Gotta give them props for that.
It explains the pricing, though. :)

I only kinda want this, but my alien hand syndrome hand wants to get to work with one of these babies.

First of all, "SHOULD" have? Who are you to say what they "SHOULD" do?
Secondly, iPhone customers pay more per month for the same service, overall. It's numbers.
Third, The confusion is their own fault anyway. They set a precedent when they let the original iPhone owners "forget" a year of their contract when upgrading to the 3G. Now, technically, the phone was unsubsidized and there shouldn't have been a 2 year contract required in that first place, but that's getting pretty far into it.

I suspect you are dead-on right. They probably have a problem with telling the reps about this when the decision and announcement happened in the middle of their shift.

I think it said the eligibility will show up on your account tomorrow or Friday.

It's AT&T doing the subsidizing, not Apple.

7th... In six years... In a country of about 1.4 billion... Where they make the things so cheap, they probably replace them 2-3 times in that amount of time?
I'll take my chances.

I like the look of it, but it would NEVER survive my Team Fortress 2 rage-fits when I get nailed by a spy or a pyro... youtube search "angry german kid"

Crazy... I saw this article five minutes after watching Stargate: Continuum. very... familiar.

Good luck flying with one of those. The TSA and wire-looking things don't mesh.