ex ped: In Munster's defense, Tommy, he was out there Friday counting heads. His estimates were off, but they weren't uneducated.

Does this article get an "UPDATE #2" with a new quote from Munster saying "oops, i was way off"??

Yes, and EVERY major carrier now charges $5 more for 200 texts, that's why they were hauled into hearings to explain:

"Sen Herb Kohl, chair of the Antitrust Subcommittee in the Senate Judiciary Committee, sent a letter Tuesday to the four major wireless carriers–AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint, and T-Mobile–asking them to explain the dramatic price increases for text messaging services." the hearing was last week. Google it…

So I'm simply saying the price for an iPhone is no different for data or texting than any other smartphone. Is it unethical? yep! And shows why the top carriers need to be brought down 7 notches by the public.

Get ANY smartphone… from ANY carrier… and the price will be very similar, the iPhone is not any higher priced is what I'm explaining.

Cable TV and Satellite TV is the same, unethical deal, they are not currently governed by "the market", but by collusion.

Nuff said…

I know the Iphone is a smartphone. And the SMALLEST monthly plan you can have is $80 / month. THIS DOES NOT INCLUDE TEXT MESSAGING. There isn't a single person who doesn't add text messaging to their Iphone.

Than it's 5 dollars for 200 messages which equates to being able to send/receive a WHOPPING THREE messages a day. (again… anyone with this plan regularly will have overage charges)

So your next alternative is the 1500 text message plan which is an additional $15 / month making your bill $95 / month. Add taxes and you are at your $100 / month.

Again…. I still can't rationalize my SMARTPHONE BILL being my 2nd most expensive monthly payment (behind my mortgage)

you clearly didn't watch the video. the pre was slower in most tasks, and about the same in web browsing and emailing photos. i have nothing against the pre, but in the real world the iphone 3gs is a faster device. plus the iphone 3gs has twice the battery life of the pre, so keep that in mind.

Palm Pre spanks the iphone in real world tests of web browsing and emailing pictures. Video:

http://cnettv.cnet.com/speed-test-apple-iphone-3g-vs-palm-pre/9742-1_53-50073193.html

I think a lot of people still don't understand it's a "smartphone" not a "cell phone" so any brand from any carrier is going to cost about $30 more than a "cell phone" no matter what you do.

the iphone is a phenomenal device and yes, it costs about $80 a month… (not $100) but get rid of your land line phone and you'll be ahead… or get an iPod Touch, it has many of the same features, just not the phone portion unless you call over WiFi for free.

That said, I would state the following:

– battery life is not great

– AT&T service is horrible.

So will I upgrade? Not likely. The cost of upgrading is very expensive because I am still paying off the subsidy of the 3G. What would the new model give me? It would give me more memory, faster processor, and better (perhaps) battery life. It would give me an internal compass.

It will not give me much better software, as that is available to all 3G owners. It wont give me a better network — yet. While the phone is capable of a better network, that is all on AT&T shoulders.

So is the cost of (minimum 500-600 dollars) worth it for existing 3g owners? Im not convinced. I think this is going to be a wait and see.

I love that apple puts out new tech every year, but there are going to be times that people dont upgrade on a regular basis.

There are also some things that the iphone doesnt do especially well. Blackberry does background emails better. It just does. This is very key in an urban environment. like new york.

I am not upset that I got an iphone in the least, but people should look carefully before doing this type of investment.