Ript Oft

Having dropped and broken my first generation iPhone a few days ago, and desperate for a replacement, I didn't read the fine print on the ads for the new 3G flavor. So it wasn't until I stood in line for an hour and had to settle for the 8 gig model that I found out the "great" price of $199 ($299 on the 16 gig model) only applies to those who aren't already part of the AT&T fold. With another year left on my previous contract, my customer loyalty was rewarded by having to pay full freight -- $399 -- for the smaller model. A full $200 more. If I wasn't a pre-existing AT&T schlemiel, I could have bought TWO new iPhones for the price I got slammed with. Made me feel like when I bought the first iPhone a year earlier, only to have Apple yank the price down two months later. Since my earlier phone was broken, I had no real choice -- c'mon, I'm not going to get some other phone at this point -- but to suck it up and plunk down the extra money. The only satisfaction is being able to rant about it online. And that, my friends, is small satisfaction indeed.