Mike Schramm:
While most of those who purchased the iPhone 3GS at launch had an upgrade date available sometime in November, far be it from AT&T to stand in the way of a new iPhone purchase. They’ve been changing the dates without fanfare to as soon as June 21st, 2010.
AT&T so far has done this every year, the difference is that they usually waited until you pre-order your phone. Then you get an email message such as the one I got when I bought the 3GS:
On June 17, AT&T announced a change to their upgrade eligibility policy
and ‘best upgrade pricing’ for qualifying iPhone 3G owners.Based on AT&T’s updated qualification criteria, we are pleased to inform
you that you are eligible to receive a refund on your recent
iPhone 3G S purchase.Your Order Acknowledgment and Shipment Notification emails will reflect
the original purchase price. However, Apple will issue you a refund in
the amount of $200.00, which is the difference between your original
purchase price and the new qualifying price.Apple will process your refund in the next 5 days, and will send you an
email when this has been completed. We will process your refund based
on your original payment method. See below for details.
Nice to see that fours years into it they are finally getting out ahead.