getting an iPhone at AT&T? help!

hey guys
i live in holland, but a family member is in the US right now and i wanted them to get me an iphone however... they're nowhere near an apple store, so the only place they could purchase it from is an AT&T. but i am confused as to how it works. if you buy at the AT&T store, do you have to sign a 2 year contract straight away (and thus pay monthly) because i obviously plan to just unlock it so i can use it here (ok, the iphone is coming to holland supposedly in november if all goes well, for t-mobile pressured apple to construct a fully compatible with our networks model. i don't want to wait that much longer anymore and then pay ridiculous 500 or 600 euros). so how is it exactly? can you get the phone without the contract? or you get it with the contract but you don't have to activate it? please help me out here :/

Since activating an iPhone is done via iTunes, you can just walk into an AT&T store and buy one. There's no guarantee that the employees won't try and push accessories, but in the end, you don't need to buy or agree to anything when buying an iPhone.

ok great! thanks!