Apple and AT&T Announce iPhone Service Plans 538
daveschroeder writes "Apple and AT&T today announced service plans for iPhone, 4 days before its release in the US at 6pm local time on Friday, June 29. The plans are $59.99/mo for 450 minutes, $79.99 for 900 minutes, and $99.99 for 1350 minutes, and all include unlimited data, 200 SMS messages, rollover minutes, and unlimited mobile-to-mobile calling. Any other standard AT&T service plan may also be used. A two year service plan is required, with a $175 cancellation fee if terminated early. In addition, activations are done via iTunes, so only the hardware is purchased in the store. Interestingly, activation of a contract via iTunes is required to enable the iPod/syncing functionality of the phone as well. (It will remain to be seen whether there are workarounds for this for those who only want the iPod functionality of iPhone, and whether the iPhone is easily unlockable for those who wish to try it on alternate carriers, and so on.)"
iPod functionality (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:iPod functionality (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:For the Love of Money (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:iPod functionality (Score:3, Insightful)
Ah ha! (Score:5, Insightful)
I think you may have just hit on the very reason why Apple isn't supporting 3rd party apps. I'll bet the deal with AT&T had some sort of language to prevent this very thing since many of the iPhone's coolest features require a lot of data access. Since non-unlimited data plans are nightmarishly expensive if you're a heavy web user (like I am), it seems almost a prerequisite that iPhone plans come with unlimited data.
Naturally, this opens up the very possibility you just mentioned, so both AT&T and Apple are probably very keen on making sure that it doesn't happen. Hence, no iPhone SDK for 3rd parties. All the bluster about controlling the experience is probably just that -- bluster meant to distract from the real issue.
Why else would Apple cripple a brand new platform that could fuel a rush of developers for them except to appease AT&T?
Re:Alternate carriers (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Unlimited Data. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:A few MORE notes (Score:3, Insightful)
They wouldn't understand "change" if it bit them in the ass.
So they take it out on the people who happen to see the big picture.
btw. I see that the new "chocolate" phone (coming out shortly, I guess) from one of the other carriers will now start supporting transfer of music from the computer onto the phone. Where did they get that idea, and how did they ever find engineers that could accomplish such an amazing feat? And only a dozen months after they released their original music playing phone!
Re:Unlimited Data. (Score:4, Insightful)
Maximum transfer rate per second * 60 seconds * 60 minutes * 24 hours * 31 days.
That should give you your monthly limit.
Anything below that should be called "limited".
Re:iPod functionality (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:A few other notes (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Ah ha! (Score:2, Insightful)
Its actually for the reasons that they stated. I know the Slashdot set is rife with conspiracy theories but Apple and AT&T simply want to avoid the nightmare that other phones cause, such as Treos and WMobile devices of being returned when the user installs some instable 3rd party app and of course they go home and reload everything that was on the first phone onto the second phone causing another return, repeat repeat repeat.
Very reasonable... (Score:2, Insightful)
Don't believe the hype (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Ah ha! (Score:3, Insightful)
If you have a Treo running Windows Mobile or Palm OS you just do a hard reset and you're back to how it was when you opened the box. Why would users have to go back to store? Even then, the person at the store will just do a hard reset for the customer because they can't read the half page quick start/troubleshooting guide. It's a matter of pressing and holding two buttons, one of which you can't normally press since it is behind the battery. I wouldn't say this is a nightmare support experience at all considering all the software out there for these phones.
There is tons of 3rd party support for pretty much every phone out there with a computer interface, this is simply not an excuse. Apple wants complete control and they are willing to work with AT&T to make it happen. It's no different than how Apple has ever behaved on every other endeavor including the ipod. Not sure why you think it would be any different now.
Re:SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER? WTF? (Score:3, Insightful)
Ohh..that's another show stopper for me on the iPhone. I've always been with Sprint, but, I've NEVER given them my SS#. When I started, I refused, and I was happy to give them a cash deposit...which about a year later I got refunded.
Can you not do this with AT&T? I don't hand out my SS unless it is required for SS taxation....or maybe for a credit check to say...buy a house.
Re:Who came up with these prices? (Score:5, Insightful)
Bentley Vs My Car (VW Passat)
Both have 4 doors. Tie
Both Seat 5 People. Tie
Both drive on the same roads and get the passengers from A to B. Tie
Fuel Consumption. My car is better. Win my car
Price. My car is about 1/10th the price. Win my car
Speed, the Bentley is faster although given both a limited most of the time by the law and traffic conditions. Just win for the Bentley
Space. Win Bentley
Insurance cost. Win my car.
So is my car better then a Bentley. Nope although it is better value then a Bentley. It also doesn't go into all the little detail that make a Bentley better quality of finish etc. just like you fail to mention the experience of using the iPhone.
Re:A few other notes (Score:2, Insightful)
Why would one presume this, Dave? It's a cellphone, and some cellphones refuse to power on without a working SIM card. It appears the iPhone may be one of those. So much for being an iPod with cellular capabilities, eh?
"- It will be interesting to see whether AT&T will unlock the phone on request, as they do for other GSM phones (for international travel and prepaid SIMs), and if that is the case, how well other carriers' networks work with iPhone (obviously sans things like Visual Voicemail)."
Haven't you already declared as fact that all this will work, Dave? I seem to have had this conversation before.
"- Still no word on battery replacement specifics, but it seems safe to assume that iPhone is the same as iPod in this respect; namely, that it is sealed and that the battery isn't "user accessible", but that there will still be plenty of ways to replace the battery yourself or via third parties if you so choose (battery failure under warranty would be covered by the warranty)."
Why would this be safe to assume, Dave? Are you so embarrassed by an Apple product's shortcomings that you have to continually make up excuses and assumptions? Why can't you leave this just as it is? No user replacable battery.
"I'm going to be tracking this issue here."
Why would you bother doing that? I thought you weren't a fanboy? It's amazing your singular dedication to one product and one company for someone who only cares about the objective facts.
"WiFi via the browser will probably work fine as-is without a contract. Note: it is not certain that this is the case, but it seems likely."
Why does this seem likely? Why are you so motivated to make assumptions about how this device will work? Why can't you just say that we don't know until it ships? The iPhone is locked to AT&T services. That's how it is until we know otherwise.
"- Also remains to be seen how "hackable" the phone is in general. Here's to hoping."
Just come out and say it, Dave. The iPhone will be everyone's dream machine.
Re:Ah ha! (Score:4, Insightful)
re: Treo 650, etc. (Score:3, Insightful)
But you have to admit, the iPhone looks FAR more capable than any of these other "smartphones". With my Treo 650, for example, my web browsing experience was a total joke. Most sites I tried to pull up simply crashed the browser with some kind of exception error. Other times, they worked, but had the links scattered all over the screen, making it almost impossible to figure out which part of the site they even corresponded with.
I remember, for example, going car shopping and taking my Treo with me, with the idea that I could quickly look up some used-car blue-book prices on Edmunds or Kelly Blue Book's web site. Nope... just futile!
It also appears it has a functional/useful built-in camera. Of course it's not going to stack up well against a good quality digital stand-alone camera, but sample photos circulating on the net sure look far better than the dark, dingy or blurry results I got out of my Moto Razr or Treo cameras!
The Google map integration of the iPhone looks like a very useful feature too. You can get directions to a restaurant or hotel, for example, and then dial the number to the place with a tap on the screen. I never had anything that worked nearly as well on my Treo. (I remember having a couple 411 directory type applets for it to find phone numbers of places, but half the time, they'd just come back with some kind of "service unavailable" message when I tried to use them.)
Re:A few MORE notes (Score:4, Insightful)
Sleazy? What a strange word to use here. I think you overestimate the importance of Slashdot karma... and probably of Slashdot in general. Most of us like to browse Slashdot, looking for some interesting news, and partake in the discussions. Karma helps us get our points across, but for most of us, it's not the end of the world if we lose some now and again. In any case, it's pretty judgmental to assume that dave is preparing to launch an assault on some Slashdot sacred cow, and he doesn't have any links in his posts (in a sig or in the header) to a commercial site or blog, only his webpage at his school, so he's not making money off of people reading his posts.
Let's all take a break from our computers now and step outside for some fresh air.
Re:Ah ha! (Score:5, Insightful)
I think you may have just hit on the very reason why Apple isn't supporting 3rd party apps. I'll bet the deal with AT&T had some sort of language to prevent this very thing since many of the iPhone's coolest features require a lot of data access.
Indeed. Having worked in wireless myself, down in the customer support trenches, I can tell you that most carriers rue the dawn of Treo's and Win smartphones and such. If they could take it all back without blatantly appearing to be the complete and utter bastards what that they are then they certainly would faster than a 10khz tone drops an old fashion amps call.
Enter his Steveness wielding the iPhone. It does a few nifty tricks heretofore unseen from cellphones and oh, look, it's an iPod too. "Smartphone schmartphone" sez AT&T execs, "it's an iPhone and that's different. Make Mr. Jobs tweak the reality distortion field to our liking. He will acquiesce if he wants his precious to ever touch a network like ours, Muwahahaha!" Making a deal with a carrier is akin to making a deal with the dark one himself. I'd not be surprised if the iPhone has shed features along the way, features some of us have been bitching for. I've seen this first hand many times. Think Motorola and Verizon for example. Or Nokia and most any US carrier. And need I remind you how supposedly Jobs had approached VZW first who then sent him packing? It's my observation that most of us will never again see the day of newer "smart" phones getting to market 100% unmolested and in their original state as intended by the manufacturers.
Re:Who came up with these prices? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:For the Love of Money (Score:4, Insightful)
I heard the other day on NPR how it was difficult for Apple or any other hardware manufactuer to get into the phone market because of the service cartel. Personally, I think talking about $80/mo as if its nothing is crazy. I pay like $30/mo for my phone and I think I'm getting ripped off (~ 12-15 of that is taxes and fees and other crap).
I simply don't understand how I can use the internet for $20-40/mo, unlimited "minutes" worldwide access, but talking to someone on the phone frequently costs more?
To me, in 2007, phone service should be less than $20/mo, but being that people are willing to spend over $100/household for phones, the phone service people will gladly take their money.
Re:Ah ha! (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Plans are not cheap (Score:3, Insightful)
iPhone plan = 450 minute $39.99 voice plan [att.com] plus $19.99 unlimited data smart phone plan with e-mail [att.com].
Re:Unlimited data, eh? (Score:5, Insightful)
Without Flash or Java? I'd say pretty damn hard.
Re:For the Love of Money (Score:3, Insightful)
You're not really paying for the ability to talk on the phone or connect to the internet. You're paying for the ability to talk on the phone or connect to the internet more or less anywhere. Phone companies are unscrupulous bastards, yes, but that's not the only reason phone service costs what it does.
Re:74GB capacity? (Score:2, Insightful)
My guess is that it's not a higher capacity iPhone that's being shown here (by mistake) but rather that this style of syncing/reporting will become available for existing iPods and this screen shot slipped in.
Re:Unlimited data, eh? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Slashdot is against the wrong monopoly (Score:4, Insightful)
You can't do the same in the PC market. You will grow grey hairs before Dell or HP or any other PC maker will offer you real options in your OS. Sure, a few token free OS offerings to hobbyists, but no commercial competition, and no hope for that situation to change. It's been the same since the early 90s. That's a monopoly.
Avoiding Windows is like trying to avoid roads or money. Sure you can barter and live in a cave, but there is really no option to avoiding Windows. You can easily avoid any products from Apple and find all sorts of competitive alternatives.
Apple: iPhone Now Costs Less than Ballmer's Lame Motorola Q [roughlydrafted.com]
After earlier blowing apart iPhone battery panic with an announcement of 8 hours of talk time, Apple dropped yet another bombshell upon "business as usual" in the mobile market.