AT&T will continue to be the exclusive U.S. provider for Apple iPhones with the launch of the iPhone 3G. The new iPhone will be available starting on July 11th with a price of USD$199 for the 8GB model and USD$299 for the 16GB model with a two-year contract. Customers will need to activate their iPhone 3G at time of purchase (likely to cut down on unlocked iPhone sales).
AT&T also announced data plans to go with the new iPhone 3G:
- USD$30/month consumer unlimited iPhone 3G data plan, in addition to a voice plan
- USD$45/month consumer unlimited iPhone 3G data plan, in addition to a voice plan
AT&T also renegotiated their agreement and have eliminated the revenue-sharing plan that had operated since AT&T had first offered the iPhone last year.
AT&T has not announced any changes to plans for the first generation 2G iPhone at this time.
Update: There is one more change to the data plans that are coming to the iPhone 3G. SMS messages will no longer be bundled, as Ralph de la Vega, president and chief executive officer of AT&T Mobility, revealed in an interview with Gigaom. If you use SMS, the iPhone 3G just got a little more expensive if you’re an AT&T customer.