After all the huge debate with the iPhone, the price tags, the modifications and everything, people in UK and Spin will be able to get this mobile phone/media player free when they sign up for 18 month plans that come with a $88 monthly cost. All is done through O2 and Telefonica and we are basically talking about a plan that is a whole lot better than AT&Ts $1,975 per 24 months plan. Let us see why!

The O2 plan sums up to a total cost of $1,591. For this you will get every single month 1,200 voice call minutes, 500 SMS messages, data transfer that is unlimited in Wi-Fi and 3G and roaming rates that are reduced. The iPhone 3G AT&T plan offers each month 450 minutes, unlimited transfer in 3G and 200 messages. As far as I see it we are talking about something that is clearly better, not to mention the fact that after 18 months with O2 or Telefonica you are free to do whatever you want, which is less time than AT&T.

This is a classic T-Mobile versus At&T battle although Starbucks is the one that is caught in the middle. T-Mobile is now suing Starbucks because of their free AT&T Wi-Fi offer. The problem is that the two companies are actually promoting free Wi-Fi in a market where T-Mobile currently has the exclusive right to “sell, market and promote its services” because the infrastructure transition to AT&T is not complete. Technically speaking, there are only 2 markets that run Death Star certified equipment in Bakersfield and San Antonio. This basically means that all the other stores are on T-Mobile so it is considered that AT&T is making money off T-Mobile’s back. The problem is that the customer is the one that will suffer and I am sure that everyone thought that the transition to AT&T was done at the Starbucks locations that allow it. It is hard to know what will happen with this in the future but it looks like the law will have to be respected and a trial is in order from the point of view of T-Mobile.