[Jwonton]

First, I don't know why this article is written with such rabid vitriol. Isn't this a published magazine, not just some post in a AppleRsGreatz forum? This article is nothing if not unprofessional.
Second, count me as one of the many who are not willing to pay $30/mo. on top of my voice plan for internet everywhere. Like you mentioned, however, if it was only $10, I'd even buy one for the cat.
I have been wishing for an iPhone w/o the data plan. Not as described at the beginning, but the actual iPhone (camera, gps) just without internet everywhere.
I could still geotag pics that I could take, and I would hopefully be able to download regional maps and use it as a gps device. These are obviously things an iPod touch cannot do, but I would find extremely valuable and useful.
Until either of these situations happen, I'm sticking with my free sony ericsson phone and my trusty iPod 5G.

[alansky]

@TeaEarleGreyHot:

Don't be an idiot! You don't want an iPhone. It doesn't meet your needs. Saying "I want a $100 iPhone" is like saying "I want a BMW at a Chevrolet price." Wantin' ain't gettin'!

[alandail]

my kids have cell phones, we got them iPod touch's for christmas. They don't have iPhones because we can't justify $39.99/month for each of them when the cell phone accounts they have now just cost $9.99/month. If we could buy them an iPhone without the data plan, we would have bought those instead of the iPod touches to replace their existing cell phones.

[Ventzi_Zhechev]

I?d like to see how useful is a GPS iDevice without anywhere connectivity to download maps going to be?

[Alex_Hill]

Count me as another who would quickly buy an iPhone without a data plan. I currently carry both my iPod Touch and a Motorola cell phone around. I'd love to drop the separate cell phone, but I have no interest in tacking $30/month on to my current contract to get the data plan; wireless networks are usually available when I want internet access on my iPod Touch anyway.
Moreover, I am very happy with T-Mobile and was very unhappy with AT&T/Cingular when they were my provider in the past (a variety of billing issues and terrible customer service).
Lastly, for international travel, even if I were an AT&T customer, I would want a supported, unlocked phone to get local SIM cards. (T-Mobile happily unlocked my phone after 3 months.)
Apple, please sell an unlocked iPhone to take to whatever GSM service provider I choose! The dismissive tone of this column is rather out of touch and frustrating.

[dommer]

Funny, here in the UK and also other part of the world, you can get a Pay-as-you-go plan for the iphone. However, the phone is still locked to that provider. However you pay a one time fee (£300+) and then it's up to you how much texting and calling you want to make. You even get 12months free data usage. so you can use the internet if you need to.
Not sure how much it costs after the 12months though..
I have a plan with O2 for something ridiculous like 600mins unlimited data, and 500 texts.. who's got time to text that much?
I find I use my iphone for internet/email mostly when I can find a free Wi-fi spot anyways, because it's faster than 3G. And almost every coffee shop,pub/bar and restaurant has it.

[Jwonton]

The idea is that you would be able to download various regions at a time at home. Perhaps for free (or for $, most likely) through iTunes.

For instance, I could buy the entire US, or just the northeast corridor, sync it up, and I have it everywhere I go offline. Why not include AAA reviews while we're at it? Or zogby? There are endless packaging options that would altogether be cheaper than having to pay $30/mo on top of the voice plan.

Edit: I still don't understand why people seem to be put off by this idea. It would be incredibly useful for those of us sitting on the fence about the data plan costs. Sure, it may not seemingly be in Apple's best interest business-wise, but it might be, and there's no reason we consumers can't demand something that is easily possible.

One more thing... if there's and Android or Palm Pre-ish device that will do what I've talked about in my two posts, I just might go that route.

[erictbar]

"Ask your average iPhone user if they spend more time on the phone or on the Net, and I guarantee that the majority of them will say something to the effect of 'Holy crap, it makes phone calls too?'"
Amen there, I have an iPhone 3G and I wish I could lower my voice plan below 450. I have 3000 rollover minutes! I use the data plan like there's no tomorrow. Sure I get Wi-Fi when I'm at home and at school, but everywhere else is a hit or miss. And I am often at everywhere else.
I have an iPod touch I bought because the games I was buying on the App Store were bringing down my iPhone's batteries. I have found that when I am at home, I sometimes use my iPod touch like it is my iPhone. When I'm not home I don't even bother taking out my iPod touch except for why I bought it, if I want to play a game.
If you want an iPhone without a data plan, you might as well just get a normal cell phone, cause the iPhone was designed to be an internet device. I agree with Dan that data plans might come down in price in the future, as more and more people switch to smart phones. I know no one who has a normal phone with a data plan, and no one who has a smart phone without a data plan.

[NeonSurge]

I completely disagree with the author and this poorly written and uninformative article.
I am posting this as someone that HAS a iPhone WITHOUT a data plan, I pay $15/mo right now for my girlfriend's iPhone and it's fantastic, I have also assisted 4 other people in doing this with their iPhone. I of course am a geek and need the data plan. But for someone that doesn't need to be connected by their spinal cord to the internet, the lack of a data plan to make it affordable is quite practical.
These days we have wireless internet almost anywhere and google maps on the iPhone does caching now so you can get directions (if you don't have a car GPS) and take it on the road with you, Maps will remember the directions and cache images of every step of the way. Also, you don't NEED to have the latest version of any app the second it comes out. And yes this means also no visual voicemail, but for $10-$15/mo, one can't complain.
I have to say the author of this article is very uninformed and unintelligibly posting against not having a data plan when it is in fact already a reality that many people are using, and it works great. I have already 5 personal references that would attest to not having a data plan with their iPhone being a beautiful thing.

[context]

I was waiting for the part where I also found Toni's ideas to be absurd, but it didn't arrive. I would consider buying this iPhone sans data plan, though I don't presently own one. The data plan doesn't interest me. The iPhone itself is already fairly cheap -- even compared to dumb cell phones like the one I own. Apple does, in fact, produce "cut-rate versions" of its products: the iPod Shuffle, for instance. It just doesn't call them cut-rate. If Macs spanned the price spectrum as iPods do, Apple's market share would surely zoom. But, then, market share isn't important, except when Apple has a high share. (You know, BMW, blah, blah, blah.)

I don't think Apple will offer such a phone, but that is unfortunate. It's part of the old-think which has kept the Mac mired in low market share for many years. Maybe Macworld shouldn't be so quick to ridicule analysts who dare to... Think Different.

It turns out, Dan, that while you are doing your sneering jerk routine, at least a small sampling of Mac devotees disagrees with your assessment.

[mrbach]

I have gone back to an actual cellphone that rings when a call comes in and lets you receive text. Weird huh? It's cheap and it works. Honestly, I prefer playing on a computer---for free.
Unless these multi-gadgets can provide equal access and competitive rates for calling, I don't see them flourishing in this economy. Most people don't know if they will be working next week.

[Orthogeek]

Let’s see. An iphone without a data plan. That would be an ipod touch with a phone. The ability to sync calendars, address book data with your computer, visual voicemail, apps from the app store that you could use on any wireless network. No $30/month $360/year data plan fee. Seems like that would compute for me, especially since my old iphone is now an ipod touch and my daughter is using a low end Nokia phone since she doesn’t need a data plan. Just about every non-smartphone user I know would be interested in that.

[estumpges]

As a student at a university, WiFi is everywhere. I can't justify paying $30 per month for a cell phone data plan, when I can get much faster internet for free on my iPod Touch just about anywhere I go. Furthermore, the ATT 3G network isn't even available in my area. At very least, they should offer a cheaper plan for customers who don't have access to the 3G network.

I agree with other here who have said they'd have bought an iPhone instead of an iPod Touch if it offered a data-less plan... I'd still like to see the iPhone unlocked in the US in order to open it up to plan pricing competition between multiple carriers.

[context]

alansky said:

@TeaEarleGreyHot:

Don't be an idiot! You don't want an iPhone. It doesn't meet your needs. Saying "I want a $100 iPhone" is like saying "I want a BMW at a Chevrolet price." Wantin' ain't gettin'!

Mean spirited and historically ignorant. The first iPods were only for those willing to spend big dollars, now they are for everyone. There is no reason to believe that an iteration of the iPhone, which has already dropped in price dramatically, will not be priced to move in mass numbers. The present iPhone sells for, what, about half of what the the original iPod sold for?

For many, including me, the cost of the data plan is a much bigger purchase obstacle than the cost of the phone.