If you thought that the newly-increased $200 early upgrade fee for existing AT&T customers looking to re-up their handsets was painful enough, turns out the company seems to have swept another price increase under the rug at the same time. In the latest in-store displays valid for the period ending November 6, a bunch of smartphones are showing no-commitment (that is, no-contract) pricing anywhere from $100 to $150 higher than they were previously. Why? To make sure that the early upgrade price is still less than (or equal to) the no-commitment price, since it wouldn't make any sense to charge a current subscriber more for hardware without a contract than it would a new one. Here are some examples:
- Palm Pre Plus: $299.99 before, $399.99 now
- HTC Aria: $329.99 before, $429.99 now
- Sony Ericsson Vivaz: $279.99 before, $429.99 now
- Palm Pixi Plus: $229.99 before, $379.99 now
- Motorola Backflip: $249.99 before, $349.99 now
[Thanks, anonymous tipster]