AT&T bumping up upgrade eligibility dates in prep for iPhone Pro?

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Smartphones, Corporate News, Handhelds, Rumors

A few days ago we were hearing whispers that AT&T might be bumping up the upgrade eligibility dates for current iPhone customers in anticipation of the next model (iPhone Pro? iPhone HD?) At the time, I logged in to my account, and saw that my upgrade date had not changed, and that it was still going to be sometime in July. Earlier this morning I logged in again, and as you can see, my upgrade eligibility date is now June 23, 2010. The only reason I could see AT&T making this change, which they’ve been doing on a massive scale for current iPhone owners, is so that they will be able to get upgrade pricing on the next model. The benefit there of course is they get to lock them in for another 2-year contract at a time where the iPhone may be coming to other networks. Either way, this is definitely a step in the right direction, compared to last year’s AT&T iPhone upgrade debacle, where the company caved to subscriber pressure for upgrade eligibility to the iPhone 3GS from the 3G.