The honeymoon is over. In the US, the sole carrier for the iPhone is AT&T. Now a new phone is launched on June 19 and new software for existing phones is released on June 17.\’a0 How does AT&T position itself to feel the love (and the profits) from the new features/functionality? First, they announce that existing owners of the iPhone 3G can upgrade to version of the 3G S for the low, low customer loyalty prices: $699 (32GB), $599 (16GB), and $499 (8GB).\’a0 This compares to $299, $199, and $99 for new AT&T customers. Screw that.
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Then, MMS messaging and tethering are not even going to be offered by AT&T until “later this summer” and tethering prices have not yet been announced.
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All this adds up to one thing: Apple must drop AT&T as its US carrier ASAP.
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It was even apparent during the keynote yesterday that Apple sounds pretty disgusted with how far behind AT&T is dragging them. Notice the absence of any AT&T personnel on stage. Had AT&T been on the ball to begin with, it most likely would have taken center stage — boasting about all the improvements that would garner shiny new services for iPhone users and more money for the corporate coffers. But it didn’t, and the tension coming from Apple during the moments when MMS and Tethering were announced was pretty tangible. Apple had all of these features that people have been begging for ready to go, and now Cupertino is forced to wait for AT&T to finish twiddling its thumbs and do what it should have done two years ago. I wouldn’t even be surprised if AT&T somehow found a way to block copy/paste!