As a valued AT&T customer, AT&T can offer you an early iPhone upgrade with a new 2-yr commitment and an $18 upgrade fee. You may qualify for a standard iPhone upgrade on 12/29/2009.
$299.00*–8GB iPhone 3G (black)
$399.00*–16GB iPhone 3G S (black or white)
$499.00*–32GB iPhone 3G S (black or white)
…For non-qualified customers, including existing AT&T customers who want to upgrade from another phone or replace an iPhone 3G, the price with a new two-year agreement is $499 (8GB), $599 (16GB), or $699 (32GB).
– The ugly fine print for some existing AT&T (T) subscribers planning to purchase an Apple (AAPL) iPhone 3G S.
Having been one of the early adopters of the iPhone Gen 1 who paid $600 two months before a $200 price-cut and just pre-ordered my iPhone 3G S after 2 years of using the same phone, allow me to eloquently say the following — nanny, nanny boo-boo.
what’s new about that?
I had AT&T VOIP service until they sent me a letter which a) thanked me for being a loyal customer then b) notified me they were dropping their VOIP service and I should “seek another solution”. I don’t care how groovy the iphone is, I will seek another solution beyond AT&T.
Bad press around this “valued customer” nonsense is going to mushroom in coming days. It reminds me of when the “old” AT&T tried to charge a $2.50 convenience fee for paying a bill online. Factor in the awful coverage on the AT&T cellular network — profiled at length in this week’s Ad Age cover story — and Apple has a brand new problem to work with.
It sure seems that the AT&T/Apple marriage is destined to end unhappily.
Not only is there the reality that at some point winning the mobile broadband game comes down to unit coverage (which requires carrier polygamy over monogamy), but AT&T’s generally disappointing service and customer care is REALLY starting to weigh on customers contemplating another two years in this relationship.
For more fodder on key takeaways from the keynote, check out my post:
Apple WWDC Keynote Analysis: Punishing the Wizard, Part Two http://bit.ly/2lC3yC
My wife is incensed.
She loves her iPhone and has been whining about wanting a new one.
When she saw $500, she went ballistic.
AT&T is managed by retards.
They released the first iphone before AT&T was ready to deliver the system effectively. They release 3G and AT&T’s coverage is still being worked on and now they release iphone3GS for a faster speed and AT&T still hasn’t built up the 3G enough yet. none of this makes any sense. My best hopes were for an iphone with Verizon so we could all get away from this inadequate AT&T system. When they paired a classy organization like APPLE with a terrible company like AT&T, i knew there would be trouble. Every try calling AT&T on the phone for help? forget about it.
people complaining about ATT iphone rollout amuse me.
all that whining and drama, why bother? ATT is riding the momentum of Apple products, everyone knows it. Most people that hate ATT but love apple have switched, so ATT must be doing something right.
If apple decides to branch out to Verizon and increase their revenue stream, certainly this will impact ATT. But not nearly enough to impact Apple.
if you have switched to ATT/Iphone you either love it and use it, or hate it and lost it.
if you havent switched, why spend the energy to complain? join the masses, or quit you whining.
either way, do something.
Me, Im picking up my preordered Iphone 3GS after work!
John Paczkowski has been poking fun at the tech industry and the personalities that drive it since 1997. From 1999 to 2007, he wrote the award-winning tech news Web log Good Morning Silicon Valley for the San Jose Mercury News, Silicon Valley's daily newspaper. Read more »
Here is a statement of my ethics and coverage policies. It is more than most of you want to know, but, in the age of suspicion of the media, I am laying it all out.
While the technology behind the Telephone is new, the design is reassuringly old-fashioned, reminiscent of a phrenologist’s horn or ear-candle in form. We found the experience far more comfortable than the one we had with the Telegraph.
12:58 AM: Breakfast: Two schools of fish from Tokyo Bay. Calories: 782,000. How I was feeling when I ate this: confused, irradiated, hating my size. 11:37 AM: Exercise: “Taxi Stomp” (alternating legs, for 30 blocks). Calories burned: 148,900,183.
1983. The Beatles announce their first tour in thirteen years, but likewise announce that Michael Jackson will be going on tour with them as a one gigantic mega-concert event.
Comments
Having been one of the early adopters of the iPhone Gen 1 who paid $600 two months before a $200 price-cut and just pre-ordered my iPhone 3G S after 2 years of using the same phone, allow me to eloquently say the following — nanny, nanny boo-boo.
Posted by Eric Jacobson at June 8th, 2009 at 6:05 pmwhat’s new about that?
Posted by sam beal at June 8th, 2009 at 6:16 pmI had AT&T VOIP service until they sent me a letter which a) thanked me for being a loyal customer then b) notified me they were dropping their VOIP service and I should “seek another solution”. I don’t care how groovy the iphone is, I will seek another solution beyond AT&T.
Bad press around this “valued customer” nonsense is going to mushroom in coming days. It reminds me of when the “old” AT&T tried to charge a $2.50 convenience fee for paying a bill online. Factor in the awful coverage on the AT&T cellular network — profiled at length in this week’s Ad Age cover story — and Apple has a brand new problem to work with.
Posted by Richard Warner at June 8th, 2009 at 8:16 pmIt sure seems that the AT&T/Apple marriage is destined to end unhappily.
Not only is there the reality that at some point winning the mobile broadband game comes down to unit coverage (which requires carrier polygamy over monogamy), but AT&T’s generally disappointing service and customer care is REALLY starting to weigh on customers contemplating another two years in this relationship.
For more fodder on key takeaways from the keynote, check out my post:
Apple WWDC Keynote Analysis: Punishing the Wizard, Part Two
http://bit.ly/2lC3yC
Cheers,
Mark
Posted by Mark Sigal at June 9th, 2009 at 1:00 amMy wife is incensed.
Posted by Dave Barnes at June 9th, 2009 at 6:35 amShe loves her iPhone and has been whining about wanting a new one.
When she saw $500, she went ballistic.
AT&T is managed by retards.
They released the first iphone before AT&T was ready to deliver the system effectively. They release 3G and AT&T’s coverage is still being worked on and now they release iphone3GS for a faster speed and AT&T still hasn’t built up the 3G enough yet. none of this makes any sense. My best hopes were for an iphone with Verizon so we could all get away from this inadequate AT&T system. When they paired a classy organization like APPLE with a terrible company like AT&T, i knew there would be trouble. Every try calling AT&T on the phone for help? forget about it.
Posted by josh Better at June 9th, 2009 at 10:38 ampeople complaining about ATT iphone rollout amuse me.
all that whining and drama, why bother? ATT is riding the momentum of Apple products, everyone knows it. Most people that hate ATT but love apple have switched, so ATT must be doing something right.
If apple decides to branch out to Verizon and increase their revenue stream, certainly this will impact ATT. But not nearly enough to impact Apple.
if you have switched to ATT/Iphone you either love it and use it, or hate it and lost it.
if you havent switched, why spend the energy to complain? join the masses, or quit you whining.
either way, do something.
Me, Im picking up my preordered Iphone 3GS after work!
cya!
Posted by mike diaz at June 19th, 2009 at 6:36 am