Apple And AT&T Reveal Calling Plans For iPhone

If you’ve been waiting to find out how much the iPhone could potentially cost you month to month, have no fear the wait is over. Or have lots of fear because you may want to take out a loan. To be fair the plans are pretty comprehensive, with each including unlimited data, email, and mobile-to-mobile calling. Apple and AT&T today announced the three plans being offered for the iPhone when it launches at 6pm local time this Friday.

Apple is positioning the iPhone as more than a cell phone; it’s a portable Mac experience of the highest order. ”We want to make choosing a service plan simple and easy, so every plan includes unlimited data with direct Internet access,” Steve Jobs said in a press release today. Each plan includes the new Visual Voicemail feature that allows users to see a list of their voicemails, deciding which one to listen to by touching it.

Each plan includes the following: unlimited data and email, unlimited mobile-to-mobile calling, 200 (really?) SMS text messages, and roll-over minutes. You can upgrade to more text messaging, but it’s a bit disconcerting that even the $99 plan doesn’t include at least an increase of 100 SMS text messages. As for plan choices, here they are – finally!! –: $59.99 gets you 450 minutes of talk time; $79.99 results in 900 minutes; and $99.99 will net you 1,350 minutes.

A one-time activation fee of $36 is also required, and family plans are available for those who want one. There are also some higher-level plans that many won’t bother looking at, but for anyone who talks too much they are available. Don’t forget that you’ll still have to pay $499 for the 4GB iPhone and $599 for the 8GB version. Before you start counting your pennies be sure you have iTunes because it’s required to activate the iPhone. Apple has posted up this video to show you how it works.