News

(Updated: June 26th 2007) Full iPhone service plan details available here.

There may be some good news for those of you who are hoping to avoid scrambling to get your own Apple iPhone when the device finally arrives in stores. Despite a well publicized AT&T policy that the iPhone would not be available for pre-ordering and that stores would not have a waiting list, it seems that employees at AT&T's retail outlets are taking matters into their own hands.

USA Today reported in an article published today that AT&T has exclusive rights to the iPhone in the United States for a period of five years. That's right, FIVE years. Exclusivity agreements between mobile phone device manufacturers and service providers are nothing new, especially in the United States. That said, a 5 year exclusivity agreement is unheard of.

In the world of Apple iPhone news and non-news, take one afternoon off and you'll likely miss a rumor and sometimes even a piece of useful information. Today's first missed tidbit comes in the form of a rumor out of The Boy Genius Report, which has offered up tasty iPhone rumors many a time.

This time, it's the suggestion that AT&T plans to sell the iPhone to customers without requiring them to sign a contract of any kind. The rumor is backed by a screenshot supposedly from an AT&T computer which shows three iPhone plans: postpaid, prepaid, and hybrid.

As each new smartphone or multimedia phone is launched or announced, each one is touted as the latest 'iPhone killer'. We've seen the Nokia N95 termed such, the enigma that is the Deeda Pi, Samsung's double sided media phone, and most recently two new models from Motorola - the Q9h and the RAZR2.