AT&T has announced new details about its pricing scheme for the Apple’s gadget, the 3G iPhone. According to the mobile carrier, the 8 GB version of the 3G iPhone will be priced at $199, but only for certain customers: to those who purchased the phone before July 11 and to those who are activating a new line with AT&T.

Also, the AT&T customers who are eligible, at the time of purchase, for an upgrade discount, will have the option to buy the 3G iPhone for only $199. Of course, a two-year subscription plan is also required. The 16 GB version of the 3g iPhone will be priced at $299.

The customers who didn’t own already an iPhone or are not eligible for upgrade discount will have to pay $399 for the 8GB model and $499 for the 16GB model.

AT&T also plans to sell non-contract iPhones for $499 for the 8GB and $699 for the 16GB.

The mobile carrier also announced the plan pricing, with unlimited data:
- Unlimited anytime minutes for $130 per month;
- 1350 anytime minutes and unlimited nights and weekend for $110 per month;
- 900 anytime minutes with unlimited nights and weekends for $90 per month
- and 450 minutes with 5,000 nights and weekend minutes for $70 per month.

Messaging can be added to any plan for $20 (unlimited messaging), $15 (1,500 messages) or $5 (200 messages).
Last week, the research company iSuppli performed a virtual teardown analysis of the 3G iPhone and concluded that Apple pays $173 BOM (Bill Of Materials) and  manufacture cost for each unit.

iSuppli’s estimations were made for the 8 GB version of the iPhone and the company concluded that the new device is significantly less expensive to produce than the first-generation product, despite major improvements in the product’s functionality and unique usability, due to the addition of 3G communications.

The analysis performed by iSuppli revealed that the most expensive component of the 3G iPhone is the 8GB NAND Flash memory, which was evaluated at $22,8. The improved touch screen display costs around $20,00 and the new GPS module was priced at $3,6.

The original 8Gbyte iPhone carried a cost of $226 after component price reductions, giving the new product a 23 percent hardware cost reduction due to component price declines, iSuppli concluded.
Apple plans to sell 10 million iPhones until the end of this year and it seems like the new 3G iPhone wil help the company to reach its target.

On July 11 the new 3G iPhone will be released in 70 countries, and last week a China Mobile spokeswoman said for Reuters that Apple and the Chinese mobile operator are discussing about a possible deal.

China Mobile is the largest mobile phone operator in the world if ranked by the number of subscribers, which is about 380 million, nearly 30 percent of the country's total population.

Although iPhone is not officially available in China, a report released by In-Stat in February revealed that there were already nearly 400,000 unlocked iPhones in China at the end of 2007. Apple is also seeking a deal to launch the iPhone in Russia.