you have missed the point. at least for where i live, big national chains all offer 'deal' like that - ie. you pay some $$ up front and then tie to some 2 or 3 yr contract. it may sound a rip off to you, but these are the options the average joe/jane can have. the point i am making is this: for these national chains to offer the Lumia 900 with such terms within such a short time after official release of Lumia 900, it really means that this phone is not selling well at all - bad news for Nokia. Here are other reference points(all with 3yr contract term) for you - SGS3 ( $129), SGS2 ( $0), iphone 4 ($99, 32GB, this is not 4s), the iphone 4s($160 for 16GB; $270 for 32GB), blackberry bold ($75). As a re-cap, nokia Lumia 900 ( $0, plus $100 gift card). These asking prices reflect the highest $$$ that the average public are willing to pay. it does not look good for Lumia 900, specifically, at about 1 month ago, they were asking for $50 or so.