AT&T to Allow Upgrade
AT&T Inc. will allow some current iPhone owners to upgrade to a new model at the same price as new buyers when it is released Friday. Wednesday’s announcement comes after AT&T took some criticism from iPhone owners who felt that its prices were unfair. Current owners would have to pay $399 for the cheapest version of the new iPhone 3G S, compared with $199 for new buyers. The Dallas-based carrier heavily subsidizes the purchase price of the phone, and it takes a while for it to make that money back through monthly service fees. That means it doesn’t want to sell new, subsidized phones to customers who haven’t ’paid off’ their old phones.
Shares of AT&T fell 8 cents or 0.33 percent to $24.14 on Wednesday.