In my recent trawls around US mobile networks’ websites I was puzzled how some of them insist on customers building their own plans, based on voice and data components. Whilst this might seem a good idea, it distorts the amount one ends up paying per month because the price you see on the websites isn’t the price for everything you might need.

Apple and AT&T have today finally announced the pricing plans for the iPhone, and to quote verbatim from the press release, they are “simple, affordable”:

All iPhone monthly service plans are available for individuals and families and are based on a new two-year service agreement with AT&T. Individual plans are priced at:

• $59.99 for 450 minutes,
• $79.99 for 900 minutes and
• $99.99 for 1,350 minutes

All plans include unlimited data (email and web), Visual Voicemail, 200 SMS text messages, roll over minutes and unlimited mobile-to-mobile.

There’s a one-time activation fee of $36. Family packs are also available, which is probably similar to Apple’s Mac OS X Family Packs.

Activation is via iTunes and Mac users need to be on Mac OS X 10.4.10. (This specific requirement is going to annoy some people!)