Wait, there's more than one way for AT&T to dial back the subsidies it is paying Apple? Who'd have guessed that? I thought their customers wanted the iPhone so

Wait, there's more than one way for AT&T to dial back the subsidies it is paying Apple? Who'd have guessed that? I thought their customers wanted the iPhone so badly that they had no choice in the matter. It's also worth noting that upgrade games for iPhone users are quite common outside the US (higher "early upgrade" fee, delayed upgrade eligibility and so on). It isn't terribly surprising to see AT&T borrowing from that playbook (though I suppose they should patent those tricks before Apple does ;) ).