Who will be eligible for a discounted iPhone 4G?
After the hullabaloo caused last time by the introduction of a new iPhone model and who was eligible for a discounted price, it looks like AT&T my be working to make more people eligible for the upcoming 4G iPhone handset.
When the iPhone 3GS came out about a year ago, there were a lot of people with iPhone 3G handsets that were still in the middle of their two-year AT&T contracts. That is rather an obvious problem with a one-year cycle for the introduction of new models, as opposed to a two-year cycle for the wireless contract that comes with a new phone. That situation means that iPhone lovers can only get discounts on every other model introduced, no matter how much they would like to stay at the forefront of Apple handset technology. A PCWorld column today says that maybe AT&T is changing that policy a bit, although what is actually happening is unclear.
Some iPhone users are apparently reporting that their AT&T accounts have changed, at least in terms of eligibility for a new iPhone, with eligibility dates being moved to the supposed release date of the newest iPhone, sometime in late June or early July. At the same time, the wording is apparently such that it is difficult to tell exactly what a subscriber is eligible for. I have checked my AT&T iPhone account and mine is still saying what it has been saying for at least a year: I “may qualify” for a fully discounted iPhone 4G on my two-year anniversary date, 7-27-2010. I admit, though, that I am wondering what the heck “may qualify” actually means. Do I or don’t I qualify after two years?
At any rate, some folks have apparently been moved forward in the new-model iPhone queue, and therefore may get a newer model iPhone before their contracts are up. All that I can tell for sure is that I am not one of the blessed at this point. I wonder if any of our readers have seen a change in their eligibility dates? Feel free to leave a comment either way.
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