iPhone 4 pricing and data bundles
First, a confession: I finally get it. After years of stubbornness and (not-so-polite) scoffing at friends and colleagues who couldn’t put their iPhones down, I get it.
I’ve hardly been able to put my iPhone 4 down over the long weekend (pretty good timing for a launch). Human beings have that giddy fiddle-with-everything period with most new gadgets, but then again with the iPhone there’s just so much to fiddle with. There are around 270 000 active apps in the US iTunes App Store (with over 50 000 inactive ones)… lots to play with.
It’s easy to dismiss a smartphone that you haven’t had a chance to use properly. Typing a quick SMS or flipping through app screens on a friend’s phone does not count (as I’ve figured out).
This is not about the iPhone. If you’re in the market for a smartphone (or indeed any phone), you need to actually use it, feel it. Cell C has figured this out and now offer real demo devices in its stores (as opposed to those plastic dummy phones we’ve become so used to).
For example, a year ago I was apprehensive about the HTC Hero. I’d heard a lot of good things about it, but had some doubts over build-quality based on some of the (much) older HTC devices. I was similarly hesitant about HTC’s next step up – the Desire. Would HTC be able to match the best in the world? The launch materials and videos looked promising, but there remained a slight doubt. And at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona earlier this year, simply playing with the phone put those questions to rest.
It’s been the same with BlackBerry and Nokia’s devices, high-end Samsung phones, the new Motorola Android phones and even Sony Ericssons.
So lesson learnt – before you buy any phone, actually use it.
If you’re thinking about getting an iPhone 4, my advice would be to visit an iStore or one of the bigger cellular stores (the MTN Service Centre in Morningside or Vodaworld would be examples) where you’ll actually be able to try a device.
The most noticeable thing about iPhone 4 pricing announced by MTN (and soon thereafter by Vodacom) was just how affordable it was, compared to previous offers when Vodacom released the iPhone 3G and 3Gs.
MTN moved aggressively and priced its contracts at the R400 per month mark. And there’s no one-off cash pay in. The 16GB iPhone 4 (150MB data) is R379 per month, 16GB iPhone 4 (300MB data) is R429 per month. The higher-end 32GB iPhone 4 (150MB data) is R429 per month with 32GB iPhone 4 (300MB data) is R479 per month. Bundled with all of these is R200 worth of airtime.
Vodacom initial pricing included the Talk 500 contract (a hefty R925 subscription per month with 250MB data), the iPhone 120s (100MB data) and iPhone 240 (250MB data) contracts. The 16GB device was free on the Talk 500 deal, but required a pay in of around R2 000 for each of the lower-end contracts. Compare this, though, to the one-off pay in required for Vodacom’s old 3Gs pricing from a year ago: you had to pay in R2 999 for the 16GB iPhone.
On the face of it, MTN’s contracts made more sense and were better value. However, consumers would only be getting R200 worth of airtime, not 200 minutes. So to a large extent you’re comparing apples with pears.
Vodacom then quickly announced two new options for iPhone 4 on the Top Up 275s contract: 16GB for R379 (x 24 months), 32GB for R429 pm. This deal included 110 MB of data. Suddenly the offers from the two competing operators were roughly in line.
There’s no doubting that iPhone contracts offered by both MTN and Vodacom are now a lot more affordable than they were a year ago. The strength of the rand has helped dramatically (a saving of about R1 000 on the pay in for a 16GB iPhone based on a comparison of Vodacom’s pricing).
But here’s the thing…
The entry-level offers from both MTN and Vodacom come bundled with between 100MB and 150MB of data per month.
Try using an iPhone for a month on 100MB (or even 150MB of data). You simply cannot have a full experience! Throw together e-mail, Facebook usage, some tweeting. You’ll end up forcing yourself to limit your browsing and app usage, and don’t even think about watching a video.
Even AT&T in the US offers 200MB on its entry-level data plan. Granted at $15 per month, the pricing is pretty steep. Its other data plan is 2GB for $25 per month (No guesses which bundle AT&T wants you to buy!).
Vodafone in the UK (one of three operators to now offer the device), offers 1GB of mobile internet data per month bundled with its contracts.
Even MTC in Namibia offers 600MB of data per month (along with 300 minutes, 300 on-network minutes and 300 SMSes) for N$399 (R399).
Come on MTN and Vodacom… you want users to use more data on your networks! At least give users on one of your flagship devices a better experience. Make it far easier to buy data bundles on the fly. You might even go so far as strongly suggesting to customers that they add additional bundles when they sign up for iPhone contracts.
To add another 500/600MB of data would cost a normal user around R189 (retail). How about bundling 500MB of data on those entry level iPhone 4 packages for R499 per month?
*Hilton Tarrant contributes to “Broadband”, a column on Moneyweb covering the ICT sector in South Africa. After a few years of umming and ahhing, now that he has an iPhone 4, he can see what all this fuss is about!
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