Chances of a decreased iPhone cost if I...

[countthaddeus]

...continue being a reliable customer to Cingular? I've been with them for 2 years now and my contract is about to end in October.

Is it worth seeing if they will cut me a deal on an iPhone in order for me to remain a customer if I demand it or is it likely they will keep the price at $599?

If it's unlikely they will, then I'll just go buy the darn thing now and save the hassle.

Thanks

 

[Marianne]

i doubt they will, to be honest. even corporate customers who have a discount plan program with AT&T (like i do) cannot get any plan discounts if there's an iPhone on the account - this affects thousands of employees at a number of companies. if anything, you'd think AT&T would would not want to upset the companies who have hundreds or thousands of employees on AT&T plans. so, given this, i have to think they won't care about an individual user and any discount they'd want on the phone (nothing personal, just a conclusion drawn from what's happening)...

 

[raoser]

I agree that you probably won't see any discounts for a long time. I don't think the carriers feel the need at this point. I was with Sprint for 10 years before switching and when I called to ask them what they would do to maintain me, they basically blew me off without a second thought.

Even ATT didn't seem to care that I was switching over, not that I expected a ticker tape parade or anything, but it sure would have made it easier if they could have acknowledged it. The phone price will probably always be under strict Apple control and if ATT offers any discounts it will be more along the lines of a discount on a second phone (non iPhone, of course) or something like that.

 

[aggieman]

I agree. No luck unfortunately. I have a family member who has been with Cingular 5 years and has an expired contract and they wouldn't offer up any discount. He paid the $599 anyways and is still very happy with the iPhone.

 

[countthaddeus]

Thanks. Looks like I will be getting the iPhone sooner than I thought.