The Official 3G Iphone Thread

TMoose said:
The reason I'm confused is Jobs said they'd be decreasing the price of the phone from $399 currently to $199. You don't currently pay in $399 on top of the cost of the contract, it's the actual cost of the phone, which makes me think that $199 would also be the actual cost of the phone.

However, R2000 for such a kickass phone sounds almost too good to be true. If it actually goes for that price I can't see many people not getting one. And if Vodacom is the only supplier I'm sticking with them for ever and ever.
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no, in america you pay $399 for the phone on contract...it is like a pay in...you cant buy the phone for $399 by itself, you would pay $399 plus the monthly contract fee...so it is pretty expensive. it would work more or less the same here. the $199 would be a contract pay in price. If you were to buy the phone by itself, it would be more like 8k-10k...
 
FoRmFacTor said:
no, in america you pay $399 for the phone on contract...it is like a pay in...you cant buy the phone for $399 by itself, you would pay $399 plus the monthly contract fee...so it is pretty expensive. it would work more or less the same here. the $199 would be a contract pay in price. If you were to buy the phone by itself, it would be more like 8k-10k...
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Incorrect - you buy the phone outright in the US. IOW it is not subsidised by ATT. While the phone is network locked you are under no real obligation to sign up with them.

broken1 said:
As far as I can tell, it won't be unlimited data.

It's going to be similar to the blackberry contracts you can get.
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The current blackberry contract is r69 per month with unlimited data.
JayM said:
Common sense & Apple makes its money from the networks.
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Apple also currently rakes in 100% of the phone sale.
 
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bwana said:
Incorrect - you buy the phone outright in the US. IOW it is not subsidised by ATT. While the phone is network locked you are under no real obligation to sign up with them.

The current blackberry contract is r69 per month with unlimited data. Apple also currently rakes in 100% of the phone sale.
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AT&T did subsidise the phone in a way - they paid part of the call/service revenue back to Apple. This is not going to change, and you *will* be signing a contract before you get one for R1500. Anyone who thinks they're going to buy one unlocked with no obligations for R1500 is dreaming. In fact, if it happens, I'll buy you one. How's that?
 
sorry, yes you can buy the phone outwright but i think it is alot more expensive than $199...i dont see the ipone being sold here for R1500....without a contract...i dont know, it seems to good to be true...
 
JayM said:
AT&T did subsidise the phone in a way - they paid part of the call/service revenue back to Apple. This is not going to change, and you *will* be signing a contract before you get one for R1500. Anyone who thinks they're going to buy one unlocked with no obligations for R1500 is dreaming. In fact, if it happens, I'll buy you one. How's that?
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Fair enough.

What ATT paid Apple is largely irrelevant as far as the consumer goes - that was the price they were willing to pay to have exclusivity. You were under no obligation to ever use the phone on ATT's network - you could happily leave the phone sitting unused in a drawer and never pay them a dime - not so with the traditionally subsidised contract phone.
 
bwana said:
I dont know for sure but I would think so.
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Yeah probably. Not that it seemed to be too difficult to unlock anyway. An iphone with unlimited data for R69 would be quite tempting, especially with fring. :D
 
FoRmFacTor said:
sorry, yes you can buy the phone outwright but i think it is alot more expensive than $199...i dont see the ipone being sold here for R1500....without a contract...i dont know, it seems to good to be true...
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True but that was the old iPhone that retailed for a standardised $399 in the US. Remember Vodacom stands to make truck loads of money off their data rates as well as calls. If the phone is network locked there's no reason why they should fleece the customer on the phone sale.
 
bwana said:
Fair enough.

What ATT paid Apple is largely irrelevant as far as the consumer goes - that was the price they were willing to pay to have exclusivity. You were under no obligation to ever use the phone on ATT's network - you could happily leave the phone sitting unused in a drawer and never pay them a dime - not so with the traditionally subsidised contract phone.
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True, but no one's going to buy a phone not to make calls on.
 
JayM said:
True, but no one's going to buy a phone not to make calls on.
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Exactly and that is where vodacom should make their money. Data and calls are flipping expensive in SA.
 
bwana said:
Exactly and that is where vodacom should make their money. Data and calls are flipping expensive in SA.
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That business model only works if the phones can't be unlocked, which as Vodacom I'd be a bit hesitant to rely on considering what happened to the last model. If they're just breaking even on the phones and not losing anything then it'd be viable. The question is are Apple selling the phones to the network at $199 or less? Its hard to see how they (Apple) could make a profit on that considering the price of the ipod touch etc. If the networks are subsidising it then I can't see them doing that without locking you into a 24 month contract.
 
Apple will continue to make money selling the apps as well as the traditional iTunes stuff.
 
Just a minor technicality regarding the naming of this thread: It's iPhone, not Iphone, and it's the iPhone 3G, not 3G iPhone.
 
apple promised that it would not be more than $199, so there you have it.

and it is being made available on prepaid in many countries too.

only curious to know if July 20 is official and what the local prices and offers will be.

Anybody know anything about when these will be released?
 
Apple said it'll be $199 ALMOST everywhere.

Surely Vodacom will have to add things like import duties anyway...
 
well it's 100 pounds in UK, and that is with their high 17.5% tax, which means it costs $194 which is 170 dollars without tax, no mention of duties.

ergo, it should go for $199 or LESS!

not so sure if it will, but that is the trend
 
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http://www.gsmarena.com/iphone_3g_for_$199_or_even_free__but_whats_the_catch-news-521.php

iphone 3g pricing
 
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