How can an iPhone be cheaper on contract than its Android equals??

E

EtienneK

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So as most of you know, I will be upgrading in less than a month's time. I am thus currently looking at the specials MTN are offering.

Based on their specials, it's better to go for an iPhone 4, because it's cheaper than a Desire or a Galaxy S. With the iPhone you get R200 airtime a month and 150MB of data. For the others, you just get airtime (and with the Galaxy S, it's only R100s worth!).

How can this be? I thought the iPhone is a lot more expensive?

With these deals, it seems the iPhone is the one to go for.

Check it out:

http://www.mtnsp.co.za/shop/RetailSpecials/Pages/Specials1.aspx
http://www.mtnsp.co.za/shop/RetailSpecials/Pages/Specials11.aspx
http://www.mtnsp.co.za/shop/RetailSpecials/Pages/Specials7.aspx
 
Hydrofire said:
Aren't you going to substantiate that statement?
Click to expand...
Well my mom and my cousin are having issues with MTN overbilling them, so I wanna avoid them. It's probably no biggie. Also the Vodacom deal seems a little better. MTN has no off-peak rate which means you pay more after hours.
 
Synaesthesia said:
Well my mom and my cousin are having issues with MTN overbilling them, so I wanna avoid them. It's probably no biggie. Also the Vodacom deal seems a little better. MTN has no off-peak rate which means you pay more after hours.
Click to expand...

Do you have a link to the Vodacom deal?
 
EtienneK said:
How can this be? I thought the iPhone is a lot more expensive?
Click to expand...

I think this is actually more in line with the status in the US - the iPhone was never THAT expensive compared to other smartphones - hell, it went for $99 pay in at some point in time (the 3G or 3Gs). In SA, the iPhone was always a great deal more expensive.

I believe it is MTN that brought the prices down and forced Vodacom to follow suit - shows you that whoever paid the ridiculous amounts that Vodacom charged for the original 3G and 3Gs was probably scammed by a network with "exclusivity" to a hard-to-get phone.

What's happening now is actually a good thing. ;)
 
EtienneK said:
Do you have a link to the Vodacom deal?
Click to expand...

http://www.vodacomdirect.co.za/Deal_Details.aspx?DealId=DV112627PA
ebendl said:
I believe it is MTN that brought the prices down and forced Vodacom to follow suit - shows you that whoever paid the ridiculous amounts that Vodacom charged for the original 3G and 3Gs was probably scammed by a network with "exclusivity" to a hard-to-get phone.

What's happening now is actually a good thing. ;)
Click to expand...
That is what happened. Vodacom were always selling the iPhone 3g & 3GS at crazy prices. MTN came in with a great deal on the iPhone 4 and Vodacom had to lower their prices. The rand being strong against the US $ helps as well.
 
Synaesthesia said:
Well my mom and my cousin are having issues with MTN overbilling them, so I wanna avoid them. It's probably no biggie. Also the Vodacom deal seems a little better. MTN has no off-peak rate which means you pay more after hours.
Click to expand...

AFAIK Vodacom also done away with off-peak/on-peak rates. One (more expensive) flatrate.
 
The people running our networks must be real dips**ts if they don't offer similar contracts to other smartphones. It really isn't a difficult thing to think of...
They have no reason to keep such a deal exclusive to one phone.
 
Maddmatt said:
The people running our networks must be real dips**ts if they don't offer similar contracts to other smartphones. It really isn't a difficult thing to think of...
They have no reason to keep such a deal exclusive to one phone.
Click to expand...

I agree. I really want the Galaxy S, but the price just doesn't make it worth it.
 
iPhone is 7999 for 16 Gb at Incredible and 5499 for the Galaxy S. Yet iPhone deals are much better than Galaxy. Go figure.

Agree that the only reason iPhone is cheaper on VC contract is because of MTN. Also, I noticed tha the price of calls per minute on the VC 275 TopUp are higher that the 135 TopUp. I would have thought the call pricess would drop with higher packages.
 
Agree that the only reason iPhone is cheaper on VC contract is because of MTN. Also, I noticed tha the price of calls per minute on the VC 275 TopUp are higher that the 135 TopUp. I would have thought the call pricess would drop with higher packages.[/QUOTE]


i dont think so. topup packages are usually not regarded as higher packages. They are regarded as pay as you go
 
Is there anyone from MTN or Vodacom here that can comment on this issue?
 
PESM said:
i dont think so. topup packages are usually not regarded as higher packages. They are regarded as pay as you go
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Why would one use the Top-up 275 instead of Top-Up 135 then (other than for iPhone)? Doesn't make sense. If I commit to a higher amount per month there shud be an incentive of cheaper call rates or atleast keep the rates the same. Here the rates increase on the higher packages so VC is telling the users to rather sign up for the lower package.
 
I'm also very tempted to get the Galaxy S, but with these "cheap" prices on the iPhone 4.....tsk tsk.

Just don't have the strength to go another round with the retarded iTunes software. And the idea that I can't simply drag & drop files between iTunes & my iPhone still cheeses me off.

Mind you, I've also heard the KIES software that comes with the Galaxy S is not very good either. I think Nokia should stop selling phones and just work on creating PC Suites for phones. :)
 
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