AT&T Makes "No News" "New News"

"New News":
So after I wrote about the coming of unlocked phones in the US yesterday, AT&T announces that they will now sell a consumer SIM card only without a phone. But it comes with a 2 year contract.

This is pretty wacky because, why would I buy a SIM card with no phone and sign up for a 2 year contract? Why wouldn't I just get a AT&T GSM phone for cheap instead which already comes with the SIM card and the 2 year contract?

And here's the "No News":
3 months ago, I was able to get a SIM card from AT&T without a phone and with a 1 year contract. In fact, I did it again a few weeks ago for my wife's phone. Walked into the store, transferred my number from Sprint and walked out with a new SIM card. So what's the "new news" here?

Either way, I'm glad that AT&T is letting consumers know that they have the freedom to get only the SIM card and marry it with their own device of choosing. Maybe the carriers are finally throwing in the towel and admitting that they are a dumb pipe after all and it's still a good business to be a pipe. (Of course, it's all good until AT&T adds the fine print to remind us that they still are a backward-ass telco)