On Wednesday, , and said that people who were earlier eligible for the upgrade price in July, August and September would, in fact, be eligible immediately. (There was no mention of customers eligible after today, June 19, but before June 30; apparently AT&T believes that they can wait a few days.)

The caveat: To qualify, you have to have been spending an average of $99 or more a month on your cell phone. AT&T made that clear in the FAQ when it answered the question: "Does this change only apply to iPhone 3G customers who spend $99 or more per month?"

AT&T's answer? "In most cases, yes."

Seems so. If you want an iPhone 3G S now, or at any time before your upgrade date, you'll have to fork over the $200 surcharge, which means the 16-gig model will cost you $399, while the 32-gig will run you $499.

You are, according to crisis communication expert Dallas Lawrence, one of the losers in the AT&T upgrade game. "Rather than embrace a policy all across its subscriber base, AT&T chose a policy of picking winners and losers, separating the two in some cases by just weeks or pennies spent on monthly bills," Lawrence said yesterday when asked to comment on .