And according to the link in post 200 in the Travel Tech thread, it will only be available through Apple- and Cingular-owned stores, making it unlikely there'll be an easy way around buying a contract.

From what I've heard, with the contract price you'd be looking at $800-900. For a 2G phone, which is going to be bought by nerds, which will one day leave you stranded with no chance of using a spare battery, and which (based on past experience) will die one day after the guarantee runs out. Bargain!