AT&T Announces iPhone Plans
AT&T said Tuesday that calling plans for the iPhone will start at $59.99 USD per month and include unlimited data, 200 text messages, rollover, mobile-to-mobile, and Apple's "visual voicemail."
The basic plan will give the user 450 minutes, while the $79.99 USD plan includes 900 minutes and the $99.99 USD monthly plans 1,350 minutes. Family plans will also be available, and all lines will include a $36 activation fee.
With unlimited data included in all iPhone plans, compared with other providers the plans could be seen as quite competitive. "We think these three plans give customers the flexibility to experience all of iPhone's revolutionary features at affordable and competitive prices," Apple CEO Steve Jobs said.
For example, on T-Mobile a similarly featured plan would run $39.99 USD for the voice plan plus a $19.99 USD monthly charge for data, and then an additional $4.99 for messaging. Altogether, basic service would cost about $65 per month.
(BetaNews notes that T-Mobile is currently offering 1000 minutes with this plan as part of a promotion, however typically this plan comes with 600 minutes of service.)
"While there are fewer choices than AT&T standard offerings, the simplified process to figure out what to purchase is likely to resonate well with consumers who often face a dizzying array of plans and service offerings from many US carriers," Jupiter Research analyst Michael Gartenberg said.
AT&T charges $50 per month currently for unlimited 3G data (although its smartphone plans with EDGE retail for $20 per month), and voice plans with similar features run for $39.99 per month. Essentially, the plan is nothing new: just two services packaged together that were already available.
In related news, AT&T and Apple also announced that activations of the iPhone would be performed through iTunes. This way, AT&T would not need to activate phones in store, and the consumers would be able to do it themselves once they returned home.
"The whole method of activation at home using iTunes will be familiar to consumers, greatly reduces the time consumers need to spend waiting in the store for their phones to be processed," Gartenberg added.