They are silent on this so far, but all the details are not out. I asked the Amex rep about whether the first year fee was waived last night and he did not say "no". He said (not his exact words) that we'd have to wait a bit more for all the details of the offer.

They were pretty careful not to disclose anything to us that they weren't disclosing to everyone in their most recent announcement (which actually came out before anyone at the dinner had a chance to "deliver their marketing message")

They do waive the first year on Amex Gold for small business, and for the US SPG Amex, so it isn't like it would be unusual for them to do it.