kosertech

I have seen tons of malcontent floating around the internet about the lack of any upgrade pricing for current iPhone 3G users to get an iPhone 3GS without paying non subsidized pricing. This seems ok to me as I understand how the pricing works and It’s been the same for every phone I’ve owned. If I sign up for a 2 year agreement I don’t expect to get a “deal” on another phone until I reach the end of that contract period.  I can tell you from first hand experience though it’s hard waiting when that OMGAWESOME phone you have been waiting on finally comes out and your a year away from an upgrade price.

A friend @thejesse brought up a very valid point today that came across my shared greader items as a comment that I had never considered. If your getting a deal on a phone for a 2 year contract why isn’t your monthly fee lower if you pay up front full price for the phone instead of getting a subsidized phone?  I mean if I pay $800 up front for a phone and the carrier isn’t subsidizing me for a 2 year contract then it only seems fair to get a lower monthly fee since I’m not paying off my phone over the course of the contract.

That being said I do like the looks of the 3GS and my wife will probably upgrade in September when she is able but I’ll probably skip this round due to cost and lack of being able to take advantage of contract pricing.

On a somewhat related note I am rather annoyed at AT&T over not having MMS and tethering ready at os 3.0 launch though.  AT&T has tons of phones already doing MMS and many other carriers will be ready at launch time.  Don’t even get me started on the slingbox working over 3g on windows mobile and blackberry but not iPhone.  It’s inexcusable to not have this ready to go when the 3.0 software launches.  I hope Apple will allow some other carriers in the future in the US to force AT&T to get their act together a bit more.