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Might AT&T Screw Up The iPhone?

June 14th, 2007

It’s something to think about, and would be the equivalent of Peter Jackson directing the Hobbit but hiring Adam Sandler to play Bilbo – messing up a sure thing because of the partner chosen.

Apple has a monster hit on its hands. The iPhone is the wide / touch screen iPod until now only found in fanboy fantasies. It’s from Apple who has delivered the goods on all kinds of cool hardware over the past few years. They’re known for quality, are a trusted brand, and give people so much value that we’re willing to overpay for the privilege.

But now Apple’s iPhone is in the hands of AT&T.

The first warning sign is this blog post speculating that every purchase of an iPhone will required data plan from Cingular if you’re going to do anything Internet-related on the iPhone. This would be above and beyond the cellphone contract. Maybe this isn’t a surprise to many, but I was under the impression that a WiFi enabled iPhone meant you could use any available WiFi network.

I’m hoping that one could buy the iPhone and simply forgo the cellphone functionality (and therefore the contract). That would essentially render it a full-screen, Internet capable iPod Nano which is all I’m interested in anyhow. But this might not be allowed – any iPhone user might have to be a customer of AT&T after you buy the phone from Apple.

According to a comment on this Engadget article, here’s the bad news:

Does that mean I have to use AT&T as my iPhone service provider?

Yes. Both iPhone models will require a two-year contract with AT&T, the exclusive U.S. carrier. Apple has no plans to release a version of the iPhone without a service contract or one that is unlocked.

Based on that and what was said by Jobs during the keynote, I believe that the Mac Store employees will in fact be forcing you to sign AT&T contracts before they hand over the iPhone.

Well, that sucks. Why am I relatively down on AT&T? I’m not exactly getting the warm and fuzzy feeling that AT&T puts their customers first. More likely (and not unusual for most mega-corporations) I can see some executive saying, hey, we have all these early adopters ready to buy millions of iPhones right out of the gate, credit cards in hand – let’s milk ‘em for all they’re worth.

Way back when the iPhone was first rumored I voiced a hope that Apple would use this as an opportunity to simplify the currently stupid and confusing cell phone contracts. As in, do away with the multi-year lock ins, do “pay as you go,” or at the very least, apply Apple’s “good, better, best” to only three options.

What would be really lame is if Apple just left the contract stuff to AT&T. Knowing the level of control Apple usually desires over their products, hopefully they didn’t.

Well, only two weeks to find out exactly how much the iPhone is really going to cost.

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  • have you by chance read Cringely's article yet??

    http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2007/pulpit_...

    :)
  • Hmmmmm, yeah I read Cringely and while interesting I think he's digging a little too deep with the whole AT&T; needs stuff to prop up its broadband over phone strategy. But I do agree that one reason why Apple released Safari for windows might be because Apple had "bupkis" in terms of insanely great new stuff prepared for the WWDC conference.
  • What I've yet to see is a slot to jack in my SIM card. Albeit, I haven't seen any latest iPhone demos nor the tech specs. One of the things I enjoy about carriers that use SIM cards if and when I get a different phone, I can just slot in my SIM. I tend to prefer unlocked phones for this reason. No new/renewed contracts for phones and a feeling of freedom.

    I'm also liking the 3G. The first gen iPhone, from what I've heard won't have that compatibility. Then again, there's wifi.

    It's probably a safe bet that the data plan will be mandatory. Not sure how the innovative voicemail box system works, but I can see them requiring the data plan to make that operate correctly.

    While I'd love to get one, I'm going to do my best to stave off the gadgetfreak in me and wait for the guinea pigs to sort out any bugs first. hehe
  • Well, not too long from now we'll be able to go into an Apple Store and check it out first hand. I already know two people who are gonna try and get one right away; we'll see how successful they are. I hope they are so I can check the iPhone out hands on.

    Personally as I mention above I'm holding off for now. That's a lot of moola for a phone plus the contract with AT&T.;
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