Helping to usher-in July’s arrival for summer, AT&T has just announced their iPhone 3G pricing details. We’ve already known for some time that AT&T would be offering their iPhone 3G at $199 and $299 price-points for the 8GB and 16GB variants of the iPhone 3G, respectively. But, today’s announcement sheds more light on the AT&T plans for the next-generation iPhone 3G – which launches on July 11, as if you didn’t already know. And, as expected, the iPhone 3G will kick off sales at 8am (local time) at all AT&T stores.
First and foremost, AT&T will be offering the iPhone 3G for $199 and $299 to all existing iPhone customers, AT&T customers eligible for handset upgrades, and new-activation customers. Of course, a new 2-year contract will be required of anyone looking to grab an iPhone 3G for those low prices. The White iPhone 3G variant is only available on the 16GB model.
AT&T customers not in the running for a handset upgrade will be looking at paying AT&T $399 for the 8GB iPhone 3G and $499 for the 16GB iPhone 3G. And, AT&T wants us to know that any AT&T customer not eligible for an upgrade can simply wait out their contract and keep making timely payments until the upgrade offer rolls their way.
AT&T has posted buying-guides for existing customers and new customers alike. Find them here and here.
But, in perhaps the most surprising move from AT&T, the company has announced that they will be offering the iPhone 3G sans-contract in the future. That means a no-contract iPhone 3G is definitely in the pipeline. But, for $599 and $699 for the 8Gb and 16GB iPhone 3G variants, respectively, the contract-free iPhone 3G will cost a pretty penny – essentially the same as early iPhone adopters.
The iPhone 3G will also come with a nice little $18 upgrade fee for anyone jumping from a first-generation iPhone or other AT&T handset. New activations will require an additional $36 activation fee.
iPhone 3G rate plans start at $69.99 for 400 anytime minutes, unlimited nights/weekends, Visual Voicemail, Rollover, unlimited Mobile to Mobile calling, Call Forwarding, Call Waiting, Three-Way Calling, Caller ID, and unlimited data. The higher-end of the iPhone 3G spectrum offers unlimited everything for $129.99 on the AT&T Nation Unlimited plan. Calling plans offering 900 and 1,350 anytime minutes are also available for $89.99 and $109.99, respectively.
FamilyTalk plans will start at $129.99 for two iPhone 3G lines sharing 700 anytime minutes. FamilyTalk plans with 1,400, 2,100, 3,000, 4,000, and 6,000 shared anytime minutes range from $149.99 to $359.99. Each additional iPhone 3G line will add $39.99 to the FamilyTalk plans.
Unfortunately, SMS text messages are not included in any AT&T Nation, Unlimited, or FamilyTalk plans. Unlike MMS (picture/video messaging), SMS text messaging has found a huge market as a faster text-based messaging alternative to email, and as such, AT&T is asking that you pay more to get your text-on. A $5 spot nets you 200 SMS text messages, $15 gets you 1,500 messages, and $20 earns you unlimited text messaging ($30 on FamilyTalk plans).
Enterprise and Business customers can expect to pay more for bundled data plans. But, even with $45 iPhone 3G Enterprise data plans, business users are likely to save more on their voice plans.
See you in line!