Yes, it’s true.  Multiple sources are reporting that, as of right now, you can buy an iPhone without a contract hitching you to AT&T for a couple of years.  You can simply walk into an AT&T or Apple store, point to a phone, and say, “I want that one right there,” and they’ll give it to you. Provided you plunk down somewhere between $500 and $700 dollars, of course.

While this may appeal to some people, I’d argue this isn’t all that big of a deal.  You still have to pay full price for the phone, you just don’t have a contract with the phone provider.  Functionally, this means that you could quit using AT&T whenever you wanted.  And then you’d have an iPhone that was connected to….well, nothing.  And, because of hardware limitations, you can’t used your iPhone on a competing network.  So, contract or not, you have to do business with AT&T.

Why is AT&T and Apple doing this?  Probably to move this aging inventory out the door.  What’s going to replace it?  Our guess is it’s going to be the iPhone 4G, and that’ll drop this summer.

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