Yes Virginia, there is a $99 iPhone
AT&T (T) on Saturday began offering refurbished iPhones for the lowest price yet seen in the United States:
- $99 for a black 8GB iPhone 3G (refurbished)
- $199 for a black 16 GB iPhone 3G (refurbished)
The price points are not entirely unexpected. For several weeks before Christmas, Apple (AAPL) blogs were buzzing with rumors that Wal-Mart (WMT) would be selling a new version of Apple's iPhone at the magical $99 price.
But it was not to be. On Friday, Wal-Mart confirmed that starting Sunday, Dec. 28, it will carry the hot-selling phone at nearly 2,500 stores — but starting at $197, not $99.
AT&TS's $99 iPhones are the same old models, slightly used.
According to the small print on att.com,
Refurbished phones are previously owned devices that have been unused or lightly used and returned during the 30-day trial period. Each refurbished phone is independently quality tested and loaded with the latest software to meet current factory standards. Some refurbished iPhone 3G devices will have minor scratches.
Refurbished iPhone 3G devices carry a warranty of 90 days or more. For details about the warranty on your refurbished iPhone 3G go to www.apple.com/support/oss/.
The catch? The heavily discounted phones come with the usual 2-year contracts, which can cost up to $2,000, depending on the plan.
The sale ends Dec. 31 or when AT&T runs out of stock, whichever comes first. Macworld Expo starts the following week, leading to speculation that AT&T may be using the occasion to clear inventory in advance of new models or new memory configurations.
They're now $49 (8GB) and $149 (16GB) through December 31.
http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/cell-phones/refurb-phones.jsp
ex ped: Looks like $99 to me.
BC wrote:
"The $99 iPhone becomes $199 for those of us who are “not upgrade eligible”, which is still much better than the $399 for a brand-spankin new one."
How were you able to get the 8gb version for 199.00, I am not eligible for an upgrade and I cannot purchase a refurbished phone at all….they suck
The smart thing would have been to sell the refurbed 8 GB phones for $49 and the 16 GB for $99 exclusively at Walmart. Walmart probably has a policy against sell used goods.
But, when will we see an iPhone Pro?
http://tinycomb.com/2008/12/29/iphone-pro-photos/
http://gizmodo.com/5119445/the-dream-iphone-pro?skyline=true&s=i
Bummer! I recently lost my original IPhone on a flight from LAX to JFK. I asked both Apple & AT&T if they had any refurbished phones available. They said no & forced me into a new contract. So much for corporate candid in the age of Madoff.
I've had my iPhone for not even a year yet. I bought mine for a whopping $500 just two months before they came out with the cheaper iPhone. I love it but even for $500 it was not without it's faults. I had to send the phone in for a complete replacement because it died for no apparent reason not long after I purchased it, and even Apple couldn't figure out what went wrong. Being a die-hard Apple fan, I was disappointed to pay so much money only to have such bizarre problems. Wish I'd waited for this sweet deal they're offering now. 
The $99 iPhone becomes $199 for those of us who are "not upgrade eligible", which is still much better than the $399 for a brand-spankin new one.
A chink here (Walmart) and a chink there (ATT)–when the first round of 2 year contracts comes due this summer ebay is going to be awash in iphones with no strings attached–at which point the whole poisonous scheme is going to crash–and I will be buying a phone–without the accompanying ring through my nose–YEA!!!
The $99 iPhone may NOT be available to everyone.
For example, existing AT&T customers who qualified to upgrade (i.e. After stayed with AT&T for two years) may NOT be able to get the phone for $99 without adding another line if you do not see the iPhone in your upgrad phone list
If you are alreaddy an AT&T customer, login to AT&T online site below will show you if the $99 iPhone upgrade option is available to you:
http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/cell-phones/refurb-phones.jsp
The point is not that the monthly charges for an iPhone are high compared to other services, it's that the purchase price for the iPhone is a small part of what a customer pays over the life of their contract. That said, however, there may be many potential iPhone purchasers who don't think that way and see the initial $199 price as an obstacle. This $99 refurbished phone offer may provide Apple and ATT with data on how many there really are.
DeWitt,
As usual I've got to congratulate you on your sweet gig. You report a story that's nearly 48 hours old (that you just copied and pasted together from other blogs), and Fortune/CNN pays you for it.
Nice work if you can get it…. Phil DeWitt, master of the copy and paste… Even Madoff would have to say, "Wow. Nice scam."
2k for two years of iPhone usage? Then I had better drop my treo then and get off of Verizon. I currently pay 140 bucks a month for service with text, data and the right minutes that I need. That works out to over 3k for two years. And I paid 300 bucks for the phone.
So who is more expensive again?
You should mention BestBuy is selling it cheapest for new models, isnt it? BestBuy
http://tinycomb.com/2008/12/20/cheapest-iphone-price-bestbuy/
Just want to share iPhone experience:
- Use it to browse the Web sites that support RSS using the Google Reader, which strip out the images and advertisements, and render the content to my iPhone quickly through the slow EDGE network.
- Check the real-time quote of some stocks, and do some trading using the Safari Web browser.
- Do online banking to pay some bills or transfer funds between accounts.
- I'm satisfied with the iPhone email, because I don't type that much, but I downloaded an app from the App store that allow me to type in landscape mode (bigger virtual keyboard). Also, I use the Safari Web browser to check/reply my company's Web email also.
- I need to make more than 1000 minutes calls to many countries every month. I can easily make almost free ($1.99 for 1000 minutes/month) phone-to-phone international calls to many countries even through the slow EDGE network. This is how it works. I put in the my own # and the # that I need to call, the Voip service provider first calls my phone, then calls the other #, and then connect both lines together and we can start talking. Save me lots of money every month.
- Again, make some almost free international calls using the downloaded App Store iPhone application through the wifi network.
- I can connect to my MSN and Yahoo messenger with my iPhone anytime and anywhere
- Google Map with Street View, directions, etc… I always need to go online on the road to get the address and put in to my Garmin Nuvi GPS, because my Garmin doesn't always find a store or an address.
- MP3 is a big bonus, nice interface to scroll thru thousand songs, good sound quality.
- I also downloaded many useful free apps from App Store (place eBay bids, check price and reviews of a product on Amazon, etc…).
I basically replace the laptop by the iPhone, and I rarely carry the laptop outside now. Hope this helps.
I don't understand this math with the 2-year contract pricing rolled in. Don't most phones have a contract? How much does a blackberry with the data plan end up costing over 2 years? I'll bet about the same…
Roy G. Biv, you're a mnemonic idiot. Any voice + data plan is going to cost some money, irrespective of device / carrier. I'm guessing by your name you're in 8th grade. Please post after you grow up.
Now using an IPhone for two years is ~$1750 instead of 1850 (with a 2 year phone and data plan). Wow what a savings!
These are not refurbished phones. As is AT&T's policy, they simply put returned phones back in their original packaging and resell them at a discount. They leave it to the manufacturer, in this case Apple, to deal with any actual issue with the hardware. Don't fool yourselves. Buy a new one, so that you get the full warranty. The 'refurbs' offered by AT&T will come with the balance of the warranty from the date of original purchase.
I am a former Apple retail employee, and know this to be true. As an Apple employee we were constantly reminded not to comment on these practices by AT&T, but were well aware of what they were doing. We were constantly putting out AT&T's fires. In many cases the phones still contained customer data from the previous owner. Completely unacceptable. Buy a new one, and save yourself grief and a visit to an Apple Store to clean up AT&T's mess…