Everything is still speculation. I have insiders in this market and even they cannot give a firm answer yet. Price ranges from $250.00 to $350.00, but rumor is, Samsung will not price it above the other watches as its wanting the Gear S to be very competitive.
As for the service plan on the watch, this is something that is literally all over the board. I've called every national carrier and pushed my way through to upper technical managers and short of guesses, none of them have given a straight answer. I believe that cellphone companies are struggling with just how to compete and gain the highest impact from its introduction, so they're all kind of sitting around waiting for the other company to jump in with pricing, so they can come in later and top it..
I think some national carriers are going to offer it as an "add on" the the plan while others are going to consider it a whole new device, complete with its own plan. Although the phone CLEARLY has itself set up to sync with your existing phone, which by the way, is for more than just bluetooth connections. Many of you have said it will sync for bluetooth purposes only, but the actual SIM card will also sync with your existing phone.
This is why I think its important for us to not cancel our plans with our current providers just yet. I for one am with T-Mobile, who absolutely has no clue what they're going to price it at. I've had several managers give me multiple versions meaning they're all just guessing and don't have any definitive data or plan structure yet.
One thing is for sure, no previous device in the cellphone market has ever synched its bluetooth and SIM card with another device before. So this Gear S brings about quite a challenge for cellphone service providers.
I'm as anxious as the rest of you, and will be buying these for not only myself, but my employees as well. So you can bet, price up front will mean nothing in comparison to monthly service fees. But I'm optimistic that service providers will have no choice but to jump in line with the rest of the companies once the plans start coming out. Don't give up you plan on a intro price either. Wait a month or so, and let the dust settle. I have a feeling Samsung's new smartwatch will revolutionize MANY devices' connections to include tablets, and other connectable devices.
One thing is for sure, this is the closest to the vest I've ever seen any company keep its secrets and get their carriers to do the same. Its as if they expected this to be a trend setting device long before this month's controversial false leaks...