Give me my iPhone 3G S upgrade now!

Will Park

Will hails from The City of Angels - Los Angeles, California. He spends his time playing with his numerous gadgets and looking forward to seeing what future holds for mobile technology. An avid promoter of a fully "digital" life, he promotes the widespread adoption of truly mobile, paper-less living. He dreams of the day when he can go completely digital. No more snail mail, paper receipts, bound books, notepads/spiral notebooks, credit cards, hard currency. He's a digital warrior - fighting for the converged life. He is an idealist and a realist - he has a perfect view of what the world should be but knows that the world is not perfect. Can we ever hope to see Will's dream become reality? We'll see...

• Dozer

  Stop your crying! Why do you iPhone owners think you’re so special? Take a look at Verizon’s pricing for the latest and greatest phones that come out. If you have 1 month to go on your contract you cannot purchase that phone at the discounted rate that a new customer would be able to. Why do you feel you should be able to switch out your outdated equipment the instant a new & better model comes out? What do you think a 2-year contract means? Idiots!

• Reece

  Hey I’m an iphone 3g owner in England and I totally agree I want the new iphone but don’t want to pay extra and as we were first to get the 3g it’s like were being punished and they don’t care about there existing customers and I’m going to have to wait until January to get my hands on the new phone and this is because I couldn’t order any earlier as shops had sold out and also wouldn’t answer the phone
  Actually I was looking forward to a new desighn though

• RF9

  It should be $200 more than the new contract price -$10 for every month in to your current contract you are.
  So if you bought the iPhone 3G this month, you pay $200 more.
  if you bought it 10 months ago, you pay 100.
  And if you bought it 20 months ago, you pay the new contract price.

  Simple enough, fair, and work. C’Mon AT&T, K.I.S.S.!

• RF9

  To clarify, ^^^ That is not, by any means how it’s done. This is merely a suggestion, or wish, if you will.

• dizil

  I’m wondering if you got to an opening and tons of people are there is the Apple employees will just sell them at 199 or 299? I mean are they going to check every person to see if they are avaliable for the upgrade? Also if the bitching continues maybe Jobs when he comes back will tell ATT to cut it out and give every one that price.

• Jason

  I’m extremely pissed about this. I’ve been looking forward to upgrading for a few months now and I’ve come to find out I have to wait until Jan 2010 to upgrade? Just plain stupid on ATT’s part.

• bail

  I also think that with the much an improvement (battery life improvement alone is worth the upgrade) it should follow the same as what the 1g to 3g was, if you were an existing iphone user you were eligible to upgrade to the new iphone at regular contract pricing no matter what your actual upgrade date was. But now you push the best tech spec’ed iphone and your not going to let current 3g users do this? If it is the case that this policy is what it will be alot of current 3g users probably wont upgrade? I mean how many of you are actually going to pay this 200$ increase in price because we all bought 3g phones when they came out and most of us were 2g users, not to mention att is as this article states merely falling behind in verizon in almost all ways. This may infact lead to me waiting for verizon to pick up the iphone!!!!!!!!!!!

• divertito

  This is nothing new. This practice has been going on for quite literally at least a decade. I mean common, you’re bitching about having to wait a whole month or two for a full discount. The 3.0 upgrade for your 3g available to you on the 17th should be more than enough hold you over until you’re eligible. Besides, the biggest upgrade, MMS, will not be available at launch. Seriously, relax a tad.

  That stated, I despise the all-or-nothing approach to the Early Termination Fees. I think all ETFs should work the same way. If you received a $200 discount for signing a 2 yr contract, simply divide $200 by 24 mths ($8.33) and prorate the ETF, e.g. if you terminate 3 mths early, you owe them $24.99. Hell, I wouldn’t even be that upset with a $10 penalty/processing fee on top of a prorated ETF.

  I don’t blame them for wanting to make money on subscriptions by offering subsidies, because without the subsidies, I wouldn’t be getting a new phone that retails full price of around $500-$600 for a year or two of usage. I do however have a problem with them trying to rape you because you are barely short on your contract expiration.

  On a related note, who wants to CP the dick that invented the mail-in rebate!!!

• bail

  And not to mention the exclusive contract for the iphone on at&t in the us runs out in 2010 if not extended by apple, so alll those people that got 3g iphones in july of 08, will be pretty close to be able to leave at&t to go where the new iphone goes, unless the contract is extended till 2011..

• Dans

  You havent paid for your old phone yet, why should you get a new one at the standard price.

  Pay off your contract and your free to do what you want, like buy a phone off contract, so you dont get suckered like this every time. (people never learn)

• Dans

  or…

  Buy the 3GS, sell your old phone and use the cash to pay off your old contract, then transfer your number.

• ben

  IM PISSED!!!!!!!

  lets make a petition and i bet well get at least a couple of hundred thousand people to sign. Hey! it worked before?

• bob

  at&t Rules!!! I’m available for iphone 3g s!!! all you in here stop complaining and deal with it.

• Nic

  YESSSSS!!!!! This is totally ridiculous. We are TRYING to spend money and being penalized for loving our apple products and buying an iphone 3G.

  TOTALLY UNFAIR.

• marko

  Disclaimer: I’m not a iphone customer. And while I can see the Apple fanbois being annoyed, I can see AT&Ts side of this from a business perspective.

  I’ve been waiting to get a smartphone until the Pre and new iPhone announcements to shake out. To be honest, I don’t see the 3Gs as a compelling upgrade over the existing 3G. The biggest thing Apple has going for them is the apps, but of those how many are actually worth anything or would I use? A couple of dozen at best. I’m not keen on AT&Ts network. It’s pretty spotty in the Chicago area. My sis-in-law currently has an iPhone and she’s dropping calls on me left and right. The biggest gripe about Sprint has been their customer service, not their network. And the Pre just looks dang sweet.

  I’m really leaning towards the Pre right now if Palm gets the couple of bugs that have been posted worked out within the next couple of weeks, I’ll probably be saying hello to Sprint and Palm.

• Jack tee

  I’m with the guy who says quit complaining. Like getting a new iPhone on the first day is so critical. For this site to print a blurb like this is absurd. ATT exists to make money for it’s shareholders, not appease techno geeks. You sheep will eat the crap they feed you and like it. Or go elsewhere. Free market, that’s how we roll here in the US. Seems like all these sheep view Barack as their shepherd.

• comicarcade

  I have been waiting for the 3gs ever since i cracked the screen on my 3g. I’m not even upset that neither apple nor at&t offer an insurance package for accidental damage. In essence, i paid $300 plus for my 3g, broke it, and now i want to pay another $300 for a new phone, while keeping or even renewing my contract. As an alternative, i can wait with a broken iphone until july 2010, then pay them (probably) less money for it than i would now. I am willing to pay, just not $600-700!! Nobody wins here! My phone is still broke and they are not getting my $300! ridiculous…

• David H

  Here’s my gripe directly about this situation:

  Offering early upgrade subsidies last year to 1st Gen iPhone owners set a bad precident for future releases of the phone and AT&T – along with Apple and all of the other cariers – should’ve seen this coming. I know why they did it, but it still doesn’t make it right as the current situation has clearly shown.

  My personal feelings on the current wireless carrier structure are this:

  2 year contracts attached to rediculous cancellation fees regardless of phone subsidies is anti-competitive, makes all carriers monopolies, and is a bad model that needs to change across the board. The entire system is broken. Sure I could cancel my contract now and pay a heavy termination fee so I could go to another carrier that better suites my needs, but why would I want to pay that fee? My point is, the carriers are in this, not to meet the consumer’s needs, but to meet their own.

  As far as phone price subsidies go, there shouldn’t need to be any. If manufacturers could pull there heads out of their rears and start charging the carriers and/or consumers what the phone is actually worth — meaning cost of materials, production, and “reasonable” profit margin — then phone subsidies would probably go away. Let’s be serious here; there’s no way it costs 150 dollars to produce a base model phone regardless of who makes it and if it does, they need to take a serious look at what they’re doing wrong.

  It’s really broken at both ends here and things need to change. If and when — I really pray for the when — contracts with obscene termination fees go away and phones actually cost what they’re worth, then and only then will consumer’s needs be met and true competition will ensue.

• Ed

  I spoke with our corporate AT&T rep today about how crazy their policy is. I am part owner of a business. I am not eligible for an upgrade until July 12 (the day the 3G launched last summer aka the day I stood in line for hours to get the new 3G phone). So over making me wait 3 weeks to get the new phone at a reasonable price, AT&T has made me extremely unhappy (not to mention the fact I will mention this to employees of the business I own in part). Plus, I will NOT shell out the extra money. So, they get no extra money, but they do get my resolve that the minute this phone can be legitimately used with other companies, I’m switching myself, my family and others.

• Ed

  Are you always this selfish, or is it limited only to discussions about iphones?

• k**1

  I agree. Early-adopters do drive the masses. I wouldn’t even want the new iphone except my boss bought one last year when I bought my Fuze ($399). I debated for a long time, but I haven’t been a big apple fan. Unfortunately, when I tried to get apps for my phone (windows mobile), if they had what I wanted at all, they were usually pricey. My boss has tons of choices on apps, gets a better signal and has had less problems in general with her iphone. I’m crossing over. Well, at least I will if I can use my husbands upgrade. If not, it will be a long time until November 2010.

• Max

  This is terrible. AT&T is really sucking right now. Let’s get a petition going!

• earth1

  this makes at&t look like idiots. the retail market can’t handle rules like this and still survive. i think the iphone 3gs sales will not be nearly as good as the 3g launch. however, it may be an inventory control thing, in which case, they can always go back and change it. still, it wouldn’t be the same as launch day… (sigh)

• Brandon H

  I bought the first iphone, an additional line for my mother, and upgraded to the 3g. I have had an account in good standing for 2+. All I want is to upgrade a few months early but they are too damn stubborn to to it! The Rep I spoke with gave me some BS about how they calculate whether you can upgrade in 12 or 18 months based on how much you pay per month (more is better) and if you payed your bill on time (she snidely implied I was delinquent on my bill, when I have always used AutoPay and never had a past-due balance). So apparently I’m stuck till December, but she was happy to push the “Early (read: more expensive) Upgrade Program”. I feel like I’ve just gotten the shaft for being a loyal customer.

• jj

  All you ppl are spoiled ppl…Just freaking wait until you are eligible to get an upgrade damn whats the rush…Its like trying to get a place fast and you get pulled over for going to fast you will get a ticket… just wait and follow the rules…

• nick

  I don’t see why everyone is mad about the price. The original iPhone was a full retail purchase so technically At&t owed us all a subsidized price on the iPhone 3G. If we bought the At&t Fuze and the Touch Pro 2 came out exactly a year later we’d be in the same boat.

  Sell your iPhone 3G on ebay for 400 bucks, buy the iPhone 3G S. Even if you sold it for 300 you still would pay the same price in the end as a new subscriber.

• Knickdaddy

  Dear Mr Park,

  The reason all iPhone customers were eligible when 3G was launched, was because every customer that bought the first iPhone, paid full price. That’s right, remember, there was no subsidy on those edge devices, the early adopters paid $399 & $499.

  Doesn’t that sound correct?

• Jeff

  Bob just shut the hell up…you don’t know how much this pisses off people who can’t afford to upgrade at an arm and a leg cause they are stuck in a contract. Way to be an asshole and rub it in. Hope your damn 3gs blows up. And when the fourth generation comes out in 2010 (my contract will be up by then) i’ll be getting that one and anyone with a stupid 3gs will be stuck in a contract. I hope the fourth generation iphone is revolutionary and blows the 3gs out the water. The 3gs aint a whole lot different than 3g anyway whats the fuss? Faster internet? 3g aint that slow. 3 megapixel camera? WOOOW BIG difference from 2. Video camera? Enjoy posting short bad quality clips on youtube. Compass and voice command? BIG deal. And all the other stuff you can get with OS 3.0. So I’m personally pissed off cause apple waited till the last min to tell everyone about this and that is assholish, BUT 3g owners like myself aint missing out on a whole lot.

• Mike Aban

  I will switch to Sprint for palm pre if ATT does not change it’s new stupid policy. I played with my frind’s palm pre yesterday and liked it ( this is the first phone that truly challenges The iPhone). I will swich to Sprint if they don’t play nice. I am already quite upset with ATT’s unreliable service. This will be the last nail in their coffin.

• chris

  I really don’t get why so many people are complaining about this, 3g owners should be rejoicing about their policy. Every other phone on every other carrier would be full retail price (meaning over $700 for the iphone 3gs) for people wanting to get it mid contract. and for the 3g they did not offer upgrade pricing to every iphone owner, only those that bought the iphone march ’08 and later.

  Quit complaining and be happy you’re getting the deal you are. If you want the latest and greatest of everything you’re going to pay full price.

• Entitled to NOTHING

  This sense of entitlement pisses me off, fuck it, let’s throw all contracts out of the window!

  Got a Tilt? You get the Fuze for the upgrade price!
  Curve? Yep now you are eligible for a Bold.
  Blackjack 2 users…you’re next now you can get a Jack in mid-contract.

  Who cares if AT&T hasn’t recouped it’s losses right? After all they are a non-profit organization.

• Kristen

  My anger about this is vey personal. I have had six phones with AT&T in the past four years and five of them were defective. I decided on the iPhone because I trust apple an their products so four months ago I paid two hundred dollars and asked the rep if an update came out if I would be eligible for the upgrade discount because I already had an iPhone. She stated that this is how it has worked in the past so I thought, okay. The amount of money they hve gotten fromme because if piece of crap equipment and losing all the fled and ringtones everytime and I still stayed with AT&T. I say screw AT&T. We should wait until our contract are up and switch to verizon. From what I hear the iPhone is going I be legally opened to all companies anyway. Let’s let AT&T go under where they belong. I am tires of having to grab the KY every time I go into thy freaking store and they wleither dothe right thing or I am FINISHED. Let’s all fond reasons to report them to the BBB. With all the complaints coming through they will not be able to hold onto their “wonderful” reputation. They want to screw us over. Let’s fight back and just as dirty and low as they are. Petition nor for them to lower the price but for apple to cut ties with them because we want out of their greedy hold on their loyal iPhone customers!!!!

• Z-1000

  I’m an employee of the big Blue 3-letter Cell network. And I absolutely hate STeve Jobs, and I hate my company for basically just dropping this on our laps. I sold countless iphones, over the past month and now all of them want to return it for the new phone.

• Kay Why?

  Slightly faster Internet and a 1 megapixel camera upgrade? I NEED to have a new iPhone! I am so nuerotic that I can’t sleep knowing my phone is not superior to yours. I will sign up for a new account, sell 3G, pay cancelation fee, transfer number etc etc just so I can own basically the same phone. Or maybe humble myself enough to be happy with free 3.0 OS upgrade. I’ll choose the later for now because I’ll probably have a temper tantrum and throw the 3G against the wall like I did the 2G, then Ill be forced to buy a 3Gs and can only be mad at myself instead of a corperation that doesn’t give a _____ about me. But I don’t understand, I’m the most important person in the world!

• Its More Than the Price

  This is my issue.. My husband and I stood in line and purchased our iphone 3g’s on opening day. My phone is available for upgrade on 7/12/09 and his on 3/16/2010. Why is that? We are on a shared account that has never been late. And At&t has no answers. We both are on a 2 year contract. I don’t see how they can logically allow me to upgrade and not my husband who bought his on the same day. Also, my family just purchased iPhones in April. The sales guy at at&t said if they released new ones in the summer, they would be available for the upgrade price. I see others have had this experience so that must be a canned lie from the sales professionals. For all the people saying we are just spoiled, we have paid and overpaid for the iphones. Lets not forget that as soon as we purchased the original ones the prices were almost cut in half. Yes, we got $100 gc. What can you buy at Apple for $100 so for that, they made even more money off me because I bought a nano and then had to buy iTunes credits. The iphone is not worth $700. I was with sprint for 7 years prior to the iPhone and was able to upgrade all the time for either free or $50 depending on the phone I wanted. At&t has not thought this through. Bad bad decisions. First they tell us they can’t support the upgrade and then tell us they can’t give us upgrade pricing. As soon as the iPhone is available on another network I will be there. There is something that I don’t understand though, why are people saying they only have to wait a few months? No one had a 3G prior to 7/11, so why are certain people (like myself, I guess) allowed to upgrade early?

• Harry

  @Dozer Agreed! If this were any other phone, no one would be throwing such hissy fits. A new enV came out six months after the previous model and because you have the old one, you automatically want the new one at the discounted rate? Um…no. You signed a contract because AT&T, or Verizon, or T-Mobile, or someone else promised to give you a phone at a significantly lower rate if you promised to stay with them for two years on a specific plan. If you break that contract, they lose the money and since when does “big cellular” want to lose money?

  Would you feel so entitled if the iPhone left AT&T and went to Verizon or T-Mobile? “I’m a loyal customer and now that the new shiny phone is on another carrier, I think you should let me out of my contract, waive all fees and let me go get it.” Bullsh*t.

  I’m still on my original iPhone (4GB!) and never upgraded because I don’t have the disposable income everyone else has to upgrade their phone every 9 months and now I’m eligible for the 3G S.

  Still on a contract with the 3G? Wait until it’s over or just cancel it and pay the termination fees. From what I hear, they’re cheaper than if you pay the full price for the new 3G S. Otherwise, shut up and deal with it.

• Harry

  Wow…I think the next forum over smelled the jealousy in your statement, Jeff.

• Jeff

  I absolutely agree. Why change policy from the previous release of the iPhone 3G and this one? I don’t care what Verizon or competitors are doing. I want the upgrade at a fair price. It’s win/win. We get the iPhone 3G S for the upgrade price and AT&T locks us in for another two years, which is ridiculous anyway. What happened to one-year agreements? Now we’re being forced to continue our loyalty. Bastards…

• Jeff

  $700? Where’d you pull that from?

• vrsantana

  I don’t know how this happened, but I bought my iPhone 3G close to launch date last year. I went online and looked at my account and it says I’m eligible for new pricing on 7/30/09. That’s merely 1 year into my “2 year” agreement. Don’t know if this is supposed to happen or if I’m just a lucky SOB. Regardless, I’ll be selling my 3G and getting a 3GS on that exact day. I’ve even called and played dumb and asked when I would be able to purchase the new 3GS for 199 or 299 and they said 7/30/09. I can’t believe they screwed up in my favor!

• man23

  I have to wait till 7/12/09 witch I’m not mad at since I’m not convinced it will be worth the upgrade … But the battiery upgrade might make it worth it .. But I really don’t want to renew my contract with AT&T

• chris

  Engadget or gizmodo I believe

• Mark M

  In Chicago you should be fine, but Sprint coverage is terrible outside of a metropolitan/major interstate. I used to travel with my last job and rarely had service in some of the places I went to. From what I’ve see, Verizon clearly has the best coverage. I’ve split the difference with AT&T.

• Erik

  Why are you complaining? I have just talked with orange representative… if I want to cancel my iPhone 3G contract (and pay for new the new 3GS), I will have to pay 630€ ~ $850. When I heard it I was just speachless.. omg!

• jadan2000

  Wow, i just feel like ATT doesnt care much about there customers. I really wish and hope i find a phone i like better then the Iphone, cause the day i do, i will leave for sure

• Tom from OC

  I have to wait till Jan 28th 2010 before I qualify for the new contract/upgrade pricing WTF…. and for that guy who made the comment about iPhone users thinking there special and we’re whining I found today from AT&T if I wanted to get any AT&T phone not just the I phone at the new contract rates I would have to wait till 2010!!!!

  What I don’t get is what is AT&T’s thinking – they piss me off I wait out my contract or I pay the early disconnect fee; jailbreak my phone and go back to t-mobile and they get nothing from me or allow me to upgrade when ever I want as often as I want because each time I do I reset my 2 year obligation and I continue to use AT&T….

  What really gets me is that one of there supervisors actually suggested this as a option to paying the extra fee…. He said add a line buy the new iPhone for that line and sign a two year contract – so let me understand exactly what he’s suggesting – I pay $299 for a new iPhone (which I am hoping to do), then I commit to a plan of at least $100 a month for the next 24 months and that’s AT&T’s official solution? This coming from the SOLE US provider that is not going to have on launch day MMS enable or tethering WOW I wish I had more options.

  Sorry for the RANT

• Alex

  I’m due for an upgrade in July and these bastages won’t cut me a break! I have 5 phones on my account and pay well over $200 per month. WTF!? Here’s what I don’t get…why do I have to be due for an upgrade to get the $199/$299 pricing? As long as I sign on the dotted line and agree to extend my contract for an additional 2yrs they should give it to me for the subsidized price no??

• lucas

  all i know is, my iphone just got cracked today and the screen is blacked out in some parts. i want the new iphone for the same price.

• Becks

  By the time AT&T actually has the services I want… tethering, MMS, etc. (supposedly at the end of the summer) than I can hold off on upgrading. I bought my iphone on launch day and I’m eligible, but until AT&T catches up with the rest of the world I could care less.

• zach

  I am definitely bummed that the price is as exorbitant as it is. Perhaps a great discount could be offered to those with iPhones if they were to trade them in and get the equal upgrade price as depicted for those buying a first-time, 2 year contract. AT&T could then sell the phones as refurbrished devices. Just a little food for thought. When I told my curious parents what it would take monetarily for the new 3GS, they shut the conversation down then, and there.

• lagurlrep

  I JUST CAN’T BELIEVE HOW SOME OF YOU ALL ARE REALLY BITCHING ABOUT THE IPHONE…I MEAN COME ON PEOPLE IT’S JUST ANOTHER DAMN PHONE…I’VE BEEN WITH ATT FOR YEARS…WILL BE 8YRS IN DECEMBER AND DOES THAT MEAN THAT IF I’M NOT ELIGIBLE SHOULD ATT MAKE AN EXCEPTION TO OVERRIDE THE PRICING FOR ME CUZ I’VE BEEN WITH THEM FOR SOOO LONG??? HELL NO…SOME OF YOU THINK THAT THE 199/299 PRICING IS FOR NEW CUST ONLY…NOT! IT’S FOR EXISTING CUST AS WELL WHO ARE ELIGIBLE FOR STANDARD EQUIPMENT DISCOUNTING UPGRADE..FOR EXAMPLE,BEFORE IPHONES EVER CAME OUT,WHEN YOU WERE IN A 2YR CONTRACT AND WANTED TO UPGRADE EXISTING LINE AND WAS TOLD YOU WERE NOT ELIGIBLE FOR STANDARD EQUIPMENT DISCOUNT PRICING UNTIL A SPECIFIC DATE,DID YOU BITCH ABOUT IT THEN???NO!YOU KEPT THE SERVICE AND UNDERSTOOD THAT YOU WERE STILL IN CONTRACT BUT YOU WILL BE ELIGIBLE FOR DISCOUNTED PRICING AT CERTAIN DATE…SO WHY NOW SINCE ATT CAME OUT WITH IPHONES SHOULD IT BE ANY DIFFERENT THAN GETTING A DIFFERENT PHONE…SAME RULES APPLY WITH EVERY PHONE OTHER THAN THE IPHONE…IF YOU ARE ELIGIBLE FOR THE STANDARD UPGRADE NOW THEN IT WILL BE THE 199/299 PRICING…IF NOT THEN IT WILL BE THE 399/499 PRICING…JUST LIKE YOU HAD TO WAIT TO UPGRADE AT STANDARD DISCOUNTED PRICING BEFORE IPHONES EVER CAME OUT FOR A PHONE YOU ALL WANTED IM PRETTY SURE YOU CAN DO THE SAME…IT’S NOTHING DIFFRENT THAN THE REGULAR IPHONE 3G…SAME LOOK AND EVERYTHING…ENOUGH SAID…QUIT WINING ABOUT THINGS THAT DOESNT MAKE ANY SENSE…I MEAN SOME OF YOU ACT LIKE YALL LIVES DEPEND ON A DAMN IPHONE…IT’S JUST RIDICULOUS…

• m

  I WANT the iPhone on the day it comes out. Now all of you say were being obsurd. Were actually not! If you wanted to buy something when it came out or wanted to buy say some food a the grocery store are they gonan say “Nope, Im sorrry come back ina month to get your nexxt food suplly”. Food may be a bit important buy still what gives them the right to make the people who WANT to upgrade not.Its like telling your costumers suck it and leave and take new ones. NOT A SMART MOVE

• Maggie

  What I don’t understand is that I paid $499 (full-price) for my iPhone 3G (because I wasn’t eligible for an upgrade) so I just added it to my existing contract, yet AT&T still won’t let me get a subsidized 3GS until 3/2010! I already paid the extra $200, so it should NOT have extended my contract, yet AT&T insists it did. Anyone else have this problem?

• Steve

  Agreed. I’ve been an early mobile adopter from the very beginning, getting new phones every 6 months or so, some through dev programs at discounts, others at full retail price. While i understand the subsidized price of the phone and requirement to complete the contract, i also believe the early adopters drive the [general] market’s influence and also wish I could upgrade to the 3GS at the discount price. The way I see it, as long as we’re committed to re-newing our 2yr committment, AT&T has us on the hook for a pro-longed contract, which helps to keep us from switching carriers, even when the Iphone eventually finds its way to others..

• S

  Ok.

  I haven’t read all the comments but I just went to my local AT&T store and asked for an upgrade. I payed 299+Tax for a 32G S Black, which ended up being 323 something…Of course I’m not getting the phone on launch day, because the pre-orders are over but COME ON! THAT WAS AN AMAZING DEAL!!! Considering I just sold my 16G 3G to a friend for 250. I lost 50 bucks on 8 months. That’s not bad at all!

  So I really don’t understand where does the blogger get his information from.

  BUT YOU’RE WRONG!

  Go to your local AT&T store and upgrade!

  For me, 50 bucks for a brand new phone with double the capacity and more features was a minimum expense compared to anything else I spend my money on.

  PLEASE STOP whining and find out for yourselves…this info and EVERYTHING ELSE I’VE READ ON THE INTERNET ABOUT THIS IS WRONG!

  THANKS!

• S

  Ok….I may know WHY I GOT the 299.00 price….I DIDN’T get the first iPhone….I got the iPhone 3G on NOVEMBER…Will that have to do with the price I got?

  If it did, then I’m sorry that maybe the reason why I got a deal.

  Still

• Bob

  It’s $699 for the 32GB 3GS if you are not a new customer. thus 700

• Mike Aban

  It is ridiculous when there are high end UNLOCKED phoned like Nokia N97, Omnia II, … that we should pay such high prices for a phone that you can never legally unlock, unless you go through a whole bunch of mumbo jumbo and risk bricking your phone, that is.

  Two years ago there were no real competitors. Last year there more touch phones but not a real challenger. This year the competitors are much closer with such phones as Palm Pre and G2 android phone.

  You put all that together with ATT’s less than dependable network and you wonder how did they come up with these prices. Really! They should refrain from using controlled substances at work.

• Jack

  i have 15 months left of my iphone 16gb 3g contract and wouldnt ming paying $299/£155 for a new 32gb 3g s iphone but my service provider wont let me. Very annoyed and angry as i feel i have been punished for being loyal to O2 UK

• Mark J Hankins

  Many waited, many saved, most are proud to be owners of the iPhone. Not, from a status symbol but from it’s very capabilties! Most people have also paid twice their prior monthly bill in order to have this great phone…so, how do they recognize this dedication? I won’t look at another phone or service, but this economic embargo shows the agenda of the product , which is when I lose my interest and pride of being an owner..leadership is class, not price gouging where is the respect? Florsheim shoes, Schwinn bicycles, Levis, Carhart work clothes, Wilson A2000 baseball glves, General Motors, all had dependable products because they were built by a dependable country! What happened? I know where the phone is built, but engineered by dependable people in a dependable state! Make us proud, and show yourselves some respect..leave my pride for the iphone intact. Mark, US Marine Desert Storm Veteran ..peace

• K

  Honestly, the new iPhone 3GS does not have anything amazing about it over the old iPhone. All that’s new is that it is SUPPOSEDLY faster and it has a video camera. Oh, and a compass, big whoop. The main things that are cool about the new iPhone, the old ones will get- landscape texting, copy/pasting, blah blah blah. Stop complaining, you sound ignorant. Wait your time like everyone else and then you can have the cheaper price. I doubt that many people are going to be switching over companies for the new iPhone, if they wanted to they would’ve done it when they first came out with any iPhone.

• Mike

  This SHIT is unfair. The first I phone had an app for video, then the 3G which is the one I purchased just seven months ago does not have video, then they come out with the ne 3GS and it has video & more. I have an ATT contract and they told me I had to wait until 2010 to get my discount. That’s BULLSHIT!!! They should honor eveyone who purchased the 3G in the first place or at least the people who purchased the 3G less than a year. The so call “NEW” discount prices are NOT really discount. It still alot of money. And FUCK all of you who think I don’t have the right to BITCH!!!!!!!!!!! That’s right I am talking to YOU!!!!!!!

• Hey, wait a minute

  I paid full price for my iphone 3G in July 2008 because I was not eligible for an upgrade at the time, but now AT&T is telling me that even though I didn’t get the upgrade price for the 3G I was automatically committed to another 2-year contract and will not be eligible for upgrade pricing until 2010 (something that was not told to me in July 2008). So I would have to pay full price AGAIN if I want the 3G S.

  Does that seem right to anyone? I know you will all say “no” can’t be right, but I talked to several people at AT&T and keep getting the same answer.

• adam

  I think we should start a petition if this has not already been done!

• Robert White

  I am also bitter; but i understand why AT&T can’t allow folks to upgrade early. AT&T subsidizes these phones heavily already. The decision to allow regular iPhone users upgrade to the 3G with no penalty was a concession made by Apple (meaning that AT&T was not hurt financially through subsidizing). It is all economics. If you recall, the 3G only sold 400 – 500’000 units the first weekend (less than expectations); but the 3Gs sold over a million units the first weekend, hence no need to subsidize early upgrades. I am just gracious that they are allowing us to upgrade after completing just one-year of a two-year agreement. That means november for me. Look on the bright side, it will give them time to address any issues that may arise

• SnaX

  Dis is dumb because are alraedy AT&T customers and we will have to pay more to get a uprgade when new customers will just have to pay 300$.. If anything the we should b paying like 200-300$ for the upgrade not a whole 400$!!!

• ms

  The policy is completely disappointing. I am an AT&T customer, though not currently an iPhone user and was SO excited to finally have the need in my life to become one. I just looked online for prices and learned that I’m not eligible for the reasonable price until January. Really pissed me off. $499 is outrageous compared to the $199 price tag that others get. I would feel absolutely ridiculous spending so much money, as though I was willingly cheated. AT&T, please review your policy & reward your longtime customers!

• kenny

  Really pissed that just a few short months after upgrading to 3g. the new iphone comes out so essentially i was forced to pay the price of the 3gs for the regular 3g (which really stinks to high heaven). AT&T ALSO REFUSED TO GIVE ME DIFFERENCE IN THE PRICE CHANGE! GOOD WAY TO KEEP CUSTOMERS HAPPY!!!!!

• Brick Tamland

  LOUD NOISES!!
  - Brick