do you have to activate a plan for at&t to buy a iphone for apple?

[Mike]

i want to buy a 8gb iphone from apple.com but when i buy it does it just send me the iphone and i dont have to buy a plan for at&t with it? like im gana unlock it so yea i want the iphone by itself, but i dont want it from ebay because there more expencive. plz help

[D Hayes]

Generally you do need to activate the iphone - and that requires an At&t sim chip. Keep in mind that the iphone does NOT do picture messaging - Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) did not make it with the ability to send or receive mms. Also if you are planning to use it with another network you will need to have their total internet plan for your iphone to work online. A regular wap plan won't work (for instance with T-Mobile (NYSE: DT) you will need the 19.99 total internet, the iphone wont work with the 5.99 tzones plan)

There is an alternative. The Cect P168 is identical to the iphone, looks the same, acts the same, however it is cheaper and it DOES do picture messaging. You might want to check that out.