With the pre-ordering of the new iPhone 4 coming out on Tuesday, there still is a little confusion as to who is qualified for the new iPhone and what the pricing structure is for it. The goal of this post is to break it down for you and hopefully give you the opportunity to understand whether you qualify for this amazing new phone or if you need to start begging for some extra cash so that you can get your hands on this phone.
Let me make this real simple for you. I am going to break this up into two categories; those of you that do qualify and those of you that don't qualify. Let me first clarify what I mean by “qualify”. These are the people that will get to pay the subsidized price for the new iPhone of $199 for the 16 GB and $299 for the 32 GB.
People Who Qualify
1. If you are a new customer to AT&T
This one is pretty self explanatory. If you are currently with a different cell phone provider or your contract is ending with a different provider than you are in luck.
2. If you renewed or got a new AT&T contract in 2008
AT&T is letting anyone who has a contract that expires in any time in 2010 get the new iPhone with the subsidized price. That means if you were one of the early adopters of the iPhone 3G, then you should be up for the new iPhone. AT&T has decided to let anyone whose contract is up in 2010, even if it is later in the year, to upgrade. This is kind of nice deal for those that waited a little while to get their iPhone 3g, till say November or December of 2008.
People who don't qualify
This one is pretty easy. If you have an iPhone 3GS or got an AT&T contract sometime in 2009 and beyond, you are out of luck at this point to get the subsidized pricing.
But, there is an exception. If you were one of those naive people who decided to buy an iPhone 3GS between May 7th and June 7th, 2010, you can receive a one time credit of $50 for the iPhone 3GS 16 GB and $100 for the 3GS 32 GB. This credit can then be used toward the purchase of the iPhone 4.
So, you 3GS folks that still want to get the new phone, you will have to pay full price for the new iPhone 4, which believe me, is a pretty penny. It will be $499 for the 16 GB and $599 for the 32 GB. You could essentially sell your 3GS and recoup a decent amount of that price and not have to pay a lot for the new iPhone.
If you are still unsure whether or not you qualify, the easiest way that I found to find out was to call the number *639#. It will automatically send you a text on your status of being able to upgrade or not. Do not text this number, you have to call it, otherwise it won't work.
So what are you going to do? Would love to hear what others are planning.
It is important to note that current iPhone owners will be able to upgrade to iOS 4 without getting a new phone. Not all features will be supported on the older devices. According to Apple’s website, the multitasking feature will only work on the iPhone 4 and 3GS. I can live without the new phone features. I just want a software upgrade.