So, in some ways I'm not sure if I should be outraged, since I will not be one of the folks in line to purchase a new 3G iPhone next Friday. The reason being two-fold! First, I can't see myself paying Sprint $250.00 to get out of my contract that expires in November. Second, I still refuse to buy an IPOD device that cannot hold the 27 GB of music I have on my current 30GB model.
However, despite that, I found myself pretty upset when I saw what AT&T is going to charge for the 'data plan' (used to be called phone plan) for the new 3G iPhone.
Apparently, the baseline price for the phone is $199.99 for an 8GB model with a $299.99 cost for the 16GB model. Now, WOW! that's a whole two hundred dollars cheaper than the previous model... and you get to have more features, right? Wrong!
Those prices are based on a two year committemnt to AT&T. Here is the cost of the plan.
450 minutes, 5000 night and weekend, unlimited data (email) $69.99. That my friend is the base plan, and it is yes, you guessed it, 10 dollars more than the previous base plan which was $59.99, but wait... the DATA side does not include SMS (text messaging) why? I have no idea, but apparently you get to pay $20.00 for SMS. WTF! So, that means you will pay 89.99 a month for this phone. Guess what over time, it means you are paying about way more for the new iPhones with a 'cheaper' price tag.
In my humble opinion this will do exactly what Apple is hoping will not happen. In tough economy with 1st Gen iPhones only a year old, with a new iPhone that has restrictive memory and no video camera... AT&T is pricing this product out of reach for many consumers, who will gladly stick with other services offering now similar devices at lower cost for plans. Steve Jobs better slap somebody at AT&T!
However, despite that, I found myself pretty upset when I saw what AT&T is going to charge for the 'data plan' (used to be called phone plan) for the new 3G iPhone.
Apparently, the baseline price for the phone is $199.99 for an 8GB model with a $299.99 cost for the 16GB model. Now, WOW! that's a whole two hundred dollars cheaper than the previous model... and you get to have more features, right? Wrong!
Those prices are based on a two year committemnt to AT&T. Here is the cost of the plan.
450 minutes, 5000 night and weekend, unlimited data (email) $69.99. That my friend is the base plan, and it is yes, you guessed it, 10 dollars more than the previous base plan which was $59.99, but wait... the DATA side does not include SMS (text messaging) why? I have no idea, but apparently you get to pay $20.00 for SMS. WTF! So, that means you will pay 89.99 a month for this phone. Guess what over time, it means you are paying about way more for the new iPhones with a 'cheaper' price tag.
In my humble opinion this will do exactly what Apple is hoping will not happen. In tough economy with 1st Gen iPhones only a year old, with a new iPhone that has restrictive memory and no video camera... AT&T is pricing this product out of reach for many consumers, who will gladly stick with other services offering now similar devices at lower cost for plans. Steve Jobs better slap somebody at AT&T!
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