plan makes no sense. That’s also why I’ve held off from the iphone and blackberry storm.
These prices seem inline for a current gen device.
The teardown for both iphone 3g and the bold were around $180.
And the bold is going for 560 on newegg. The rest is apple tax, presumably.
…..L@@KIE HERE:
…1) BUY “UNLOCKED” 3G iPHONE OFF E-BAY $500.00
…2) SLIDE IN YOUR ATT VOICE/DATA SIM CARD…$0.0
…3) USE YOUR NEW 3G iPHONE $0.0 ADDITIONAL
DISREGARD THE LETTERS FROM ATT I.E.: ABOUT …”NOTICE YOU ARE USING A DATA iPHONE ON YOUR (OTHER PHONE) ATT ACCOUNT, PLEASE CALL ATT REP AND GET A iPHONE DATA ACCOUNT”
NOTE, AS THIS IS IN VOILATION OF FTC LAWS, AND ATT CAN NOT ENFORCE, AS LONG AS YOUR BILL IS PAID, YOU CAN USE WHATEVER DEVICE YOU WANT, AS LONG AS IT IS A FCC APPROIVED DEVICE, AND ATT CAN NOT CHARGE YOU ADDITIONAL FEE FOR USEING A iPHONE, OR ANYTHING ELSE….BUT THEY WILL TRY…..BUT THEY CAN NOT MAKE YOU STOP USUNG THE UNLOCKED iPHONE…
TOTAL COST FOR iPHONE AND USE ON ATT….. $500.00 + YOUR REGULAR ATT VOICE AND DATA MONTHLY PLAN FEE…….
DON’T BE CONNED BY ATT……
ENOUGH SAID…
LS
man for those prices id just go get a htc touch hd….if u want and iLame that freakin badm go on ebay pay 200 for one with a jacked up screen and let cnn.cn become your best friend…
Maybe I’m confused, but isn’t it still cheaper to get an iPhone 3G with an AT&T contract & pay the $175 or less to cancel it??
I don’t get it… 600 USD for the 8 GB model? Correct me if I don’t add numbers correctly but: iPhone with plan + early termination fee + 1 month contract = 199 + 175 + 70 = 444 USD.
It’s legal to break a contract, right?
Hi there
I am with TMobile, could I buy the iphone and then use my sim card or how would that work or could that work? Sorry I am new to all this but I want to use TMobile still have 2w yr contract. I can use sons acc with att to get I phone.
Thanks
ridiculous pricing. stupid Apple products.
Look nobody who could pull a $0 deposit, get the phone for $199 and cancel would pay $600 for it. We understand that.
However I have had plenty of customers ask to buy one outright. It happens all the time. How about Mexicans w/o SSNs? How about the Japanese/Pakistani/French/whatever who is in for school, business, or whatever and is on their way back in a week or two? $600 for an iPhone w/no strings attached is great. And yes they will find someone w/an acct to buy it for them.
I’m certain AT&T isn’t expecting this to reduce churn or anything else. It’s just a way to make a bit on phones that would otherwise be sitting on the shelf, presumably to make way for a new iPhone or reduce excess inventory possibly due to slowing sales?
/thread
Is it a possibility that they’re pushing sales of the iPhone 3G to deplete inventory and make way for a new iPhone? If you follow the pattern of iPhone releases (not a very long pattern to run on), beta software releases (iPhone 3.0 beta software conference was held on March 17) are usually followed by actual software releases (projected for the summer) and a hardware refresh (who knows).
…just a thought
sales are not slowing… as a matter of fact, theyve increased since the 3.0 software was announced. fact is, everyone is looking for a no-commitment and to avoid there being any issues legally, my guess is they figured itd be best to go ahead and give them what they want. lets face it, we all know that its cheaper to just start up an account and cancel… but really, the hassle isnt worth it for 1/2 the people… plus most stores are hesitant to sell you the phone if youre not interested in accessories (which, yes i know u can take and return 20 minutes later at a different store)
total cost:
212.93 (8gb iphone with tax)
175.00 (cancellation)
36.00 (activation fee)
100.00 (estimate of 1st bill)
Totals: 523.93
more than likely you’ll be getting prorated unless you know the billing system and can figure out how to get as little proration as possible. you’ll end up paying the same either way. youre screwed!
sources: COR store employee