Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Message To The Readers

The new iPhone 3G will be available as both an 8GB model (black) for $199 and a 16GB (white or black) model for $299. It won't come out until July 11th. No new firmware will be released until July as well.

The revenue sharing model between Apple and AT&T is going away when the iPhone 3G comes out. So this will be a subsidized iPhone at this price. You can read more at the AT&T website here. Steve Jobs did not mention this, just that they were cutting the price on the iPhone.

Update: I just got done listening to the AT&T investors' meeting which was held to discuss the iPhone 3G specifically, and I have found out that you must now activate in the store, and qualify for a contract (here comes that credit check again), they referred to it as fraud prevention. Activation will be the same in an Apple store as at an AT&T store. When asked directly in the conference call about the ability to just buy the iPhone 3G and walk out of the store without a contract, it was said that can not be done.

So for those of you wanting unlocked phones you'll be paying the actual price of the iPhone 3G, plus whatever termination fees there are. One AT&T executive said that there was a 30 day non-activation penalty, and a early contract cancellation fee. They appear to still be working on exactly what these penalties will be though. This non-activation penalty seems contradictory to not having to sign a contract though. Guess we'll just have to wait until July 11th for them to sort this out.

I expect to see the prices on original iPhones soar in price because of this (until the iPhone 3G can be unlocked anyways). Think about it, unless you happen to be standing around when a box full of iPhone 3Gs fall off a delivery truck, just how many times do you think AT&T is going to let you sign a contract and cancel it before they realize you are reselling the phones, or that you have other network(s) you'd rather use your phone on? AT&T has also said that there will be no GoPhone plan for the iPhone 3G.

I will still make guides on the iPhone, iPod Touch and other Mac gadgets. I will also re-organize the site a little. Since a new generation of iPhones is coming out the site needs a new legend. I was thinking of putting everything before 2.0 in one section of the site and everything after in another. I wrote the first tutorials on adding ringtones, using AT&T compatible SIMs (it wasn't an unlock), and I wrote a hardware unlock tutorial - I was one of the first 10 people to unlock the iPhone by taking it apart and performing surgery on the circuit board, I later wrote about the first version (and the most infamous) of anySIM which made unlocking a snap by using a software method. When I re-construct the site I hope it makes it a lot easier to find things and makes the legend less overwhelming.

I wonder though with iPhone 3G availability scheduled for 70 countries, how many people will pay the huge premium in penalties to buy the iPhone legitimately and then break their contract just to unlock it? It will certainly cost more now to make a critical mistake during the unlocking process than it did before.

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