Parity Violation

Mainly, the cost of the plans from AT&T. At first I was wowed with the new, lower, prices - $299 for a 16GB compared to the $499 I paid just a few months ago. But, AT&T has released some details, I refer specifically to this interview with AT&T mobility chief:

The data plans are different on the 3G iPhone vs. the 2G iPhone. Consumers will pay $30 a month every month, while enterprises will pay $45 a month. This is what you pay us on other PDA devices such as BlackBerry Curve. The SMS messages are not bundled anymore, and you pay for what you want. Again, the prices are based on what you buy.

The data part, I expected. iPhone users have voracious appetites for data and AT&T wants people to pay more for faster speeds, so I get that. But what’s up with this business about unbundling SMS? Does this mean that an iPhone user will have to pay another $5 a month just to get 200 text messages? Or perhaps to pay per SMS at fees higher than receiving data from space? Phooey on that.

I’m thinking I’ll be keeping my current iPhone until Apple opens up to other carriers, which hopefully will be the case by the time my contract is up in February 2010. (Don’t get me started about this “five year” exclusivity with AT&T - no one has confirmed that, it’s based one USA Today story which doesn’t cite anyone. Apple and AT&T have only said “multiyear”)

Now, I look forward to July so I can check out the app store. That should be quite awesome.