@ataraxia Don't be an ass... why deny AT&T customers Android? I hope this comes out for all the US carriers.

and sorry liquidmonkey... my comment is directed at other users who have a hard on for unlocked phones.

You actually come out ahead with AT&T if you buy subsidized. Unlocked phones are nice in that you don't have to wait for your preferred carrier to bless it on their network.

@liquidmonkey
If you are happy with your service provider and the plan you're on and don't plan on ditching them, why pay substantially more for the hardware? The price for the service costs the same whether you are on a 2 year plan or not (you get more if you sign a two year contract).

AT&T case in point:

$175 ETF (early termination fee which is reduced $5 a month)

Lets say you want a HTC Tilt 2 (touch pro 2).
Full price is $499.
2 year contract price is $349 (that currently does not include a $50 rebate if you sign up for data).

You save $150 on the hardware.

You have 30 days from the day you signed the contract to cancel and return the phone if their service sucks in your area.

If AT&T pisses you off after the 30 days... you'd have to stay with them for another 4 months to come out even because of the $25 difference between the hardware savings and ETF.

@(Unverified)
There are plenty of CDMA Android phones on the market and I'm sure the CDMA carriers will get Snapdragon based phones in the near future if Google doesn't have a CDMA Google Phone planned. Google is going after AT&T's huge customer base who have been denied Android.

Think Apple 1984 commercial: It's Google freeing the masses from Big Brother AT&T.

We weren't interested because it's exclusive to Sprint. If Palm released it Verizon the story would have been different. That ship has sailed though with the advent of the Droid. Goodbye Palm.

Palm Pre Sprint exclusivity = FAIL

Android is finally rolling out big time because of Verizon. I think Palm has missed their window of opportunity.

"However, since Best Buy sells Apple's iPhone and iPod touch, and there's no way that Apple's going to let a retailer tamper with its devices"

For an article that's not even about Apple, I can't believe they were even mentioned like they would have a say on what Best Buy can do with the other web connected devices that are sold by Best Buy. If Apple doesn't want to play, then screw them. Best Buy's target devices are more like Blu-ray players, set-top media streamer, etc... something that would be placed in the home theater not the iPhone or iPod.

I would consider purchasing one unlocked if it had AT&T 3G frequencies.

Make it the same width, length, and depth as other home theater components so it doesn't stick out like a sore thumb.

If I didn't get a discount from ATT, I'd switch to Verizon for the droid.