AT&T, Apple set iPhone plan pricing

AT&T and Apple today revealed they will offer the new iPhone with different pricing plans than its normal phone service. The plan’s monthly rates will start much higher but they will include unlimited browsing and other features not packaged with its standard voice plans.

The iPhone, which goes on sale on Friday, will have a minimum plan of $60 a month with the two-year contract. That plan includes 450 voice minutes, making it $20 a month higher than a comparable voice plan on a regular AT&T phone, but included with the iPhone plan is unlimited data and use of the new visual voice mail solution, which graphically displays message information on the device. In addition, AT&T is adding 200 SMS messages as well as other AT&T features like rollover minutes and unlimited mobile-to-mobile calling.

Above the standard iPhone plan, AT&T is offering $80 and $100 plans for more minutes, also with the standard plans extras bundled in. When totaled up, the iPhone plans amount to the equivalent or cheaper of what a customer would pay for an upgraded service plan with all of the bells and whistles (unlimited data over AT&T’s 3G network costs $20 a month, for instance), but the customer has no choice in buying them a la carte.

“We want to make choosing a service plan simple and easy, so every plan includes unlimited data with direct Internet access, along with Visual Voicemail and a host of other goodies,” Apple CEO Steve Jobs said in a statement. “We think these three plans give customers the flexibility to experience all of iPhone's revolutionary features at affordable and competitive prices.”

The iPhone itself will cost $500 for a device with 4 GB of storage and $600 for 8 GB and will be sold exclusively by AT&T under two-year contracts. The devices will go on sale in AT&T’s 1800 nationwide retails stores and Apple’s 200 own retail locations. The two companies will also sell the iPhone online.