In yet another great example of why handset subsidies must end the new iPhone 3G S is going to cost any existing AT&T customers $599 or $699 depending on the storage capacity. New customers to AT&T get the rosy price of $199 or $299. I’m crying foul on this complete and utter failure on both Apple and ‘Ma Bell. Get the customers in, get them to pay astronomical monthly fees to help bankroll the bait for new customers. It’s a reverse ponzi scheme where the victims get trapped inside upon pain of early termination fee.
The iPhone 3G S represents the feature set and capabilities the product line should have had over a year ago. I feel shamed to have drank the kool-aid so far and it just may end here. Unless I can sell my current phone (which can be unlocked) for a reasonable amount of cash I’ll probably end up terminating my service with the deathstar and go back to T-Mobile. AT&T has lagged behind the rest of the GSM industry, huffing and puffing like a morbidly obese billionaire straining under the load of their insane profit margins, in terms of proper service support for MMS, network coverage, and reliable 3G network deployment.
T-Mobile and Verizon need to step it up and put the pressure on AT&T and put an end to this madeness. T-Mobile may not have 3G fully deployed in all markets but their service plans don’t leave me feeling like a redshirt who gets killed before the first commercial by a malevolent space villain or foam rock landslide only to be forgotten 5 minutes later. Verizon needs to get its ass in gear and deploy LTE fast to give the AT&T a run for it’s money and the American public a taste of what real mobile broadband is and make good on its open door policy for 3rd-party device support.
In closing, I issue a challenge to AT&T and Apple: Bring down these prices. Bring them down and extend your customers the courtesy and kindness of making them excited to use your products and services. You managed to offer equal upgrade pricing to eligible existing customers last year and it was a phenomenal success, even during the darkest hour in recent economic history. Yet, just a year later you retract that offer which was open to iPhone v1 customers and nail everyone to the wall.
/geekrant
UPDATE: Clarification on the pricing has been confirmed through Gizmodo which shows the pricing is not quite as shitty as the original information led me to believe. $399 and $499 are the price points for existing customers with customers who qualify for an upgrade getting the full promotional pricing. The spirit and tone of my post remain unchanged however, as I detest and always shall detest handset subsidization.