Jun

iPhone 3G – Too Many Unanswered Question: SMS? Upgrades? Activation? Price?

apple, iphone Tags

I wonder if AT&T and Apple maybe haven’t quite worked out the kinks in this new system yet, or if this is simply an example of bad communication, but the information we got about the new iPhone at yesterday’s WWDC keynote left us with more questions than answers.

Here are some questions I have:

Upgrades and what’s the price?

Judging from today’s memo from AT&T, there is a possibility that there will be a price different from the $199 that Steve Jobs proclaimed as the maximum price:

Upgrade eligibility will be determined based on standard upgrade eligibility rules. Customers must be upgrade eligible to receive the qualified upgrade pricing. However, not all customers will be qualified upgrades. AT&T has not determined the price of the 3G device for non-qualified upgrades.

So apparently, last year’s ‘just-buy-an-iPhone-and-we-forget-about-your-old-phone’ deal won’t be in effect this time around (or at least not for non-iPhone 1 users).

SMS?

Update: Looks like the included SMS messages are a thing of the past. The old $20 unlimited data plan included 200 SMS messages. So far, non of the information that has been released mentions SMS messages as included in the new $30 3G plan – or mentions SMS messages at all.

Activation?

Are we really going to be forced to go through the arcane activation process in a store? Will Apple stores and AT&T stores have different policies here? Will the Apple store employees be trained to do phone contracts now (I do have more faith in the Apple store guys and gals getting this stuff right than the dudes who work at the AT&T stores, by the way)? What about those who want to buy the phones as a gift? Judging from the memo – there won’t be any pay-as-you go deals either (before, you could just enter 999-99-9999 as a SSN and not sign a contract). But then, that was never officially mentioned anywhere either.

Online sales?

There will be no more online sales? Why not? It’s not like AT&T isn’t selling its subsidized phones online already. Just pre-activate them before you kick them onto the UPS truck.

Technorati tags: apple, iphone 3g

17 Comments to “iPhone 3G – Too Many Unanswered Question: SMS? Upgrades? Activation? Price?”

ErikSchwartz June 10, 2008 at 11:25 am
Are we really going to be forced to go through the arcane activation process in a store?

You bet you will. If ATT is paying for 50% of the phone there's no way they're going to let you out of the store without a contract.

To unlock you'll need to pay the ATT termination fee.
Erik Schwartz June 10, 2008 at 11:25 am
Are we really going to be forced to go through the arcane activation process in a store?

You bet you will. If ATT is paying for 50% of the phone there's no way they're going to let you out of the store without a contract.

To unlock you'll need to pay the ATT termination fee.
ErikSchwartz June 10, 2008 at 11:25 am
Are we really going to be forced to go through the arcane activation process in a store?

You bet you will. If ATT is paying for 50% of the phone there's no way they're going to let you out of the store without a contract.

To unlock you'll need to pay the ATT termination fee.
ErikSchwartz June 10, 2008 at 11:25 am
Are we really going to be forced to go through the arcane activation process in a store?

You bet you will. If ATT is paying for 50% of the phone there's no way they're going to let you out of the store without a contract.

To unlock you'll need to pay the ATT termination fee.
MG Siegler June 10, 2008 at 11:45 am
Interesting, I called AT&T on this a few weeks ago and was assured that if there was to be a new iPhone and if it was to be subsidized, I could get the thing at the subsidized price even if my current plan was not up yet. (Was thinking ahead )

http://venturebeat.com/2008/05/18/fear-not-ipho...
MG Siegler June 10, 2008 at 11:45 am
Interesting, I called AT&T on this a few weeks ago and was assured that if there was to be a new iPhone and if it was to be subsidized, I could get the thing at the subsidized price even if my current plan was not up yet. (Was thinking ahead )

http://venturebeat.com/2008/05/18/fear-not-ipho...
MG Siegler June 10, 2008 at 11:45 am
Interesting, I called AT&T on this a few weeks ago and was assured that if there was to be a new iPhone and if it was to be subsidized, I could get the thing at the subsidized price even if my current plan was not up yet. (Was thinking ahead )

http://venturebeat.com/2008/05/18/fear-not-ipho...
MG Siegler June 10, 2008 at 11:45 am
Interesting, I called AT&T on this a few weeks ago and was assured that if there was to be a new iPhone and if it was to be subsidized, I could get the thing at the subsidized price even if my current plan was not up yet. (Was thinking ahead )

http://venturebeat.com/2008/05/18/fear-not-ipho...
frederic June 10, 2008 at 11:50 am
From what I've seen – that's definitely true for current 1st gen iPhone
owners, but judging from the memo – it's not clear if the same rules would
apply to those who own another phone and are not yet eligible for upgrades -
would they pay a higher price? How does that mesh with Jobs' $199 max? Why
do we even have to wonder about this?
frederic June 10, 2008 at 11:50 am
From what I've seen – that's definitely true for current 1st gen iPhone
owners, but judging from the memo – it's not clear if the same rules would
apply to those who own another phone and are not yet eligible for upgrades -
would they pay a higher price? How does that mesh with Jobs' $199 max? Why
do we even have to wonder about this?
frederic June 10, 2008 at 11:50 am
From what I've seen – that's definitely true for current 1st gen iPhone
owners, but judging from the memo – it's not clear if the same rules would
apply to those who own another phone and are not yet eligible for upgrades -
would they pay a higher price? How does that mesh with Jobs' $199 max? Why
do we even have to wonder about this?
frederic June 10, 2008 at 11:50 am
From what I've seen – that's definitely true for current 1st gen iPhone
owners, but judging from the memo – it's not clear if the same rules would
apply to those who own another phone and are not yet eligible for upgrades -
would they pay a higher price? How does that mesh with Jobs' $199 max? Why
do we even have to wonder about this?
MG Siegler June 10, 2008 at 11:58 am
Ahh thanks for clearing that up Frederic — you just saved me on long bitching post about AT&T lying to me
MG Siegler June 10, 2008 at 11:58 am
Ahh thanks for clearing that up Frederic — you just saved me on long bitching post about AT&T lying to me
MG Siegler June 10, 2008 at 11:58 am
Ahh thanks for clearing that up Frederic — you just saved me on long bitching post about AT&T lying to me
MG Siegler June 10, 2008 at 11:58 am
Ahh thanks for clearing that up Frederic — you just saved me on long bitching post about AT&T lying to me
WinExtra » Don’t blame Apple for that sucking sound around your wallet June 11, 2008 at 9:29 am
[...] wasn’t Apple who was going to be doing the gouging even though there were some out there who felt a lot of questions still need to be answered by the company. What I was finding though was that people like M.G. Siegler’s, Cyndy [...]