3G iPhone to be discounted to $199 by AT&T?

According to Fortune, AT&T will subsidize the cost of the new, 3G iPhone by as much as $200, bringing the price within the $199 range. Apparently, a "person familiar with the strategy" claims that the provider will create this bargain bonanza for customers signing new, two-year contracts. Of course, the author of the story also says that the new phones will be available in "8-gigabit-memory and... 16-gigabit-memory" versions (for $399 and $499, respectively), so take that as you like. In addition to these discounts, the source says the new iPhone will be 2.5mm thinner than the previous iteration, although we understand that right after telling Fortune this information, the "person" burst into a cloud of rainbow-colored sparkles and went flying off into the night sky.

[Thanks, Penny]

[ryan @ Apr 29th 2008 6:37PM]

I say shenanigans!

[clak @ Apr 29th 2008 6:45PM]

Tomfoolery and much ballyhoo. Absolute codswallop. Bladerdash. What a loud of waffle, I say, old man, I say.

[Seth @ Apr 29th 2008 7:39PM]

'Dem whippersnappers and there crazy gobbling.

[CUBSWILLWIN @ Apr 29th 2008 7:40PM]

I call this slander and libering! I also prefer the term, "load of dung!" And if any of this is true, I have changed my thoughts on at&t. Its death star image will crumble if this is true. And, my company will pay for it too!! ( any smartphone $199 or under is apyed for my employer if it is a phone for the employee.)

[spass @ Apr 29th 2008 8:03PM]

To me, this sounds as if AT&T and Apple realized that people will find way to unlock the iPhone anyway, so they need to find another reasons (like a $200 discount) to make people sign if for two year contract.

[AJ @ Apr 29th 2008 8:25PM]

lol @ the balderdash typo above

[Frankenstein Black @ Apr 29th 2008 8:33PM]

Why shenanigans? It wouldn't be that unusual to get a SUBSIDIZED 3G iPhone for 2 Hundie in exchange for a 3 year contract (yea, I said it! 3 years). Probably makes good business sense since (it kills that pesky unlocking problem and we the users walk away with a crazy BARGAIN)!!

[Jonathan Worrel @ May 1st 2008 3:02AM]

WHERE THE HELL IS THE 32GB I WAS PROMISED?!

[JOSE @ Apr 29th 2008 6:38PM]

i'm in x's 2

[stefan @ Apr 29th 2008 9:07PM]

...sure...

...anyway. am I the only one whom this posts picture reminds of endless wasted hours of notpron?

[hiko36 @ May 3rd 2008 4:01AM]

wasted?? How dare you... It was either notpron or type my senior english paper... i think we can tell who prevailed...

[Mike @ Apr 29th 2008 6:39PM]

Well, we'll see if these comments are true. A post a few days ago that provided a picture of a black iPhone said that the new phone would be slightly thicker. I also doubt that they will contain the same amount of disk space. I'll say this is inaccurate until proven otherwise.

[peacebyanymeans (AKA: Moorio) @ Apr 29th 2008 6:39PM]

iPhone? 3G? $200?!

Bullshit.

[Zak @ Apr 29th 2008 7:00PM]

Well read the important part of the article, i.e. that AT&T would be subsidizing the remainder of the cost. It doesn't mean Apple is selling them that cheaply, it means that AT&T is eating the difference. I don't see that as being too far fetched.

And this doesn't mean I believe it either, but AT&T subsidizing a couple hundred bucks for a guaranteed hit is a lot more believable than Apple reducing the cost by that much.

[flyby @ Apr 29th 2008 7:07PM]

I bet that Apple would find some way to prevent AT&T from doing this b/c they don't want this to become just another one of AT&T's contract traps. Apple doesn't seem like a company that would like this whole idea. It seems to go against their entire purpose

The source of this article is also really shady. But who knows, we'll see.

[An_asshole @ Apr 29th 2008 7:31PM]

Goes against their entire purpose? What purpose is that? Making fuckin' money by the dump truck load? I don't see how it would go against that.

If on the other hand you mean some fictional shiny happy bullshit purpose, you can stop kidding yourself. They have one purpose and that is to increase shareholder value by moving some goddamned phones. And there is nothing wrong with that.

If AT&T is willing to subsidize the phone then why in the hell would Apple stop them? They certainly haven't in Europe. The real question is, does AT&T think they can make up in volume what they would be losing per unit. This makes the rumored 25 million target for 3g iPhones sound a little more substantial.

[Snitch @ Apr 29th 2008 7:49PM]

$199 makes a lot of sense, you $399 and as soon as you activate the phone you get $200 back, if you unlock it and go with T-mobile or someone else
you loose $200 and they don't loose nothing. They already doing this with the Tilt that retails for $549, why not do it with that soon to be the hottest phone that's going to be outhere??

[BigD145 @ Apr 29th 2008 8:14PM]

Two year contracts are big bucks. AT&T can afford to suck up the difference in the phone costs.

[Reader @ Apr 29th 2008 8:52PM]

Usually I'm not a grammar Nazi, but this line kills me "they don't loose nothing". Double negative and loose instead of lose in all of three words.

[Chris @ Apr 29th 2008 6:39PM]

Ah the elusive new 1GB and 2GB iPhones are finally here!

[guoruiwu1994 @ Apr 29th 2008 6:54PM]

well, its obviously a typo.

[Peter @ Apr 29th 2008 6:40PM]

So does that mean 1 and 2 giga BYTE versions? Great selling point, dropping the memory capacity so much. They shall line up in droves.

[Chuckles McGee @ Apr 29th 2008 7:09PM]

Hey, I've even got a 128 gigabit iPhone available now!

[clak @ Apr 29th 2008 6:40PM]

This is the biggest fantasy ever created, but even if it is remotely true, the Apple haters will find a way to complain about, while secretly buying one at the same time.

[Adam @ Apr 29th 2008 6:43PM]

What that smell???

Oh just some BS I have in the corner.

[austin @ Apr 29th 2008 6:51PM]

you keep bullshit in the corner?

oh, well... i guess if its ok with you...

[KEROLiUKAS @ Apr 29th 2008 6:45PM]

I think they might be confused on gygabyte vs gigabit, if not...wow this just makes it suck even more...and the 199..not gonna happen...Maybe and a strong maybe if u agree to sign the contract (as it said) but still, wouldn't count on that.

[Zorque @ Apr 29th 2008 8:06PM]

It's definitely a mistake, nobody in their right mind would sell a phone with 1 MB of memory, especially not Apple.

[KEROLiUKAS @ Apr 29th 2008 8:07PM]

not 1 mb, it would be 1 gigabyte

[andres @ Apr 29th 2008 8:11PM]

@zorque
i think you mean 1 gigabyte

[Zorque @ Apr 29th 2008 10:49PM]

Dammit, never comment on blogs right after you wake up.

[Mike @ Apr 29th 2008 11:59PM]

I for one welcome our new gygabyte robot overlords.

[PG @ Apr 29th 2008 6:50PM]

It was a matter of time, people aren't buying the iturdphone like crapple hoped they would. Time to sell these things at a discount and hope the itards buy em.

[pagancollective @ Apr 29th 2008 7:03PM]

Bowling for low rankings, eh?

[nate @ Apr 29th 2008 6:58PM]

...seriously?
you come here to say that?

[Zak @ Apr 29th 2008 7:05PM]

I know. PG hates Apple, but he loves bumping up the post count in Apple related articles. It's like he's a masochist or something.

[Galley @ Apr 29th 2008 7:11PM]

PG is the new Nfinity.

[clak @ Apr 29th 2008 8:40PM]

When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.

[Abuzar @ Apr 29th 2008 10:20PM]

It's actually not that bad. Sure when you are locked into Apple's vision of what you should do with their products it's pretty useless, but after jail breaking it's it's a decent phone that looks pretty damn good.

[CharlieX @ Apr 29th 2008 6:47PM]

Signing contract extension for phone subsidies is weak. Years ago I got into that contract cycle with T-Mobile and it cost me dearly in the end.

Pay full price. Or buy a cheap ass phone instead. No more contracts with the devil says I.

[perpetualtranze @ Apr 29th 2008 6:48PM]

"an 8-gigabyte-memory and a 16-gigabyte-memory model" not "gigabit" You guys should really check twice before taking information from another article.

[Joshua Topolsky @ Apr 29th 2008 6:57PM]

Our original quote came directly from the Fortune article -- they've since corrected their mistake. That doesn't change the fact that it was there to begin with.

[Aaron @ Apr 29th 2008 6:48PM]

GigaBYTE not GigaBIT. A bit is 1/8th of a byte. I can't believe the tech writer at Fortune can't even get that right.

[George @ Apr 29th 2008 6:55PM]

"Apple is expected to have two versions of the new iPhone, an 8-gigabyte-memory and a 16-gigabyte-memory model with price tags widely expected to be $399 and $499."

I believe the mistake/type has been corrected.

[George @ Apr 29th 2008 6:56PM]

Ok.... "typo" ....thats ironic.

[Brad @ Apr 29th 2008 6:59PM]

I WANT this to be true. But I know it's not.. lol

[Johan S @ Apr 29th 2008 7:00PM]

They need to, I am an iPhone owner and I am looking at throwing it away and getting the HTC Diamond until the Xperia X1 comes out.

BTW Sony, when the hell is the Xperia X1 coming out?

[Fitz @ Apr 29th 2008 7:51PM]

I believe this fall, rumored October/November time frame. Sure it'll delay until Q1 09.

[Frank Furter @ Apr 29th 2008 9:25PM]

No you're not.

[Dan Davis @ Apr 30th 2008 11:38AM]

I'm with ya, Johan... can't wait for the X1. This will be my first plunge into smartphones.

An unlocked version is going to cost a king's ransom, though.