With AT&T deciding to end its $30 plan for unlimited data use, and go in for tiered pricing structure - $25 plan for 2GB data a month, and $25 for 200 MB a month -, app developers have expressed concerns that they may have to cut back on innovative features, because heavy bandwidth users will now have to pay more.

In the opinion of the app developers, the caps that AT&T has imposed on data use - implying that additional data usage will mean additional charges - might adversely affect the consumer’s appetite for the newest innovations, fearing that they may exceed the new limits.

Noting that iPhone and the unlimited data plan had together created a “lively app world,” Noam Bardin, CEO of Waze, which offers turn-by-turn driving directions, said: “If people start thinking about how big a file is, or how fast an application is refreshing, that will be a huge inhibitor.”

Meanwhile, AT&T reasons that with only about 2 percent of its customers using over 2GB per month, the new usage-based data plans might, in fact, lead to an increase in data usage, making it more affordable for most iPhone users.

According to the carrier, the fairly high new data limits – with 2GB amounting to 10,000 e-mail messages sans attachments; 4,000 Web pages; 500 photos; and 200 minutes of video - will actually result in lower charges for most smartphone users!