The details of how the iPhone price dropped from $499 to $199 are beginning to emerge and according to confidential sources discussing the matter with USA Today, the bare bones agreement was if AT&T agreed to foot the bill for the $200 discount, Apple would let them stay the iPhone's exclusive carrier through 2010, an additional year.

It's no great shock that AT&T and Apple are having problems activating the first wave of iPhone 3G accounts, but now even old iPhones are being turned into the bricks?

It's true. it's true.

So the iPhone 3G has finally arrived, and no I wasn't on line for mine... the only thing I'm doing at 8am on a Friday is sleeping.

But someone at AT&T has already posted an unboxing both a 8GB and 16GB iPhone, so here it is.

Anyway, there have been reports that AT&T has been having problems activating iPhone 3Gs through the new iTunes 7.7 software, and has now asked customers to activate it at home, when Apple has had time to fix the error.

Sure the Palm Centro might be one of the worst names for a cell phone or PDA ever, but all it needs is a Smurfy make over.

It's to be offered from AT&T, not Verizon or Sprint for some reason, in the same hue as Gargamel's favorite appetizer.

So further details are coming out about the big iPhone 3G Friday, and it seems Apple and AT&T want everything but blood and stool samples.

They won't let you leave with an iPhone Friday unless they're provided with a credit card, your current wireless account number, a valid goverment issued photo ID, and perhaps most curiously, a social security.

So apparently AT&T, out of the goodness of their hearts or something, has announced that you will be able to buy a 3G iPhone without a 2 year contract, provided you at least agree to a month to month plan.

Which seems like a reasonable compromise until you hear how much they want for an unsubsidized iPhone 3G - $599 for the 8GB version, or $699 for the 16GB version.

That's not just greedy, it's dumb.

It looks like the iPhone is no longer the sexiest product AT&T has to offer.

The comic book company Top Cow has just announced a deal through viral entertainment provider Zannel to bring a Top Cow branded mobile channel to AT&T, featuring images, wallpapers and videos of the Top Cow roster of characters.

Never mind that in reality Lauren Conrad wouldn't be caught dead on The Hills without a Blackberry, or with any phone that only costs 50 bucks, for the right amount of money she'd hawk Heidi Montag tee shirts.

But it does seems strange though that LG would feature texting in the ad, when the LG Shine doesn't have a texting friendly QWERTY keyboard... and strange that anyone would actually offer Brody Jenner a paying job.

With the AT&T network causing so many iPhone 3G problems, it's nice to know there's one way to drive down prices on your carrier bill... sort of.

AT&T has just announced that they will be offering family plans with the iPhone 3G, meaning once your paying $39.99 for a voice plan, it's only $9.99 for each additional line.

Prime using iPhone 3G unlock matrix: even Optimus Prime can't unlock iPhone 3G

Even before the iPhone 3G is released on July 11th, there's already one method for unlocking the handset from AT&T - unfortunately it's a costly one.