Just like a dedicated iPhone blogger should, I was fully prepared to bust out the credit debit card and pre-order my iPhone 3G S as soon as the announcement ended earlier today. Sadly, I have yet to place my order and it looks like I will not be prepared to do so for some time.
Sorry AT&T, but in this case you have most likely just aggravated lots of potential customers. Just in case you have not looked at the pricing for AT&T let me stop my little rant and share the bad news.
According to the pricing listed on the Apple website, the iPhone 3G S will retail for $199 and $299 for the 16GB and 32GB models respectively, however that pricing is only for new and end-of-current-contract customers.
Moving on from there, customers that are eligible for an early upgrade can expect to pay either $399 or $499 for the 16GB and 32GB model respectively. Finally, customers that are not eligible for an upgrade or those that simply want no-commitment can expect to pay either $499 or $599.
Bottom line, AT&T seems to have (at least in my opinion) screwed some of their most loyal iPhone customers — the early adopters. Take me for example, I purchased an original iPhone (about a month after the initial release) then upgraded to the iPhone 3G on the its release day and now I would have to pay $399 or $499 if I purchased my iPhone 3G S today. Looks like I will be waiting those few weeks until I become eligible.
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June 8th, 2009 at 6:23 pm
At least you were able to get that far (on the Apple website, I presume..) I’ve been trying for an hour and keep getting an error message. I assume the servers are overloaded..
June 8th, 2009 at 8:54 pm
Ummm your 3G was subsided as part of a two year contract between you and AT&T so get over it. Either pay the money to upgrade or wait till whatever Apple releases next year and you might get a front facing camera.
June 8th, 2009 at 9:50 pm
In the end this policy will hurt Apple and it is because of AT&T. People will just keep their iPhone 3G instead of paying the extra dough. People who really wanted an iPhone and could afford it, bought it. The people who wanted the iPhone but couldn’t afford it will buy the $99 version. If I can’t buy the new one because I bought the 3G one right when it came out, then I will skip this year and get the even better version next year.
June 8th, 2009 at 10:32 pm
Luckily I did not upgrade to the 3G because at the time, the minor improvements from the original did not make since to upgrade. However, this time I had no choice because my touch screen went out on my original iPhone in may and apple said it was a hardware issue but they could not fix it because it was out of warranty, but they were nice enough to offer me a 3G model for 199. I told them I would wait for the new phone and am I glad. Hopefully, AT&T will come out after a month or two and sell the 3GS to you 3G owners for a subsidized price just so they can make money. They are probably hoping that a lot of people will buy the phone for 599 and make some money before they lower the price.
June 8th, 2009 at 11:07 pm
I have the 1 generation iphone, and my contract isnt up until Feburary 2010. I also do not qualify for an upgrade. Despite these two things I went to the at&t store today and pre-ordered it for the same $199 as everyone else. There are no stipulations and suggested above. Don’t be discouraged by this inaccurate article..go get your iphone 3g S!!!!
June 9th, 2009 at 10:54 am
Windfedlee – the article isn’t innacurate. You were eligible for an upgrade after one year of your contract had passed, that’s the way it’s always been with AT&T: you get an upgrade after one year, because they extend your contract another two years when you do.
June 9th, 2009 at 6:51 pm
boo hoo.
what phill says: “Ummm your 3G was subsidised as part of a two year contract between you and AT&T so get over it. Either pay the money to upgrade or wait till whatever Apple releases next year and you might get a front facing camera.”
i, too, am a loyal at&t customer of many many years and guess what? i am being treated just like everyone else (i.e., i am receiving no special treatment). doing what you suggest would be something special just for iphone customers. so first you want at&t to give you special treatment because you’re a loyal customer, and then you want even more special treatment because you’re a loyal iphone customer? i’m no fan of at&t (or corporate america in general) but i laugh in your general direction.
do you also want special treatment because you’ve owned brand x computers for years and a new faster one just came out and you want a discount on that?
June 11th, 2009 at 11:00 pm
Why on earth would anyone preorder a phone when there is no guaranteed information about the feature requirements or cost of data on the phone, never mind the question of msg and data bundle as with the original iphone which was changed for the 3G… I guarantee you just like the run on iphone 3G there will be a run on the 3G S and then people will be pissed because they have to wait. If a couple months is too long to wait for a phone you live a sad life. perhaps a puppy…or maybe a girlfriend?
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