Unsubsidized iPhone 3G priced at ?499/?569 in Europe
By Thomas Ricker 
posted Jun 12th 2008 1:30AM
posted Jun 12th 2008 1:30AM
This morning we're getting a first look at unsubsidized prices for the iPhone 3G in Europe. Vodafone Italy has set an out-of-contract price for the iPhone 3G at 499/€569 ($773/$881) for the 8GB/16GB models, respectively. Subscription rates have not yet been announced. While steep, those prices are actually smartphone-reasonable in Italy (and around Europe) where an HTC Touch Cruise with its WiFi, tri-band HSDPA data, GPS, and touchscreen sells for €549. Capisce?[Thanks, Andrea]
So much for $199
That $199 is for subsidized iphones, this 499 is for unsubsidized. Jeez, people dont want contract but complain about the high price. People want low price but complain about contract. Plus that $30/mo data plan is the same as all smart phone plans. Make up your minds!
by $499 you apparently mean $773.
$499 would actually be reasonable, a good non-smarthphone can be $350+ unlocked/unsubsidized.
@why not:
I actually meant $499 euro
WOW, Europeans had a strong Euro but I guess it won't matter. Funny thing is the clones of both phones are like half that price with same functionality and who the heck needs GPS on their phone? - HTC-clone - http://www.chinagrabber.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1580&HS=1 or W99i WiPhone - http://www.chinagrabber.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1614&HS=1 - i wish engadget would do any article on how much TOTAL an iPhone will cost after activation and minimum monthly plans compared to a blackberry service plan....
Haaaaaa Haaaaaa Haaaaaa
You blithering idiots. All of you that beleived that Apple were going to "give" you this phone for $199.
Let me tell you straight... What he said was not a lie, it is called a "BUSH-ism".
This is a phrase coined for certain/all statements made by George W. Bush.
A Bushism: "A statement made which deliberately excludes the necessary facts in order to make a decision based upon that information. The statement itself is not materially incorrect, however the intention is to delude and deceive".
This should be distniguished from a "Factoid"
A factoid is a spurious (unverified, incorrect, or invented) "fact" intended to create or prolong public exposure or to manipulate public opinion. It appears in the Oxford English Dictionary[1] as "something which becomes accepted as fact, although it may not be true", namely a speculation or an assumption.
LMAO.
@Thanh
What's $499 euro?
Much of the phones are sold unlocked in Europe(many times depending about countrie) so of course they got right to complain about the high price because compared to many others it is high.
You can get most of the high end smartphones cheaper than this and not to even talk about 2 years contract where you can get pretty much everything for free.
He means $499 Euro pounds.
Or €499 dollar?
Apple never cared so much about the $/EUR ratio, their products were always a little bit more expensive in Europe (even if you deduct the tax). If the $ keeps going downhill at the current rate, there's little incentive to make the products cheaper in Europe..
How about this one guys:
http://www.iphoneunlockaustralia.com/news-for-aussies/exclusive-optus-to-sell-iphone-for-350.html
Weg, the dollar has been rising for over a week now. So if it keeps "falling" at the current rate it'll be on parity with the Euro some day.
As mentioned elsewhere, this phone isn't unlocked, just unsubsidized it turns out. $773 for a locked phone is an awful price.
So much for $199
Just a reminder:
For $199 you have to sign a 2-year contract and your phone will be locked to the carrier. USA.
For €499 ($773) you get an unlocked phone. You can keep your current plan, current carrier, go to another county, buy their carrier's sim and use it in your phone with no problems or limitations. Europe.
Yes, for $773. (Are you F$%*ing crazy)
The main people who'll actually jump at the phone early would be the people who already own an iPhone. It'd be nice if they spill the beans now on if there's a price reduction for current iPhone 1.0-owners.
I'd really like to sell this on eBay before it's worth as much as a bag of Doritos.
sorry for bringing you the news my friend; it's alrealdy doritos... it has always been...
@ Vince
Yeah, but carriers offer discounts on phones after your contract is close to the end of its life.
I'd hold on to your iphone 1.0.
The fact that they simply aren't being sold anymore will increase demand over time. Especially for people who want to hack them (i.e. if someone miraculously finds some really cool things you could hack and iphone 1.0 to do, that wouldn't work on a 2.0 version) Oh, and it still gives you internet, ipod, video, wifi, bluetooth. That may not seem like much to some, but to a CSE student like me, I can think of some stuff I'd like to try on it now that I won't be using it as a phone come July 11.
Plus it's a teeensy bit smaller.
Wow. That's expensive. Even for Apple.
Ok,so can't att unlock them after a certain amount of time like they do with the normal cell phones?
Probably, but two generations of iPhones would have come and gone by then.
Die in a fire plz
Dude
No.
Third.Whoo.
Dude,no.
Third.Whoo.
I hate this commenting system.
Man, I would never pay $881 for a phone. Many people in the world don't make that much in a year.
Plus I don't know how the Europeans can afford it, with all that socialism taking up 70% of their paycheck.
because they're still paying that number 499 and not 881. Salary and level of life doesnt change depending of currency. in 2 years the dollar might be more powerful and its not a reason why the salary in europe would and product costs would change.
and for your comment about 70% of their paycheck. its less than that and at least they have universal health care and affordable education.
what i say is we should just have one currency for the whole world and lots of problems would be resolved.
sigh, another ignorant american, its not 70% its 56% get your facts straight before you make dumb comments.
Guess you've never been to Europe then. Their cars cost a hell of a lot more than ours do as well, and so does their gas...but their quality of life is higher than the US one. I was going to say "higher than the American" one, but Canada has consistently been several paces ahead of the US in Human Development Index - they are healthier, happier, better educated with less gender-related biases. It boggles my mind as a US student double majoring in a couple of social sciences.
plus, that 56% includes health care.
I have a dozen friends who moved to Italy and there's no way of convincing them back!
Europeans (except maybe for brits) live longer, healthier and enjoy life more than most north Americans.
Unsubsidized N95 8GB costs €549 - €610 in Finland (ie. Nokia Land). No info yet on the iPhone price (Finnish service providers don't usually charge for the handheld itself but wrap the costs inside the monthly service charges of a fixed-term contract, if one chooses to select one of those).
Yeah, poor us Europeans. We pay 45-50% tax of our pay, and what do we get back?
Free health care and education (university included). I'm becoming a MD for free here, but if I lived in the US I would have had to be a millionaire to afford the same education. No thanks, you can have you cheap gas and hamburgers.
€499 is actually pretty nice, if it is completely unlocked.
@Joonas, poor us in Scandinavia, TeliaSonera hasn't announced anything about prices in the other Scandi countries, except we get free data. I hope: Unlimited data (probably with 10 GB cap), unlimited sms (yeah unlimited) and 100-200 min, for $60. It should be possible.
@Gorjan: Should we keep the iphone too? ts ts
@Gorjan:
Of course, you will be getting paid less than an MD over here.
I just love the ignoramuses who thinks that their high taxes are justified by "free" health care. Take a look at how little of your total tax bill is actually for health care. The rest is for subsidizing all the lazy unemployed and for the massive unproductive government bureaucrat jobs.
Wow, it costs more than the SonyEricsson Cybershot C905. Like I ever needed another reason.
is this a tech blog or an anti American rally
i know it cool to hate America right now it the newest and greatest trend but what the fuck that got to do with iphone
great we get it u all hate the U.S we are not smart enough for we are not happy enough for u every country better then us
i really don't see what this has to do with the iphone
What's the Nokia N95 8GB sell for over there?
It's free on contract.
It's free with a contract,
500€ without a contract
'We' pay around € 500,- for the N95. This is already a rather low internet-price. The device is listed for around € 549,- which is already 100 euro cheaper then when it launched. This includes 19% VAT.
This is the a carrier and simlock free version. With a carrier-specific and simlocked version you save around 75 euro. And with a 2 year € 50 per month contract the phone is free.
So actually the price of the iPhone is pretty competitive. (This is all based on dutch prices and experience. )
I can get the N95 8GB for 31,50 euro's a month, including unlimited 3.5G.
Phone free too.
You can look it up using www.kelkoo.it. However, to spoil the surprise: a N95 8GB, TIM-branded (i.e. unlocked, but with custom firmware), sells for about €400; unbranded, €450.
So what did happen to starting at $199.99 steve never made a comment about subs by wireless providers..... Just new low price....
I am so going drop off the apple band wagon....... like they care any way they will just find some other iphone suckers out there...
ok off my rant
Justice my be blind but it can see in the dark stevie.....
You have to sign up in store, yah - it's a pain compared to the old system though in practice, it's not much different at all. The other thing to bitch about is that over the long term, it winds up being more expensive now since the data plan is $10 more a month, eventually offsetting the savings on the actual phone.
that $199 is for subsidized iphones, this 499 is for unsubsidized. Jeez, people dont want contract but complain about the high price. People want low price but complain about contract. Make up your minds!
199 with a contract. The price in thsi article is the unlocked price.
C'mon people this can't be any simpler...
$499 unsubsidized equates to €333 not €499.
€499 = $750
Dang...
Actually, as the page states, it appears to be subsidized, as for 499 euros you get a carrier locked phone with a pay-as-you-go service. In other words 499e will save you of a contract, but will not get you an unlocked phone...
no countries like belgium dont allow phones to be locked
Vince, you're right. I see that, so far, 3 of the 4 low ranked comments in this thread are all yours. So I shouldn't have said "fucktards". Instead, "fucktard" would be more correct.
The price of a none contracted Nokia N95 8gb in Sweden is $1093. Atleast on the provider that will supply the iPhone here in Sweden.
You got a be kidding me? There's no shop that will sell N95 8GB over 600 euros...thought i dunno if dollar blummeted yesterday again =D
Basic N95 should be under 400 unlocked.
At www.katshing.se it sells for €575 ($890) unlocked. That should be among the cheapest availible in Sweden.
It will be very interesting indeed to see what the subsidized price is in euros on these carriers.
This is far too fuking expensive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
how long is the contract? its its 2 years then your eventually dishing out $919 with a 30/month 2 year plan + 3G iphone. but you have to pay monthly for service anyways even if you got the unlocked version.
NO CONTRACT
These comments make my head hurt.
This is how pretty much every phone is released in Europe. Networks subsidise high-price phones in order to get customers to sign up to lengthy contracts. However, the phones are often sold on a pay-as-you-go basis unsubsidised (but still network-locked) - and 500 euro is a common price-point for top of the range phones. The iPhone is by no means strange in offering itself in such a way at such a price-point.
O2 UK have also announced they have plans to sell pre-pay iPhones, but there has been no announcement on price. O2 Ireland have said they wont be selling pre-pay iPhones.
On regards to quality of life and so on: Europe is not a single entity, and each country has a varying degree of 'socialism'. In Ireland, consumer tax is around 20%, and the government taxes your earnings at a different rate depending on what you earn - the highest rate of tax is about 40% - nowhere near the 70% touted above. Health-care is largely free in Ireland, as is education right the way from primary school to the completion of a 4 year university degree. The minimum wage is also above 8 euro.
I think you may be wrong there...
http://www.o2.co.uk/iphone/paygo
Bugger... misread it - now I look a twat...
Your are right, except Denmark and Sweden (the 2 countries with the higest taxes) ranges between 40%-60%.
I don't understand all the "fuzz" about O2 offering a "free" iPhone, every phone in Europe is sold with a high pricepoint (eg. €500) or with a low/free pricepoint with a contract.
Beside that you have to pay £45/month in 18 months, that means you actually pay £810, of course with a nice contract, but nothing is free.
The price of N95 8GB is about 695 $ in Germany. The Touch Diamond is 770 $. I paied nothing for my HTC Touch Dual with Contract.
man, who neeeds a 2 year contract? we aren't getting married....
€499 isn't that much. A Nokia N95 8GB is circa €600 in Finland, unsubsidized. Other comparable phones cost about the same. Hell, if Sonera sells an unsubsidized iPhone 3G for €499 (I really doubt it), I'll definitely buy one.
How much is an N95 8GB (or something comparable) without a contract in the US? Just curious.
The N95 is sold in Canada (Rogers) . The site is down at the moment. It is available on a 3 year contract for $400.
I would gues that to buy outright, unlocked, it would be around $800 plus taxes.
check out rogers.ca when it is up next.
Dude, 3 years?
not cool
I think we need to make a clear distinction between unlocked and unsubsidized iPhones. All the articles on the 3G iPhone that I have been reading across the gadget and rumor sites have not yet talked about officially unlocked iPhones.
So, the question is... Will the iPhone be sold UNLOCKED in certain countries?
For instance, the iPhone will be officially sold in Egypt: http://www.apple.com/iphone/countries/eg/
I have been living in Egypt for the past 3 years. There are 2 long-time carriers (Vodafone and Orange - called MobiNil here) and a recent third (Etisalat). None of these carriers sell locked or subsidized iPhones. Most Egyptians buy their phones from 3rd party sellers in the first place and pay the premium, European price. Additionally, a striking majority, including myself, use a pay-as-you-go pre-paid plan. It's inconceivable, though possible, that Vodafone and MobiNil would suddenly adopt a more American subsidized and locked phone plan. Egyptians wouldn't go for it. I wouldn't go for it.
My prediction is that the iPhone will certainly be unsubsidized in Egypt to maintain the same dynamics of phone plans. However, my question still is on whether it will be unlocked.
Don't forget that the iphone doesnt support Arabic not that many people in Egypt speak English or French fluently. Im still wondering how are they going to sell the iphone African countries where they don't speak English or French.
Grr, Man I really, to say this polightly, angry ! I knew something wasn't right. I guess I'll be importing my phone from the US then...
No.... Man ! I stil don't think that you get it. This phone is offered in one of two ways.
1. $199 with a 2 year contract - (plus $40 times 24 months)
or
2. $769 with no contract.
This is gonna be a worldwide price. Pretty much.
If you want to buy it from the states, go ahead. If you can find someone with an ATT unlocked iPhone.
It is MUCH more likely that someone from North America is gonna buy one from Europe (Unlocked) and import it to the states.
BUT !!! then they have the problem of putting this on a data plan. Pound to a penny that there is a proprietary lock on these.
You will probably be able to have it "jailed broken", but who really really wants to piss about with that.
It's not that difficult. Just way until the 2.0 fw comes out, then go to www.ziphone.org and download the unlocker. Easy.
Even 568 euros is not bad compared to the first iPhone generation. However, I cannot see why people cannot have a contract...
http://electronrun.com/
That phone is accesible, but, I dont' find that the monthly fee of 50 $ is accesible. How can anyone find this accesible if the company isn't paying this..
In Belgium it is illegal to subsidize phones.
So we're stuck at €499, no exceptions
No... its illigal to have phones ONLY subsidized you can have a subsidized iphone selling but if that happens you need to sell unsubsidized one too
.
anyone know the UK price, i havent seen it be announced anywhere yet, its never the exchange rate of euros:pounds they always set a seperate price.
£394/£449 is the current exchange rate prices for the euro pricing. So i ASSUME it will be £399/449 for UK people. Most people expected £350-450 so the pricing is to be expected really.
O2 have not release the pay-as-you-go price yet but I think your pricing is probably in the right ballpark, maybe add another £50.
This from their press release:
"The 8GB model will cost just £99 on a new £30 per month tariff and the existing £35 per month tariff. Consumers choosing either the £45 or £75 per month tariffs will get the 8GB iPhone 3G for free. The 16GB iPhone 3G will cost £159 on the £30 and £35 tariffs, £59 on the £45 tariff and it will be free on the £75 tariff...
...Both the 8GB and 16GB iPhone 3G will also be available for O2 Pay & Go customers with pricing to be confirmed in the coming weeks."
All you idiots saying so much for $199, either go and read the commentary or watch the keynote, No more than $199 with a contract! Morons!
http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/specials/iPhone.jsp
see the fine print...the $199/$299 price is for *Qualified customers only which probably means only if you're eligible for an upgrade (almost at the end of your contract).
@Martin,
You still don't get it. No one is disputing the $199. BUT .....Steve (bushism) Jobs deliberately led everyone to beleive that the phone would "cost" $199.
He led them to believe that because up till then and still at that point officially, the existing model was that you buy the phone outright and then you have the choice to activate or (unofficially) jailbreak. But all the same the costing model was only the cost of the phone.
What Steve (Bushim) Jobs did not say was that you require a contract. The contract is a minimum of 2 years ( at $40 per month X 24).
So.....for anyone out there who is thinking along the lines of the true cost of the phone, the commitment is $1160 dollars. Sure you get a service plan with that.... but those are not the terms that everyone is interested in.
So, how much does the phone cost ? $1160 over 2 years including the service plan.
Oh and that is a bushism too...
Nowhere in the key note speech does it make mention of a contract.
Nowhere. Conveniently ommitted. A bushism.
he did say however "The price is a maximum of $199 all around the world"
kccboy2004, are you really that stupid?
Apart from France, and those few weeks in germany, the iphone was never (officially) sold without a contract.
Has Jobs announced anything different? no. So it is logicall to assume that the mentioned 199$ is the price with a contract.
Also look at the price of the itouch. Less tech in that thing, but more expensive. Why might that be? I think it has something to do with the fact that you can get it without a mobile contract.
499€ is not a bad price. Most competitors (Blackberries, the big Nokias, The HTC stuff) sell arround that price. Even my nokia 5500 would have cost me close to 400€, hadnt i bought it subsidized with a contract.
The only thing that sucks is that even high priced phones with a contract are sold with a simlock nowadays. That sucks.
Did people really expect it to be the same price without a contract, as it is with one? What planet are some of you people living on?
Since when were sim free phones the same price as they are on a contract, erm..... never.
Hey guys, can I be an Internet Tough Guy too?
Comparing it to the iPod touch, it's not "that" expensive. The 16gb iPod touch is 369€ over here, so it's 200€ for the phone and gps + the right to upgrade your firmware without being charged.
If it's 499/569 in belgium I'll have a trip to brussels this summer:)
If you look at other unlocked phones, it's not that bad!
Jesus, if i'm right, the 16GB version will cost 450GBP ! Well, hopefully 02 don't charge as much, if not, it's a trip to ebay for me.
I think the price includes the VAT tax, which is around 20% in most European countries. So for a price of 499€, the actual cost is around €399.
It's funny how all Americans seem to think that Europe is like one country. The taxes here vary a whole lot between countries. In Sweden, where I live, we have progressive income tax, which means you will pay a different percent of taxes depending on your income, so the 70%, 56% etc you all talk about is nothing but empty numbers. Also we have a VAT of 25%. It's much more interesting to talk about "tax pressure", which is a number which shows which TOTAL amount of your income that goes back to the state/government in different types of taxes. In Sweden it's about 85%, slightly lower than Norway which has the highest in the world.
So for each dollar we make here, 85 cents would go back to the government in some sort of tax.
Also keep in mind that the average income for the average middle-class Joe here is waaay lower than in the US. There's always an upside and downside to high or low taxes, it's nice to have public healthcare, free education etc, on the other hand it's impossible to get "rich" on honest good work here. And in my humble opinion both the healthcare and education systems needs remodelling here, there are a lot of problems as they're constructed today, with people waiting much too long before they get the medical help they need (actually people sometimes die waiting to get an operation here, not common, but it happens), which has in itself created a demand for private health care insurances. Even though we are a so called social democratic country.
Also, please guys, not ALL of Europe use Euro as currency. And ALL of Europe aren't rich, enjoy life etc etc. The differences here are immense. And the symbol for Euro is €, not $.
//Jens
You don't pay VAT of your income! The 60% tax is for them with a high income. 40-60% could sound insane, but 85% IS insane ;) (btw. Denmark has the highest tax)
But Jens actually Scandinavia is a very rich market. When you look at the total BNP, we range number 8, over Spain, Canada, Russia, India etc. Even though all these countries are much bigger than Scandinavia.
Kronar är det beste!
People dont want to be locked to contract for 2 years and for many it's just matter of principle. Still example over 60% of phones are bough unlocked in Finland example.
Here is what I am going to do to get iphone with no contract
I will buy it for $199.99 , then cancel ATT after 30 days and pay $150.00 more
Total $ 350.00 which is good price for smartphone
thats it
I think 499€ is a fair deal, considering the fact that T-Mobile Germany still sells the current 2.5G iPhone (16 GB) for the same 499€. And that's with a contract!