Communist *#$^@!*$ Idiotic #$%*@$!

Apple announced the iPhone 3GS (S ... for Speeeed) today. It's mostly what rumors hinted at. No big surprises. AT&T on the other hand.... They need competition, you see. Unlike Apple, AT&T doesn't seem capable of doing a good job when its not threatened with competition - specifically with regards to MMS and tethering. Unfortunately for us, they won't have to compete for another year or two. Whatever.

Anyway, so there are a lot of grumblings over the carrier subsidization policy this time around. You see, the first generation phone wasn't subsidized at all and AT&T required a two year contract (the fact that they required a contract at all was a little ridiculous). A year later when the iPhone 3G was released and all existing iPhone owners were (at most) a year into their contract, AT&T extended the subsidized prices to them if they renewed their contracts (resetting them back to the start of two years). And a year later, when iPhone 3GS is released, AT&T is saying that if you're not just about done with your two year contract, they're not going to give you the fully subsidized price.

Oh boo hoo.

Imagine that. You sign up for a two year contract and you're expected to honor that contract. Difficult to fathom, I know.