$600-700 for an iphone. It's just not worth it. A laptop a cell phone a power inverter and a starbucks gift card so you can feel like a pretentious jerk can still be yours for less.

When an R makes a difference... I think you mean "contract free" instead of "contract fee."

jailbreak..... sigh

is it still cheaper than getting a contract and paying an ETF to break it?

@flugangst: ha, talk about messing up the meaning. Thx, fixed.

@sonneillon: I didn't think these things were worth $300-400, or even the discounted $200 they started offing them at, it's just a damned phone...

That's about $200 more than I expected. You can get a Mac Mini for that much.

@antisane: No one can currently beat iPhone's amazin UI, in my opinion (maybe the Pre when it comes out), but for that kind of money you can buy an unlocked Nokia N-series phone that will run circles around the iPhone's specs list. There's no way that hardware is worth $700.

I got my Blackjack II for $50, referbushed.

$400+ for a phone? LAWLS.

Jeezum crow, that's just a bad deal all around.

In the US at least, the 3G functionality is irrevocably tied to AT&T, as the radio doesn't have transcievers for the bands that T-Mobile's 3G service is using. So I really don't see why one would want to go contract-free here...

@taking_this_easy: nope. it's A LOT more expensive.
cheapest iphone is $99 and ETF is $175

I forget who pointed it out, but it's actually cheaper to pay for an iPhone with a 2 year contract and an ETF than it is to buy an iPhone without a contract.

Oh, AT&T, trying to pull the wool over our eyes.

@taking_this_easy: Nope.

Meh. And meh on Apple for not providing a developer phone, because now I have to buy an iPhone on an AT&T for development uses only because the simulator just isn't cutting it.

1) $600 for a contract free iPhone, to only AT&T subscribers, that is still locked to AT&T is incredibly retarded. Especially considering you can get almost any other smartphone that is unlocked at the same price or less if you shop around.

2) "you'll still have to buy the more expensive iPhone data plan"

Bullshit. Check your facts man. The iPhone data plan is exactly the same price as the Blackberry data plan, and neither include texting in the data only plans.

@krispykrink: more expensive compared to the regular generic data plan AT&T offers.

@krispykrink: to be more accurate, I'll change it to "Smartphone data plan"

@Chris Walters: That's true. I think AT&T canned that a few months ago though. They got rid of the $20 unlimited MediaNet option to push people into these more expensive data options.

This is stupid, but meh. What I find really annoying, and that prevents me from considering an iPhone, is the expense of the data plan they make you get on AT&T. It's just stupid that it's twice as expensive as the other data plans. ESPECIALLY since they haven't actually provided 3G service here yet in my city of 100,000+ people. It seems pretty damn stupid to pay $30/month for data alone when I can't even use anything except for EDGE when I'm not traveling.

@I_am_Awesome: You could get a real smartphone and a Netbook for that much.

So, translating from Corporate to English: "hahahahaha, fuck you! come again!"

yup ... I like the Iphone from a conceptual view, but I am sick and tired of shelling out large amounts of money for technology that requires me tied to a specific business.

I don't mind the contractual requirments for a subsidized phone but for god sakes stop making me brick a phone every time I swap carriers. I lost the use of my favorite phone in the world (Audiovox PPC6600) when I went from Spring to QWest, and NOW Qwest is forcibly bricking the crappy HTC I paid $150 for not even 2 years ago because THEY decided a Windows mobile was the same as a Blackberry.

From now on I'll just get the cheapest phone I can stand, and spend my money on a PDA.

@Chris Walters:

Forget N-series, go E. Barebones business models for much less than a iPhone. With a real keyboard to boot!

FYI, not a shill. Just happen to prefer Nokia 6xxx and E-series as they seem to be invulnerable.

hey I didn't know we could swear in the comments!
Fuckin-A! This is some Shit!

"fuck you, I pay cash for my iPhone!"

"MEH!"

/oh, that's not a swear word.

Thus continues the saga of undeserving anal rape from mobile phone companies.

They are all guilty of suck.

@howie_in_az:

I'm selling my iphone.....

Yeah, it's pretty humorous that it's still locked even when you buy it outright with no contract.

I actually thought the reason why they wouldn't sell it outside of a contract was so that they didn't have to answer the question:

"Why is this phone locked to AT&T even though I paid for it out right and was never subsidized?"

I still love mine, though. Fortunately AT&T service is on par with or better than my old carrier, Verizon. At least everywhere I've been so far.

Face it, Apple and Jobs blew it by locking in to AT&T. I had AT&T and their service was sub-par as far as I'm concerned. I've been a Verizon customer for many, many years and I would probably leap at buying a reasonably priced iPhone that works on Verizon in a heartbeat. At this rate I'll buy myself a an iPod Touch when the novelty is over and the used market is flooded with cheapies from people looking to dump them.

Of course, I'm ankle deep in defective iMacs in my office so I have to wonder about Apple quality control these days too. Maybe I'll just by somebody else's smart phone.

I've decided against the iPhone mostly because the data plan is $30 per phone. So you're telling me I have to pay $60 for two iPhones and this does NOT include text, for which I have spend even more money? And let's not forget the money you're demanding for the phone itself.

Yeah, no thanks. I'll just stick with the LG Vu or something and I won't feel absolutely pressured to get the data plan.

Btw, does anyone know whether a phone that is capable of using WiFi requires a data plan? I'm wondering if I can get a WiFi capable phone (like the LG Incite and the HTC Fuze) without a data plan and just use WiFi connections around me?

@pecan 3.14159265: I know you can do that with unlocked Nokia smartphones that have Wifi. The Wifi is a totally separate feature, and the service provider has no say over it. (Esp. if the phone is unlocked.)

I've had an N95 and an N82 and used both without ever paying for a data plan. I now pay for one simply to be able to have more access when I'm not near a hotspot.

If I'm wrong on this, let me know, because this is my understanding:

Apple's deal with AT&T is because Apple is greedy beyond reasonable bounds. How about the next computer you buy is only good with Comcast Cable's internet service, and if you 'jailbreak' it by installing linux or some other OS (including a plain clean windows install) the manufacturer makes DMCA noises?

Apple wants a share of the monthly revenues associated with providing service, when they don't provide service. How about you provide a phone I can buy online that works with any network I want, and if you also have some attractive monthly service that is separate from any carrier action I pursue, I'll consider it?

"Working for your dollar" doesn't really mean "let's write a EULA to make some money!"

And why isn't it making them money? Well, they're making money, but I don't have an iPhone even though I think it's a fine phone. I find this level of proprietary hardware/network linking barbaric and throwback, and even an insult to the very free market Apple is trying to make a buck in.

Every year Apple impresses me more and more with how awful they are.

I was holding out for the 8gb iPhone to be discontinued and the 16gb to drop in price and take it's place, but really at this point to hell with AT&T and Apple. A person can only take a company telling it's customers "fuck you" for so long.

@taking_this_easy: I think this is meant for people with such bad credit that AT&T can't trust them to pay their phone bill, and so all money comes upfront rather than being paid off over the 2 year period.

At first, when the iPhone was unsubsidized and cost $600, a person with a bad credit score or who outright refused to give a SSN would be offered an iPhone at the normal price with an expensive prepaid plan. It was so expensive, it practically only would pay off if you wanted to use it as an emergency phone without a data plan, which kind of defeats the whole purpose. You'd be better off getting a prepaid plan with the smallest cheap handset you could find and an iPod touch, so you'd be ahead $400.

@InThrees: It's actually a little bit of both interpretations. Apple did make the iPhone very closed, and they do take a cut of the monthly revenue of the phone fees.

However, they pitched the phones to several phone companies and asked those companies to indulge a few of their requests, such as supporting visual voicemail and letting them sell the phones in Apple Stores and letting customers activate the phones themselves over iTunes.

In exchange, AT&T asked for exclusive rights to sell the phone in the US. Since the mobile phone industry is pretty entrenched in its ways, that was a reasonable demand, especially considering the risk the iPhone could be an expensive flop.

Since both Apple and AT&T benefit from the deal, they're both at fault for the lack of choice. However, I imagine Apple is going to probably start selling the phone through other carriers once their contract is up. Every manufacturer has their own touchscreen iPhone clone, so it's obvious that the other carriers want to sell a phone like the iPhone.

On the plus side, the 3.0 OS update for the iPod Touch will enable bluetooth connectivity with cellphones, so that the iPod touch can be used as a headset if you wear the headset earbuds, IIRC.