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That at that time would not have been a bad take. The big telcos were handing out data in miserly amounts and eye bleeding prices (think 50 bucks for 1MB then

That at that time would not have been a bad take. The big telcos were handing out data in miserly amounts and eye bleeding prices (think 50 bucks for 1MB then another 30-50 for SMS). AT&T was willing to pair with an unlimited plan set the iPhone wildly ahead of all the other phones in that category. VZ messed up big on that one. They were touting how amazing their network was meanwhile their competition was letting people surf the net from their phone. VZ was meanwhile still charging silly rates for SMS. Meanwhile I could open a connection on an iPhone and use an online chat service or the unlimited SMS. All of the other phones from that time could do similar things. It was the per month charge that people balked at to do simple internet things. Then on top of that it was apple so it had a bit of cool to go with it. I personally think though without that data plan the thing would have been a dud.

nordsieck 3y ago
> The big telcos were handing out data in miserly amounts and eye bleeding prices (think 50 bucks for 1MB then another 30-50 for SMS). AT&T was willing to pair with an unlimited plan set the iPhone wildly ahead of all the other phones in that category. From what I recall, the original iPhone only supported 2G, while contemporary phones supported 3G. I remember a lot of criticism around the iPhone web experience because of that, even though the interface was clearly superior to everyone who used it. It looks like there were relatively competitive data plans available[1] that offered unlimited data. I'm not really convinced that that was the problem. --- 1. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2007/04/data-plans-the-barrier-to-mobile-internet-adoption/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2007/04/data-plans-the-barri...
- colejohnson66 3y ago
  > From what I recall, the original iPhone only supported 2G, while contemporary phones supported 3G. Yep. Only EDGE and quad-band GSM ("2G"). The second generation iPhone was called the "iPhone 3G" specifically because it supported tri-band UMTS ("3G") with HSDPA. In fact, some even back-named the first generation iPhone to "iPhone 2G".

nordsieck 3y ago

> The big telcos were handing out data in miserly amounts and eye bleeding prices (think 50 bucks for 1MB then another 30-50 for SMS). AT&T was willing to pair with an unlimited plan set the iPhone wildly ahead of all the other phones in that category. From what I recall, the original iPhone only supported 2G, while contemporary phones supported 3G. I remember a lot of criticism around the iPhone web experience because of that, even though the interface was clearly superior to everyone who used it. It looks like there were relatively competitive data plans available[1] that offered unlimited data. I'm not really convinced that that was the problem. --- 1. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2007/04/data-plans-the-barrier-to-mobile-internet-adoption/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2007/04/data-plans-the-barri...

colejohnson66 3y ago
> From what I recall, the original iPhone only supported 2G, while contemporary phones supported 3G. Yep. Only EDGE and quad-band GSM ("2G"). The second generation iPhone was called the "iPhone 3G" specifically because it supported tri-band UMTS ("3G") with HSDPA. In fact, some even back-named the first generation iPhone to "iPhone 2G".