No-Contract iPhone Found in AT&T Press Release

Stacey Higginbotham, Tuesday, July 1, 2008 at 7:26 AM PT Comments (9)

If you want a 3G iPhone without an AT&T contract, you can get one. Eventually. For $599 for the 8 GB version or $699 for the 16 GB version. That’s a 200 percent markup over the $199 price tag for the 8 GB version with a contract. AT&T isn’t providing details yet on when this hoped-for option will be offered (will it look like the SIM card plan?), or if the iPhone is unlocked, but a spokesman said all will be revealed before the July 11 launch.

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2 trackbacks so far

July 1st, 2008
12:47 PM PT

AT&T ofrecerá el Iphone sin contrato? | El Blog de K.M.Q.L said:

[...] tendrá el nuevo iPhone 3G de varios operadores y no parecen caras… Ahora nos enteramos, por un post en el blog de Om Malik y algo de ayuda de Boy Genius Report, que AT&T está pensando en lanzar [...]

July 3rd, 2008
12:09 AM PT

Quieres tu iPhone SIN contrato? | Teléfonos móviles, adsl, gadgets y juegos. said:

7 comments so far

July 1st, 2008
8:08 AM PT

Shiva said:

A Rip-off in waiting?!

July 1st, 2008
10:08 AM PT

Dhirender said:

The $199 price tag seemed too good to be true.

July 1st, 2008
12:20 PM PT

Mike Cerm said:

So, if you can get the $199 iPhone with contract, instantly cancel the contract and only pay a $175 early-termination fee, why would anyone pay $599 for the contract-free iPhone?

Technically, you may have to wait 30 days to cancel, and pay for service for 1 month, but that’s still a lot cheaper.

July 1st, 2008
10:08 PM PT

Sachin said:

I hope this same thing (iPhone without a contract) comes to India also.

July 3rd, 2008
9:31 PM PT

Evan said:

Mike Cerm,

If you do that, the contract states that you must return the iphone as well.

July 11th, 2008
9:48 AM PT

Subbu said:

The hidden terms of the iPhone2 contract seems to be unfair to consumers. Everytime we take out the sim card for temporary use with another handset and put it back to iPhone we need to “re-activate” the phone and the contract gets extended for 2 years from the “re-activation” date. I have to switch to my old Palm Treo temporarily for some calls so as to use the call recording feature. If I keep doing this I will be on contract with AT&T for my whole life. A “bonded customer”. Isn’t this an unfair trade practice??

GigaOM