By Nicholas Carlson, 1:40 PM on Tue Jul 1 2008, 1,493 views (Edit, to draft, Top, Slurp)

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US customers will be able to purchase new iPhones without locking themselves into a two-year contract with AT&T. It'll just cost an extra $400 — $599 for one with 8 gigabytes of storage, $699 for one with 16 gigabytes. Customers will still have to sign up for an AT&T wireless subscription, but it won't have the same penalties for changing carriers. Analysts figure it costs Apple about $173 to manufacture each iPhone, and believe Apple is selling the phones to AT&T at about $400 each. That means that at $599, Apple and AT&T are roughly splitting the extra $400 profit on an unlocked phone. Almost makes you wonder why AT&T bothers to sell subscriptions.