Treotreo, you said:
"without getting too much off topic, AT&T absolutely was suubisiding 1st gen iphone, just go to apple site & lookl at the diff in price between iphone with contract or without.
at&t now raised their minimum plan by $10 a month,minimum contract = 2 years , so at&t gets an extra $240 to recoup their subsidy cost. "
I agree, this is off-topic, but I have to object to your point.
AT&T paid APPLE around $18.00/month for every iPhone v.1 activated. APPL sold the iPhone at a price excluding the contract that was higher for sure, or you could get a "discount" by activating via AT&T.
Granted the end result in terms of cost over contract to the consumer is pretty much the same, but now AT&T will NOT pay apple the monthly charge- however, rules have been tightened to ensure v2 iPhones must be activated via AT&T. If the customer cancels the contract he's charged the AT&T subsidy of $200.
V1- AT&T pays APPLE for the privilege of exclusivity
V2- AT&T pays the customer to induce the contract
Pretty much works out the same in the wash, but still represents different concepts.
