iPhone 3G UK v US Price

Why does the $99 price only apply to the US? Why is the 3G £340 from
Apple & O2 here? It's so expensive. My iphone is a bit broken and I'm
still over 6 months away from the end of my contract. I was hoping to
buy a new PAYG for £100ish but no chance of that it seems.

On Jul 16, 11:07*am, Stephen2 <Step...@mailinator.com> wrote:
> Why does the $99 price only apply to the US? Why is the 3G £340 from
> Apple & O2 here? It's so expensive. My iphone is a bit broken and I'm
> still over 6 months away from the end of my contract. I was hoping to
> buy a new PAYG for £100ish but no chance of that it seems.

The $99 price is for a 24 month contract (plus line rental), not PAYG.

On Jul 16, 1:56*pm, Usenet User <usenetu...@hotmail.co.uk> wrote:
> On Jul 16, 11:07*am, Stephen2 <Step...@mailinator.com> wrote:
>
> > Why does the $99 price only apply to the US? Why is the 3G £340 from
> > Apple & O2 here? It's so expensive. My iphone is a bit broken and I'm
> > still over 6 months away from the end of my contract. I was hoping to
> > buy a new PAYG for £100ish but no chance of that it seems.
>
> The $99 price is for a 24 month contract (plus line rental), not PAYG.

So it is. Sorry, I didn't read the small print!

"Stephen2" <Stephen@mailinator.com> wrote in message
news:f00d4d1b-5644-42e8-9b75-19d7111baee6@h18g2000yqj.googlegroups.com...
> On Jul 16, 1:56 pm, Usenet User <usenetu...@hotmail.co.uk> wrote:
> > On Jul 16, 11:07 am, Stephen2 <Step...@mailinator.com> wrote:
> >
> > > Why does the $99 price only apply to the US? Why is the 3G £340 from
> > > Apple & O2 here? It's so expensive. My iphone is a bit broken and I'm
> > > still over 6 months away from the end of my contract. I was hoping to
> > > buy a new PAYG for £100ish but no chance of that it seems.
> >
> > The $99 price is for a 24 month contract (plus line rental), not PAYG.
>
> So it is. Sorry, I didn't read the small print!

Nevertheless, there is still a substantial discrepancy between the US and UK
iPhone prices. In the US the 3G 8GB was dropped in price (from $199 to $99)
with the introduction of the new 3GS, while the 3GS 16GB was brought in at the
old 3G 8GB price ($199) and the 3GS 32GB was brought in at the old 3G 16GB
price ($299) - in each case for the same 24 month commitment. In other words
the two 3GS models came in at the same prices as the previous 3G models.

Here in the UK the 3G 8GB has remained the same price as it was before (£99 on
£35/18 month contract, or free on £35/24 month contract), while the 3GS 16GB
has been brought in at a higher price (£189 / £89 on the same contracts) than
the 3G 16GB (£159 / £59), and the 3GS 32GB is simply at a brand new even more
expensive tier (£280 / £179). (Prices quoted reflect 17.5% VAT to keep the
prices easier to compare).

Yes the exchange rate between $ and £ has detiorated over the last year, but
not by the mammoth 75%-90% premium that the UK (and admittedly other EU
contries) appear to have to pay for the 3GS over the old 3G prices. Note that
the sales tax not being included for the US prices is completely irrelevent
here, since the issue is the 3GS vs 3G prices in each market rather than the
US vs UK prices for a given model.

It seems unclear whether this price hike for the 3GS in UK/EU is down to the
operators or Apple or both - but it certainly appears that substantially less
subsidy is being applied to the handsets for the 3GS (as the prices are more
reminiscent of the original iPhone which was entirely unsubsidised).

SimonC wrote:


> Nevertheless, there is still a substantial discrepancy between the US and
> UK> iPhone prices. In the US the 3G 8GB was dropped in price (from $199
> to $99) with the introduction of the new 3GS,
>
> Here in the UK the 3G 8GB has remained the same price as it was before
> (£99 on £35/18 month contract, or free on £35/24 month contract),

Pardon me if this sounds like two bald men arguing over the merits of
different hair gels, but what am I missing here?

UK: £99 + (£35 * 18) = £729

US: $99 + ($69 * 24) = $1515, or £1066

Looks to me like the Iphone is cheaper over here than over there. The $69 is
the cheapest plan listed here:

http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-pho...phone-info.jsp

and doesn't even include text messages. I would be interested to know how
much a month you were basing your comparison on, and where you got it from.

Also, US taxes aren't just sales tax, there are a raft of others to cover
911 service, "Regulatory Cost Recovery Charge", "Federal Universal Service
Charge", etc.

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"alexd" <troffasky@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:4785009.ERbkFSEjSb@ale.cx...
> SimonC wrote:
>
>> Nevertheless, there is still a substantial discrepancy between the US and
>> UK> iPhone prices. In the US the 3G 8GB was dropped in price (from $199
>> to $99) with the introduction of the new 3GS,
>>
>> Here in the UK the 3G 8GB has remained the same price as it was before
>> (£99 on £35/18 month contract, or free on £35/24 month contract),
>
> Pardon me if this sounds like two bald men arguing over the merits of
> different hair gels, but what am I missing here?
>
> UK: £99 + (£35 * 18) = £729
>
> US: $99 + ($69 * 24) = $1515, or £1066
>
> Looks to me like the Iphone is cheaper over here than over there. The $69 is
> the cheapest plan listed here:

First of all, as I said in my post, this isn't about UK vs US prices for a
given product (or product + contract for that matter) - it's about the fact
that in the US the 3GS is the same price as the 3G was last year, while in the
UK/EU the 3GS is massively more expensive than the 3G was - and for no
apparently good reason.

Secondly, the UK and US mobile telephony markets are very different beasts, so
comparing total cost of ownership over the course of a contract is virtually
meaningless.