Cell Phone Advisor

The iPhone Arrives
By Allan Keiter

The long-awaited debut of the Apple iPhone will occur sometime during June. If you're thinking about getting one, here are a few early observations.

Very few products have gotten the amount of free publicity that the Apple iPhone has gotten since it was announced in January.  The phone will finally be available during June, and will serve as a great marketing platform for the reintroduction of AT&T --- the Cingular name will likely disappear for good this month as well.

iPhone Features

• Exclusive to AT&T for 5 years
• Available with 4GB & 8GB memory (8GB iPOD Nano can hold up to 2,000 songs)
• Prices will be $499 and $599 for the 4GB and 8GB, respectively (about $300 more than the equivalent Nano)
• No discount for new AT&T customers --- everyone pays the same price (at least initially)
• A different and unique tactile experience --- a touch screen instead of a keypad
• GSM quad band, allowing for overseas use
• EDGE data --- much slower downloading and web browsing than is available on the 3G network available on several other AT&T phones.  However, the phone does support WiFi
• 2 megapixel camera --- toward the higher quality end of currently available cell phone cameras

If you’d like to be notified when the iPhone is available, click here.

iPhone Alternatives

Don’t want to spend $500 for a music phone?   Here are some currently available alternatives worth considering.  You can’t download iTunes to these phones, but you’ll save enough to buy a separate iPOD and about 200 songs from the iTunes store.

* From MyRatePlan retail partners as of 6/1/07 for a new subscriber signing a 2 year contract
**  See website for special low price

Allan Keiter is president of MyRatePlan.com. Founded in 1999, MyRatePlan offers unbiased content, filters and calculators to help consumers make more informed decisions about the products and services they research and buy online.