Just what is the iPhone upfront cost?

There's a minor argument going on over at Nick Starr's blog about the true upfront cost of the iPhone. I'm sure the $499/$599 figures have been indelibly marked in people's minds as the target to save toward before June, and with the premium allure coupled with Apple's notorious unwillingness to subsidise or down-price their products those figures are unlikely to change (at least unlikely to go down, anyway), but Cingular are sure to want their piece of the pie too.

Taking pre-orders already, the operator is making the most of its unique position among US carriers and charging security deposits based on your credit history. Desperate for that iPhone? Got some bad debts hanging over you, or even just a few missed payments a while ago? Well, you might be interested to know that Cingular reserves the right to charge up to $750 for the security deposit. True, that's refunded after a year, but let's say you're a newly reformed ex-credit-freak and just need an 8GB iPhone... $1,349+tax is a hell of a lot to lay out in one go, perhaps more if you need to break your existing contract. As Nick points out, it's even more than a MacBook!

Aside from discussing the relative sensibleness of buying an expensive cellphone when you're already in serious debt, Nick's commenter's (who apparently include some ex-Cingular employees) are doubting whether anybody would be stuck for the whole amount. Still, when you take into account potential data charges the iPhone is definitely only for those deep of pocket.

The iPhone to cost $1349 [Nick Starr]