Jun 9, 2008 05:36 PM
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We just talked to AT&T's President of National Distribution Glenn Lurie, who gave us all the pricing and activation details for the iPhone 3G, which won't be getting special treatment anymore. It will be using all AT&T's standard voice and data plans, which means $30 for unlimited 3G data for consumers, $45 for business users, on top of voice. Also, no in-home activation for iPhone 3G—it does require a two-year contract, and it will have to be activated in store (at AT&T or Apple Store), which takes 10-12 minutes, meaning that first day line is going to SUCK. And you will have to camp out, since there won't be any online ordering at launch—and Glenn was mum on how many phones there'd be to go around. Updates below.
Supposedly the network will be ready, even if the supply won't be. I asked him four different ways if it was ready for the onslaught of millions of 3G data phones and he said "absolutely" each time, and that they've planned for it. What's unclear is how many units they've planned for the first day. He said they expected "high" demand but nobody knows what the "full demand" will be, in response to my question about meeting demand.
For people who care about the business end of things, the other way that the iPhone 3G isn't special in regards to AT&T anymore is that AT&T subsidizing it like any other phone means that the old revenue-sharing program is out. Basically, other than letting Apple sell and activate the iPhone 3G at Apple Stores, the model is the same they have with everyone else, like RIM or Sammy. More details on everything will be coming from AT&T in the next week or so.
Update: Interesting point from Apple Gazette about ending Apple ending revenue-sharing with AT&T—it means we might have to pay for future feature updates to the iPhone 3G since Apple won't be getting those monthly checks, thanks to those "accounting purposes." Obviously we don't know for sure yet. Besides, SDK might make it a moot point.
Update 2: David alerts us to this bit from Dow Jones' report: "AT&T and Apple are working on a form of penalty for users who don't activate their iPhone within 30 days of purchase." Whoa. Guess that'll cut down on unlockers, eh?
Update 3: Looks like AT&T's dropping the GoPhone plan for the iPhone 3G too. Also, it's been pointed out Apple is still counting its revenue for the phone over the course of two years despite dumping revenue-sharing with AT&T, so iPhoners can probably continue to lord free updates over iPod touchers. [AT&T]
Send an email to matt buchanan, the author of this post, at matt@gizmodo.com.
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