> 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

> 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...