iPhone 3G pricing: U.S. $199, Germany 1 euro, U.K. free

how many euro is this ipod

I know this one’s a bit old now but just looked back on it. Mark’s absolutely right in what he said about the exped. Comparable iPhone deal in UK to AT&T’s cheapest deal is £99 for 8GB phone (you only get it free on higher plans) plus £35 per month (for 18 mths) for 600 mins (more), 500 SMS (more), and unlimited data/Wi-fi as mentioned below. This is £729 or around $1450 over the 18 month UK commitment or £939 (c. $1880) over the equivalent of an AT&T tie-in. Remember this includes all taxes, more minutes, more SMS and a pretty compelling Wi-Wi offering. I think it’s pretty hard to argue AT&T come anywhere close. If you really don’t like to talk, there’s a £30 ($60) package with 75 minutes & 125 SMS, with everything else the same. This costs you £120 or $240 less over 24 months.

PWD,

In your exped to Greg, you are not properly seeing his comparison. He is trying to compare the AT&T plan that is closest to the plan you can get in the UK, which is not necessarily the cheapest plan. The AT&T plan that can be best compared to the plan in the UK is the $79 plan since it has the closest number of minutes and SMS. Point being: to get what you can get in the UK, you have to pay more than the $39 in the base plan.

Here in Portugal it seems that the iPhone will be sold without contract. The phone will still be sold locked to the operator it was bought from (but I guess that you can just go to any operator store and ask them to unlock it for a 25€ fee, like for any other phone), but customers are free to choose whatever plan they desire.

But, there are still no prices from Optimus or Vodafone yet.

This is a pretty poor comparison. Just for once, and I can’t believe I’m saying this, the UK deal is massively better.

The tariff being compared actually includes 1200 minutes to any UK network, 500 outgoing SMS (we never pay for incoming ones), unlimited data on 3G or 2G and subscriptions for 2 different Wi-fi hotspot networks, one of which has blanket coverage in a number of city centres. This is for £45 (including VAT etc) a month or around $90. Free 8GB/£59 ($120) 16GB. 18 Month commitment.

Closest comparison I can find on AT&T website is 1350 minutes (more) plus 200 SMS (less) plus data plan =$79.99 + $5 + $30 = $114.99 (plus tax presumably) or around £57 a month for 24 mths instead of 18. And you are paying $200 more for the phone.

This is so surprising considering how competitive pricing normally is in the US. Perhaps really big business like AT&T have just got you where they want you?

ex ped: I think you may be mistaken about the comparison. The cheapest AT&T phone plan, I am told, is $39, not $79. I had already added in the $30 data plan to get the $69 monthly nut I used in the chart.

Hi I’m from germany…
i’ll tell u what we pai and what we get for it.
sorry for not writing in $… i think u can calculate for you own

all on 8 gig 3g iphone, all tarif inc Weekendflat for phoning to non mobil phones, and a Hotspot Flat
170€ iPhone + 29€ month + 50 min + 500 MB
60€ iPhone + 49€ month + 100 min + 40 Text (SMS) + Internet flat (but over 300 MB/month downgraded to 64k)
1€ iphon + 69€ month + 200 min + 150 SMS + internet Flat (but over 1 GB/month downgraded to 64k)
1€ iPhone + 89€ month + 1000 min + 300 SMS + internet Flat (but over 3 GB/month downgraded to 64k)

All prices include all kind of taxes etc.
hope i could help out about German Prices,
Cu Benny

I really can’t believe how some people are so stuck on the monthly service plans that ATT has…

People, has anyone looked at ATT’s plans lately? The $30 for unlimited internet/email is the same across the board!!! No matter whether you have the iPhone, the Tilt, or a crappy ol’ one… It’s $30!!!

AND, it doesn’t include any text messages!!!

With that being said, there are times throughout the year when ATT runs promotions (think Christmas), where you can take advantage of a new plan, or a limited availability plan (expires after 1-2 years) where you get more as a bundle.

Personally I pay $30 for unlimited internet and 1500 SMS/MMS. Once again… promotion!!!

But without a promotion, it doesn’t matter what phone you have… you’ll have to pay the same amount. So I really don’t see what the big deal is.

One more thing… if you can’t afford the monthly plan, don’t get the phone. It’s akin to people buying a luxury automobile but then bitching they can’t afford the insurance and gas on it!

Yes, tax farming has only become common in USA since 1992. It has been an institution in all of Europe for millenniums. Either way, these governments have about bled the populace to death as demonstrated by demographic trends.

Hi, cynik,

“Corporate feudalism”. BULLSEYE! Now we need to break the back of Washington lobbyists, kick out the enablers of corporate feudalism, and put some consumer protection clauses in there to accompany the licensing.

Will this create a “big chill” on investment? IMHO, no; business will settle for half a loaf, provided you show you can’t be stampeded into giving them the whole loaf.

The iPhone is succeeding in putting a spotlight on the difference between the technology developers and the airwave “owners”. Pretty soon, people will figure out that THEY ultimately own those airwaves, and that THEY ultimately can force the politicians to demand fair play.

Good heavens! An enlightened populace! Who knows where that might eventually take us?

This thread is retarded. It presumes that the airtime is part of the phone.

It isn’t. Airtime is airtime is airtime. Large corporations buy the right to hand it out from the government, and then they set the price for common people.

So to say that these figures reflect increased prices for the phone is idiotic. Clearly the brokers of airtime are subsidising the phone in order to sell their airtime at a higher rate.

Incidentally, there is a word for the government selling rights to a strategic resource and then allowing the owner to fleece the commoners. “Tax farming”. It was fairly common in france, just prior to the french revolution. The basic idea is that the user pays for all services, AND they also pay tax. AND they get shafted by monopolies set up by their glorious representatives. Corporate feudalism, folks.

It has nothing to do with what Apple is selling.

Actually, if you discount the future costs at 5% (since paying $87.81 in 23 months time impacts me less than paying it now) then the net present costs for the US and UK are $1800.68 and $2009.48 respectively. When you take into account that the UK price includes tax and the US price excludes tax (my AT&T bill has about $6.50 a month in taxes and another $10 in other charges) it looks like the UK cost is lower than the US cost.

UK is cheaper again, as o2’s contract is only 18 mths long. meaning net cost is only $1580.58

$30 Data Connection Just like the blackberry or PDA Connection. $20 Unlimited Messaging.

I can’t wait for the Iphone to come out. I’ll be making more money!

These comparisons aren’t an indication of how expensive it is to live in Europe. Rather they show how depressed the US Dollar is now. The country’s going down the drain. We’re sinking! We are sitting on the Titanic but we’re still mocking the other boats because the crew keeps telling us that ours is “the best in the world”! Yeah, right. See you at the bottom, America.

Also note that the UK contract period is 18 months and that with its minimum plan (~$58.44/mo), the iPhone up-front price is still ~$193, leading to a $1595 outlay over 2 years.

As an American in the UK, I’m shocked that UK prices are actually a better deal than in the US.

This new iphone is a joke, internet for $30 and unlimited text for $20 and then add in the plan, that’s just ridiculous.

There is likely a significant difference between the U.S. and Europe in the taxes and fees added to the list price. In the U.S., especially, the actual monthly outlay will be considerably more than $69.99/mo once various taxes and surcharges are added. And is European V.A.T. included in the cited tariffs?

Rejoice, all ye faithful! Now you can wholeheartedly fulfil the commandment of our superior priest, the inventor of the computer, the phone and the apple-corer:

“tough shalt buy at least one iPod/iPhone every year, no matter how small the changes from previous model”

iFools

I am moving to the UK …. here I come

Keep in mind that AT&T’s $69.99 plan does not include any free SMS (text) messages. To get the same 200 messages the original iPhone users have, you’ll be spending another $5 per month ($74.99).

And don’t forget to compare the outgoing (original) iPhone model. $399 + ($59.99 x 24) = $1838.76. That’s $160 less than the iPhone 3G (when you add the $5 for 200 messages over 24 months).

Imagine that…. the original iPhone was $160 LESS expensive yet, so many said they couldn’t afford it. More likely true, they don’t have $400 of headroom on the credit card balance! Sad… very sad!

I’d just stick with the ipod Touch and surf for Free.

How about telling us what the more expensive plans in Europe include before comparing them to AT&T’s base rate, or what kind of subsidy European customers get with cheaper plans? I’m guessing that T-Mobile’s “highest monthly plan” gives consumers a lot more in the way of minutes and text messages than AT&T does for $70 (450 anytime minutes, with no texts). Let’s compare Apples to Apples.

Please explain your math. You MUST normalize the currencies to get an apples to apples (no pun intended) comparison. If we were talking about the price of an ounce of gold in the various countries, would you not have to adjust for currency?

You can’t just normalize their currency to U.S. dollars and say that it will cost Europeans more money. Respective to their own currency, European customers will pay LESS than U.S. under AT&T.