Now that Steve Jobs no longer requires mobile carriers to hand over a chunk of their call revenue to Apple, the price of the brand spanking new 3G handset is literally plummeting, with T-Mobile in Germany to sell it for €1 (yes, that’s €1) as long as customers sign up for a €69 monthly contract.
And if you think this is cheap, you should check out the O2 UK price plan: it’s free! Well, as long as you sign up for the higher end of the monthly tariff.
To put this in perspective, the original iPhone cost us Irish €399 for the 6GB version when it was released a mere three months ago on 14 March.
Meanwhile, AT&T in the US is still choosing to charge its customers a chunk of change, setting the new 3G handset at US$199. Finally Ireland is not one of the most expensive places to go shopping for an iPhone upfront with a €49 price tag but it will cost us €100 a month to maintain. Ouch.
And if you’re salivating at the thoughts of hacking your shiny new iPhone when it comes out next month, it may prove to be an expensive exercise, at least if you’re in the US.
Getting your iPhone through AT&T and subsequently cancelling the contract will result in a new stipulation: give back your iPhone, and then and only then, will your contract be cancelled.
So if you want to jailbreak it and go with another carrier, you will still have to keep paying your AT&T monthly contract.
By Marie Boran
