"Ron" <ronclifford@peoplepc.com> wrote in message
news:glpu14tm76j1n2adb0avlnufdu52oi8faj@4ax.com...


> I was wrong, the data plan is $45 for a Blackberry

Kinda sorta. $45 includes "corporate email" (Blackberry Enterprise Server,)
which business users would obviously have. "Personal" users who just want
their POP/IMAP email can opt for "Blackberry Personal" which is $30, same as
other PDA phones.

AT&T seems to have tried to greatly simplify their data plans- Today,
essentially, there are two tiers of unlimited "on-phone" data price points-
$30 for Smartphones/PDAs, and $20 for feature/multimedia phones (including
the iPhone.)

It'll be interesting to see how they position the 3G iPhone- keep iPhone
data plans consistent (i.e. $20/month) or redefine the 3G iPhone as a "PDA"
and charge $30. A two-tiered iPhone data pricing approach could certainly
help clear inventory of older EDGE iPhones without drastic price cuts- 2G
iPhones could be sold until stock is depleted alongside 3G models using the
$10/cheaper data rate as an advantage ("you'll save $240 over the two year
contract!"), particularly for users who intend to primarily use WiFi for
data, and only need the cellular data for email, casual browsing, and Visual
Voicemail.