Some Further Thoughts on iPhone 3G

Yesterday, Apple announced the iPhone 3G at WWDC08 and issued a slew of press releases. I reported on the iPhone 3G's salient features and here is a QuickTime webcast of the nearly 2-hour keynote address.

Subsequently, AT&T issued its own press release on the cost of the 3G iPhone and its data service. From it we find out that AT&T will still be the exclusive service provider in the U.S.; the $199 (8GB) and $299 (16GB) prices are, in fact, subsidized prices with a 2-year service contract; AT&T will no longer share revenue from the service contract with Apple; and the data service fee jumps 50 percent from $20 to $30 per month for consumers ($45 for business).

AT&T claims to have 3G service currently in 280 metro areas and that it will have 350 areas by the end of the year. Furthermore, AT&T plans to make many of its "hundreds of enterprise applications" available for the iPhone as well as new and innovative applications, e.g.:

AT&T is working closely with Apple to roll out several new and innovative applications that take advantage of the iPhone's advanced capabilities. For example, AT&T is finalizing YELLOWPAGES.COM mobile for the iPhone, an innovative GPS-enabled application that combines local search with social networking capabilities, giving users the ability to search for information, share reviews and plan activities with friends, neighbors and co-workers.

It seems reasonable that AT&T would charge more for its 3G data service, especially with all of the new applications that people will be using.

There are still some important questions for us early adopters. Of course, I want to replace my original 8GB iPhone with an iPhone 3G, keeping the same number, and pass the older one off to my spouse to replace her pink RAZR, again keeping her number. But I have a three-phone family service contract with AT&T that got extended 2 years when I added the iPhone a year ago last June. Hopefully, these trades will be possible and just cost me the additional $30 per month for the 3G iPhone data service.

I still have my $100 rebate, so an iPhone 3G will cost me only $99 or $199. I'm undecided on the 8GB vs 16GB model but since I am only using 4GB on the current 8GB iPhone, I'm leaning toward getting another 8GB model. [Bill Fox]