AT&T Inc. and Apple today announced service plans for iPhone which start at $59.99 per month. All plans include unlimited data, Visual Voicemail, 200 SMS text messages (more SMS text messages can be added to any plan), roll-over minutes and unlimited mobile-to-mobile calling. With everything else already included, iPhone customers can easily choose the plan that’s right for them based on the amount of voice minutes they plan to use each month. In addition, iPhone customers can choose from any of AT&T’s standard service plans.
Individual AT&T service plans for Apple iPhone:
• $59.99 for 450 minutes
• $79.99 for 900 minutes
• $99.99 for 1,350 minutes
• $119.99 for 2,000 minutes
• $169.99 for 4,000 minutes
• $199.99 for 6,000 minutes
Family AT&T service plans for Apple iPhone:
(Includes one line. Additional iPhone lines are $29.99 each.)
• $80.00 for 700 minutes
• $100.00 for 1,400 minutes
• $120.00 for 2,100 minutes
• $160.00 for 3,000 minutes
• $210.00 for 4,000 minutes
• $310.00 for 6,000 minutes
All plans include unlimited data (email and web), unlimited nights and weekends (except $59.99 plan which includes 5,000 nights and weekends minutes), Visual Voicemail, 200 SMS text messages (more SMS text messages can be added to any plan), roll over minutes and unlimited mobile-to-mobile and a one-time activation fee of $36. All iPhone monthly service plans are available for individuals and families and are based on a new two-year service agreement with AT&T.
Current AT&T customers service plans for Apple iPhone:
(Just add one of these data plans to your existing voice plan)
• $20.00 for Unlimited Data (Email/Web), Visual Voicemail, 200 SMS Text Messages
• $30.00 for Unlimited Data (Email/Web), Visual Voicemail, 1,500 SMS Text Messages
• $40.00 for Unlimited Data (Email/Web), Visual Voicemail, Unlimited SMS Text Messages
“AT&T has the largest voice and data network in America, the largest mobile-to-mobile calling community and the fewest dropped calls,” said Randall Stephenson, chairman and CEO, AT&T, in the press release. “AT&T has invested more than 16 billion dollars in its wireless network between 2005 and 2007, and iPhone customers will enjoy the best voice and data network in the nation.”
“We want to make choosing a service plan simple and easy, so every plan includes unlimited data with direct Internet access, along with Visual Voicemail and a host of other goodies,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO, in the press release. “We think these… plans give customers the flexibility to experience all of iPhone’s revolutionary features at affordable and competitive prices.”
All iPhone plans include Visual Voicemail, an industry first, which allows consumers to see a listing of their voicemails, decide which messages to listen to, then go directly to those messages without listening to previous messages. Just like email, Visual Voicemail on iPhone enables users to immediately and randomly access the messages that interest them most. Unlike most wireless plans that charge additional fees for new features, there are no additional fees for Visual Voicemail.
iPhone introduces an entirely new user interface based on a revolutionary multi-touch display and pioneering new software that allows users to control iPhone with just a tap, flick or pinch of their fingers. iPhone combines three products into one small and lightweight handheld device-a revolutionary mobile phone, a widescreen iPod, and the Internet in your pocket with best-ever applications on a mobile phone for email, web browsing and maps. iPhone ushers in an era of software power and sophistication never before seen in a mobile device, which completely redefines what users can do on their mobile phones.
iPhone goes on sale at 6:00 p.m. (local time) on Friday, June 29 and will be sold in the US through Apple’s retail and online stores and AT&T retail stores. iPhone will be available in a 4GB model for US$499 and an 8GB model for $599, and will work with either a Mac or PC.
MacDailyNews Take: These are simple, well-priced plans. Let the bloodbath commence!
MacDailyNews Note: For those who might be thinking of buying an iPhone and never activating it in order to use it as a 6G iPod, Think Different™. From Apple’s iPhone Rate Plans page: Minimum new 2-year wireless service plan and activation fee required to activate iPhone features, including iPod; plans are subject to AT&T credit approval.
I think that’s very reasonable based on the prices out there just for unlimited data plans are close to that without voice too.
That’s not bad. Essentially $39.99 for voice and $20 for unlimited data.
Cool… The plans are reasonable! Verizon charges an extra $49/month for unlimited data on top of the voice plans.
About in line with expectations (at least mine). I’m getting 900 minutes.
Nice not to be nickeled and dimed to death.
These prices are too high. They are fleecing us rabid Apple fans.
I live in Japan, and this plan is surprisingly good for the US. The unlimited data and unlimited mobile-to-mobile is great.
The iPhone is going to do well in the US. I look forward to its arrival in Japan, where it will face stiffer competition. However, the iPhone will likely do well here, too.
Yeah, I’m happy with those rates. I could justify $59.99/month.
At first I thought the text messages were low, but with data and Mail, who needs SMS?
Cool, I wonder how this will effect me seeing as my family has already signed up with AT&T in anticipation of the iPhone…
@maclover:
Boo-Hoo, Boo-Hoo-Hoo, Boo-Hoo-Hoo-Hoo! Sucks to be you.
Perfect! I’m paying $39.99 for 450 minutes plus $19.99 for unlimited data right now so it’s a wash for me to upgrade. I just wish they had more than 200 SMS included. Oh well, see how it works out.
wait for the bitching…. here it comes…
“only 200 SMS?” “$99 per month!!??”
Enderle, Dvorak and Thurrott are foaming at the keyboard this morn…
Good news for me. That’s about what I pay Alltel for minutes only.
Time to change. Now where did I put that extra $600.00?…..
Impressed. The $60 (w/ taxes & fees) I pay Verizon every month for 450 min and 1000 txt/pix seems very pricey all of a sudden…
I’m there. Sign me up Scotty!
I want to know if I have to pay to break my existing contract or will they simply just allow us to move to iPhone and service plans?
So essentially the price is $39.99 for everything other than minutes then $20 for 450 minutes, $40 for 900 and $60 for 1350 with a minimum of 450 minutes..
wow. this is a bombshell – the unlimited data thing was very smart on at&t’s part. personally, i can’t wait for my verizon contract to be up – by that time, they’ll be out with at least rev 2 or 3 of the iphone.
No iPod if the phone is not activated… hmmm
“Minimum new 2-year wireless service plan and activation fee required to activate iPhone features, including iPod…”
After the last two years of getting ripped off and using a crappy phone, this is a breath of fresh air
I live in the Washington, DC Metro area. I just compared plans from other carriers and also AT+T’s current plans. Here is what i found:
If you go to AT+T’s plan page and get a comparable minutes package and add the blackberry data additional package onto it, it comes out to $79.98, and that’s just on a plan old blackberry. So in comparison $59.99 is a good deal if you do a straight comparison of current AT+T plans.
T-Mobiles comparable plan is $39.99 for voice and $49.99 for data which totals up to $89.98. So the new iPhone plan at $59.99 is a bargain compared to T-Mobile’s plan. Verizon’s Voice+data plan is the same as T-mobile’s plan at $89.98. Sprint’s plan is $79.98 for both voice and data. So if you look at all the other carrier’s plans, the iPhone/AT+T plan really is a bargain.
Excellent Prices. I’m quite surprised. The $99.99 is perfect (for me).
So if you don’t stay with AT&T for the total length of time you have the iPhone, and go with some other carrier for the phone part, you’re then screwed on the future use of the standalone iPod features? If true, this is a deal breaker for me.
I’m absolutely loving this. Told you it was going to be over 2 grand but this is even better: Let’s see:
– overpriced cell phone manufactured for pennies at Chinese slave camp sold for half a grand: check
– overpriced contract plus the usual slew of Apple chains and locks (no activation, no iPoo): check
– unsatisfying and overhyped iPhone user interface: coming on the 29th
I smell Newton episode 2. And they ask me why are you so jovial!!!
Behold Apple sheep. The ZunePhone is coming.
hey buddy – i’m the real maclover, cease and desist
A chair just went flying over at Verizon HQ.