[turtle]

chucker has great points for you. Also, there is not going to be a contract based price reduction on the iPhone as we understand now anyway. So there is no reason to think you'll have to buy your phone at a contract renewal for the price Apple listed. While this might change by the time the phone is actually released, there is currently no reason to not already be in a contract as it will cost the same if you are signing on new/renewing or buying outright.

If you want the phone and are willing to pay the price for it, then go for it. I'm personally debating myself wether or not to buy the iPhone or a Cingular 8525.

For the 3G part, how much are you really going to be surfing the web? Email is fine at EDGE so tethering or web browsing will be the only time you'll really see a major difference in the 3G speeds. Besides, 3G is patchy at best across the nation and by the time it is in full deployment you'd be ready for an update on your phone anyway.