I've got a Blackberry Bold 9700 right now (with a data plan), and use AT&T as a carrier, and i am not under any long term contract with them. I am eligible for an discounted upgrade to an iphone 3GS 16 GB for $199 with a new 2 yr contract.

Can i go ahead and upgrade to the iphone, pay the $199, and just sell the iphone to a friend? Make about a $400 profit. And just keep my Sim card in my old Blackberry (and not cancel the new contract, but just keep the new contract tied to my old Blackberry for the 2 years)? Hence no cancellation fee?

If so...

Will the friend I sell it to have to finish out my contract? Or can she own the iphone without any long term contract now (and she just pay monthly with her own data plan)? I know she will be stuck with At&T as a carrier, since the iphone is locked to AT&T. But will she be locked into a 2 yr. contract as well?

Kinda difficult to word this properly, but i think you get the idea of what I'm asking. -Can I sell my upgrade for a profit without any problems?

I don't know about the first part, but your friend will be locked in to a 2 year contract unless she jailbreaks it and goes with another carrier. The current offer is $199 for a new 3GS 16GB with a 2 year contract so your friend isn't getting any advantage by buying it from you rather than Apple (barring the jailbreak scenario).

You'd probably be better off selling it on craigslist or something similar--they command higher prices than retail since there are resellers who buy them for decent money, jailbreak them and then ship them overseas where they can get even more.

So my friend and I BOTH will be stuck with a new 2 year contract? I can't just take over the new contract and keep it with my current Blackberry? I know she will be locked to AT&T as a carrier (and will have to sign up for a data plan), but don't know if she would also have to take on a 2 year contract. She will only buy it from me if there is no 2 yr contract attached.

Another thing to consider is the data plans. They might force you to purchase a specific data plan for the iPhone. I don't know if the iPhone plan is different from their normal smartphone plans, but the last time I looked, the blackberry plan IS different from the smartphone plans.

The Blackberry data pan has a different name, but it is the exact same price as the iphone data plan, so i wouldn't think they would care about that aspect.

I mean, if they did, then if you lost your blackberry, you would be forced to buy only a new blackberry...doesn't sound right.

Why would his friend be locked into a contract?

If you lost it after some time, I'm sure they'd be willing to change you from one plan to another. But if you change back to the BB plan shortly after getting a new iPhone, they might not allow it.

Plus, even though the plans may cost the same amount, they might enable you for access to different services. For example, I believe BB requires access to some sort of server run by BB or the mobile provider in order to get email.

If you want to get more specific answers to these questions, I'd suggest howardforums.com.