• USA Today, Wednesday, June 2, 2010 10:08 AM

David Lieberman writes that AT&T's move to offer pricing options on its smartphone data services starting Monday is likely the first step toward an industry shift away from a flat fee to charges that are based on how much people actually use their phones to access videos, music and data.

AT&T, which is the exclusive wireless provider for Apple's iPhone in the U.S. (at least for now), says there will be two options: subscribers can pay $15 a month for 200 megabytes of data (about 100 minutes of streaming video) under the DataPlus plan. The DataPro plan offers 10 times that capacity for $25. AT&T will text customers when they get near their limits and they can buy extra bytes.

"Some customers, up until now, have been hesitant to sign up for a $30 monthly data plan" for unlimited access, says Ralph de la Vega, CEO of AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets. Verizon Wireless CEO Lowell McAdam said last week that it would "make sense" to have similar pricing when his company introduces 4G service later this year.

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