Originally Posted By: adavidw
Originally Posted By: peter
...how does it make sense to quote the up-front price of a contract without quoting the rest of the contract? Surely the Iphone 4 is actually available at a wide range of different up-front prices, depending on how much per month the rest of the contract is, and how long the lock-in is?

Not in the US, at least. A $99 iPhone 4 is a $99 iPhone 4, whether you sign up for a $50/month plan or a $200/month plan. A 2 year contract is standard now across all carriers in the US, as well.

(Note: I believe T-Mobile had a few plans with sort of a varying subsidy like that, but they don't have the iPhone, so that's sort of irrelevant to this discussion.)

Yes, T-Mobile had that but they got rid of it a little while ago. I'm still grandfathered in on it with my unsubsidized Nexus One.

Peter, nobody in the US buys phones unsubsidized. The carriers charge one price and that's what you pay.
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Matt