My TMO family plans for three numbers is $125/month and includes WAP for me which provides 'free' access to POP3 email and surfing internet (which I really don't do with phone), via Edge (same as iPhone). We get 2100 minutes, free unlimited evenings and weekend.

i might add, w/ WAP, my Treo 600 has access to voice, data, internet and works internationally....all for the $5.99/month fee, thanks to howardchui.com forum.

And because we signed up with authorized re-seller, got two SE w810i and one Samsung D609 for about $300 total. Our one year contract expires in early August. So total outlay under $2K for one year, if continued into second year, total would be $3,300....a far cry from $6K.

I luv my macs, and happy all of you out there will buy the iPhone - my IRA portfolio also wants to thank everyone for the last 2 yr run on apple stock
^ ^ ^

Yea, other companies do it just fine. Apple themselves are going to have to do it unless they plan on only selling it in the US. It is strictly marketing. What is going to be interesting is that a somewhat typical buyer is going to get his iPhone, and go to Starbucks, turn on his Bluetooth and wonder why his Cablevision email isnt appearing on his phone. And then he is going to call what consistently rates as the worst or near worst customer service provider in the US cell phone industry (ponder that for a few ). And that as they say, is where the fun begins.

$6,000 is not accurate.

A family will probably sign up for the family plan.

(cheapest plan)
$80 + $29 + $29 = $138 / month

$138 x 24 months = $3312

(3) iphones - $499 x 3 = $1497

Total: $4809

I doubt all three people would want iPhones and most people already have cell phone plans. So the real cost is just the incremental.

In my case, we have a 4 line family plan with TMO, swiching would cost me only an additional $10 / month. We would only get one iPhone and can used our old unlocked tmo phones on AT&T, or get cheap regular phones.

Does your family plan include data or only voice?

My assumption was all three family members would want iPhone, thus the $6K figure. Obviously if only one got iPhone, it would be much less.

My point was: IF, all wanted iPhones, total outlay would be $6k (or if you're numbers closer, than $5K)......not a small sum.

The $29 extra per line includes the data. Extra voice only line is just 10 bucks.

The way I see this, all around in every iteration of the plan (including tacking onto your existing voice plan, family plans, whatever) it's $20 extra for unlimited data to the iPhone based on the AT&T pricing I'm familiar with. (Our two line 700 minute share plan costs 70 bucks. Two lines both with iPhones would come out to $110 either way.) That's not bad at all. The initial outlay for the phone is quite a lot, yeah.

Don't forget the added cost of unlimited text messaging. The plan described in the press release only had 200 texts. Many people go through 200 texts in less than a week.

Maybe I'm old fashioned but I don't understand text messages. Why not send an email or use IM?

Not a small sum, but most people already have some type of phone service.

If my family all switched from Blackberries to iPhones, it would only cost us $10 more / month to go to AT&T vs Tmo. That $10 is because the AT&T voice plan is $10 more than our existing TMO voice plan, though the AT&T plan has a few more minutes.

Plus the cost of the iPhones of course, which is not insignificant, but nothing we have to think very hard about.

While many of us are tech savvy enough to do the email/IM thing on our cell phones/smartphones many folks (like my fiance for example) are not. There are also quite a few cell phones that do not support email in use. Not to mention that most WSP's require you to have a data plan to access emails. TM's do not require that.

Craig

I don't understand all the posters (here and elsewhere) who focus on the total cost of the iPhone and the service.

The right thing to look at is the marginal cost of the iPhone and decide if you're willing to pay that much extra for the cachet/feature-function, etc of the iPhone.

I am witholding judgement until I test on out typing on the screen. My phone is used a lot for data input and email, so a clunky typing interface will eliminate it from my consideration. Same with HTC Touch--no keyboard but one on the screen. I have a Verizon XV6700 now, which seems to do most of what iPhone does and a few extra things--although some not as cool as iPhone. We'll see shortly how this phone really works in the real world. Personally, I am in the camp that says this phone will sell to the Apple zealots but not to business. It HAS to synch with Exchange server, Blackberrry server, etc. in order for business to be interested in it. My old Verizon phone has wifi, bluetooth and 3G data. iPhone seems to me more of a super-deluxe personal phone than a business tool. I do like the screen, though, and the new glass face vs plastic. Hopefully Apple will drive others to copy some of the really good features for the rest of us.

Man, I thought they only take your shirt in Vegas. Didn't know that they are now going after people's socks, too.

I didn't get "Business Tool" from all the commercials and demos on the site either. In addition to the Apple zealots, I think it appeals to the iPod zealots. That's a big market though.

I don't understand why lots of people think that it has to be a business tool to be successful.

I would venture to guess that most cell phones and plans are sold to normal people who don't use it as part of their business. I don't think the iPhone is the same as traditional "smart" phones and the potential market is much broader than the traditional geeks, nerds, and early adopters. Maybe that's just the marketing spin.

It has all of the same features as a traditional business phone just with a different UI.

It sure doesn't have to appeal to business to be successful. If considered with the rest of the smartphones it could easily expand that market, enticing people to plunk down the $500-600 when they would normally only drop 100 bucks or less on the phone, though let's not forget the couple hundred on the iPod as well.

It's almost more like getting a crazy high-end iPod with a crippled amount of storage and the added bonus of the phone features. The screen and interface makes all that possible. Other iPods have actually synced calendar and contacts for a couple years. They also play video. But they don't do that on a really big screen that allows you to interact better with it all. And oh, yeah, we throw in the phone part.

So it's a consumer-ish device, but that doesn't stop people hoping they'll be able to use it for business because interfaces on a lot of those smartphones that do the business stuff (sync to Exchange, etc.) still kinda suck. It won't be much good for business unless a) it can sync to the business email people need and b) the keyboard works okay. Consumer users won't care as much about the keyboard. They'll just deal with it. Somewhere in between is a smaller business user/sole prop consultant or something that doesn't have that big corp email structure to worry about, and this may work fine for them as well, should they want to drop the 500 bucks on it.

Any IMAP email is going to work and be configurable to sync often enough to resemble push, I would think, based on the info I've seen. IMAP can sync email both ways, so that covers email, assuming the server can do IMAP. (Even Exchange servers could, but it's often turned off.) What may be missing that I see is OTA sync of calendar and contacts. It'll sync those with a computer, and it'll sync address book with Yahoo, but there's a gap of info as to what else might be sync-able.