Debitel offering 600 euro "sign-up bonus" for 999 euro iPhone in Germany

You know that unlocked iPhone T-Mobile has to sell in Germany? Right, the one that costs €999 instead of €399 with contract. Well, if you're Debitel, then you make a bid for the iPhone non-exclusive by offering a €600 sign-up bonus (to bring the cost back to €399) on a network of your very own. Of course, visual voice mail is a no-go and there's no mention of unlimited WiFi, but at least you've got the iPhone (and a fat Debitel contract, presumably).

Update: Debitel's rates will start at €40 per month compared to T-Mobile's €49.

[TK @ Nov 27th 2007 10:37AM]

Unlimited Wi-Fi?
Isn't all wifi unlimited?

[Leon Ngo @ Nov 27th 2007 11:02AM]

I think they meant unlimited wifi data package

[ScOObyDoo @ Nov 27th 2007 10:38AM]

Brilliant move.

[Kizorblade @ Nov 27th 2007 10:45AM]

I concur. It's genius!

[Jakob H @ Nov 27th 2007 10:47AM]

Debitel in Denmark, has (unofficialy) launched the iPhone for about €700, unlocked and no fees, for a couple of weeks.

[Georg @ Nov 27th 2007 10:48AM]

lol

[Jakob H @ Nov 27th 2007 10:48AM]

*for a couple of weeks ago, sorry ;)

[moophisto @ Nov 27th 2007 10:54AM]

@TK
most wifi hotspots in germany are owned by t-mobile and are far from being free - even if you're a t-mobile customer, you might be paying up to 12 euro-cent per minute...

it's not like the t-mobile plans were that great anyway... as for data flatrates, the cheapest plan which is 49 euro per month (almost US$73 by today's rate) throttles your download speed to 64kbit/s and upload to 16kbit/s after you reach a 200MB limit (1GB/5GB for the other two plans which are ~US$102 and US$132, respectively) - wifi is unaffected by that, of course.

debitel does offer many plans that are much cheaper than those and for people who don't care too much about data plans, they surely will help them to afford an iphone to make calls with and send texts for way less than t-mobile does... I'd still probably rather ditch that idea and get it unlocked with a prepaid sim by simyo or something similar, which offer better value than any plans on the market here

[josh @ Nov 27th 2007 11:30AM]

At first I wanted an iphone. Now after trying to type (very slow), the outdated camera, only one US service provider, limited browser capabilities, and not to mention limited memory, I can't see any point in paying for this. There are so many other phones out there that have more capabilities. I have an ipod, I like itunes, but seriously, the iphone is over priced and need of the following upgrades:
-Qwerty keyboard (slide out perhaps);
-5 MP camera;
-flash, shockwave supported, and music/video plug-in browser;
-More memory (i.e. expandable); and
-Document support (word, excel, etc...Or Linux options).

Of course these aren't new complaints.
-JP

[Ryan Trevisol @ Nov 27th 2007 11:43AM]

Hmmm . . . sounds like exactly what I want.

[frozenrubber @ Nov 27th 2007 1:03PM]

Just a few notes from an iPhone owner (not a fanboy, however).

Keyboard...unless you've used the onscreen keyboard for over a week continuously, you really can't judge it. Now, i type faster on the iPhone than a blackberry. If all apps on the iPhone allowed you to rotate the keyboard to landscape mode for larger keys (like they allow for safari), it would be PERFECT.

Camera: I don't want a 5MP camera. Combination devices suck. You want a camera, use a REAL camera. It's current offering is good enough for snapping a quick pic of something.

Flash: No doubt everyone is crossing their fingers that either Apple or user community cook up a way to view flash. Good news is this is fixable, but when is a real question mark.

Memory: Until the iPhone comes in varieties 30gb and up, it really isn't an iPod. When larger capacity is offered, this will finally be the convergence device it was initially touted as.

Document support: Built in readers are already installed and the 3rd party community has cooked up some nice options. Again, this carrot will come with time as it is most certainly in the update cycle chain.

[Kizorblade @ Nov 27th 2007 1:44PM]

Wait, so you bought the device with the knowledge that you had only 8gb and now you're complaining about it?
Or did the size of all your files increase drastically?

[Scooter @ Nov 27th 2007 3:56PM]

@frozenrubber, you are in denial, and it smells bad. Why dismiss the option of a decent camera option just since you don't have one. This device is a 'combination' by your measure, just sub-par since the camera element sucks (as you effectively state).

[Reid Conti @ Nov 27th 2007 5:04PM]

Josh,

you bring up a few valid points, but why on earth would you want a 5mp camera in your phone? I don't even want a 5mp pocket camera, and my DSLR only does 6.3. 2 megapixels is enough for a 1600x1200 picture. You'll see a ton of optical and sensor-related distortion even in that 'few' pixels.

The sensor on a phone is just so tiny that 5mp would be worthless. Hell, the lens on the iphone has approx. 1.5mm aperature. Do you really think bumping up the pixel count will help?

[josh @ Nov 27th 2007 5:34PM]

Reid and frozenrubber,

Ok. I have a 5 MP pocket camera a little bigger than a credit card that I bought two years ago; I like the quality of 5 MP, for me. If the phone had a 5 MP camera, the lens could be manufactured to insure a quality picture. Don't tell me it cannot be done. By the way, combination devices don't suck if they are well designed.

The touch screen keyboard for the iphone is something that I would not get used to, and there is no way that someone on the iphone could out-type me on a full QWERTY keyboard on my blackberry using both of my thumbs. No way.

Also, what is wrong with wanting a device that fits in the palm of your hand that has a great camera, plays music and video, can edit documents, can talk with friends (via VoIP, text, cell phone, or IM), plenty of memory, has GPS, fully internet capable, and has games. Mobile consumer electronics are moving in that direction. Like it or not. The iPhone is a next step in that direction. Not quite there though. As a consumer, I do not want to buy this yet; it's not where I can justify paying $399 + $50-80/month and changing phone carriers. The closest device I can say that I like is the Nokia N810. And I am really close to buying it, but I have to see it first.

-JP

[stillen @ Nov 27th 2007 5:35PM]

I have a Samsung D900 and the 3.2 MP camera shows way too much distortion at the higher resolutions and it is supposed to be one of the better phones with a camera....ha! I agree with Reid.

[Saad Rabia @ Nov 27th 2007 9:29PM]

Josh, I have to agree with you on both of your posts, I don't see anything bad or "imaginary" on what you are saying and suggesting, I hope that Apple reads your post, and I hope that the people reading your post would realize that there is something seriously wrong with the iPhone... Let us see what Apple will announce next on January for the iPhone 2.

And by the way, I was also thinking of buying the Nokia N810, but unfortunately it has one thing missing: a Phone! crazy I know, but truly shocking.

[josh @ Nov 28th 2007 8:25AM]

Saad,

Good point. The Nokia website lists the N810 under phones! HA. I don't consider skype a cell phone.

Thanks.

-JP

[scott @ Nov 28th 2007 11:08PM]

Nokia N93 - 3MP camera. 90 min. of DVD quality film. Plus everything else.
Nokia N95 -5MP camera...amazing picture for what it is...amazing iPhone competitor..


too bad i couldnt afford any of the 3.

[Chris P. @ Nov 27th 2007 12:04PM]

Bah! The iPhone SDK will force a check on iPhones to see if they're the latest version (by that time, 1.3.1) and then allow you to install the applications from iTunes. It will kill the Springboard changes so kiss the current 3rd party apps goodbye.

That coupled with the new Document opener/editor (iWork for iPhone) app they're throwing on it, it's gonna make people wish they had an ATT/O2/Orange/T-Mobile DE contract just so they can download the good apps.

I wonder if Installer will come up with a patched springboard by that time ?

[bugmat @ Nov 27th 2007 4:57PM]

No doubt the hackers, with the use of the soon to be released iPhone SDK (which they WILL get don't you doubt - select developers or not), and will simply copy/port any and every app that comes through iTunes to the installer network - simple.

[Mike @ Nov 28th 2007 4:51AM]

I was a customer of Debitel several years ago. I think it is the German expression for "hallo, now we steal all your money! Ha, ha, sucker!"