China Unicom Offering Free iPhone 4S On Contract

Smart phones are cheap to operate in Finland

When you sign up for a two yr contract for an i phone 4s here in Finland,
you are not bound to a minutes program or a data program. You can use the wi-fi feature to connect to the internet and pay for each phone call and text message. Or as an other example, 900 minutes, unlimited internet useage and 500 text messages on the 16gb model is only 36.90 euros per month. or
100 minutes for 27 euro's per month. You are getting ripped off royally in the good ol USA. And the carrier does subsidize the price on the phone to bring the cost down here.

>> costing as little as 286 yuan ($45) a month.

What's cheap about $45/month over a 24 month period. Maybe I'm missing something.

i got my iPhone 4S in Germany for 1€ on a 24€ plan as well. not sure how they make the money back but i dont mind it ^^

bushido said:

i got my iPhone 4S in Germany for 1€ on a 24€ plan as well. not sure how they make the money back but i dont mind it ^^

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So much for the theory, everything is cheaper in the USA.

In the UK you can get an iPhone 4S 16GB free for around £45 per month (2 year contract) with the minutes ranging from 1200 (O2/Orange/T-Mobile/Vodafone) to around 3000 (Tesco).

£45 = $69 (but remember UK as 20% VAT, so before VAT it's $57.80)

Sim Free (ie if you purchased the phone) you would pay £26 for the same minutes from O2/Orange/T-Mobile (and could get more minutes from some other suppliers), For example Tesco and Giff Gaff both use the O2 network but offer better minutes/data

for a 2 year contract the difference between Supplied and Sim Free can be £450, given apple sell the phone for £499, the subsidy is on the order of £50 over 2 years (which the carriers probably make back because of other limitations on tarrifs)

For reference Giff Gaff will give 1500 minutes for £25, which means the difference is £480 and you get more minutes (and no contract)

To Clarify, just using O2/T-Mobile/Orange/Vodafone (on contract) against Giff Gaff (no contract) as an example

on contract 24 months x £45 = £1080 (no handset cost)
no contract 24 months x £25 = £600 + £499 handset = £1099 (but no contract and more minutes)

PJWilkin said:

In the UK you can get an iPhone 4S 16GB free for around £45 per month (2 year contract) with the minutes ranging from 1200 (O2/Orange/T-Mobile/Vodafone) to around 3000 (Tesco).

£45 = $69 (but remember UK as 20% VAT, so before VAT it's $57.80)

Sim Free (ie if you purchased the phone) you would pay £26 for the same minutes from O2/Orange/T-Mobile (and could get more minutes from some other suppliers), For example Tesco and Giff Gaff both use the O2 network but offer better minutes/data

for a 2 year contract the difference between Supplied and Sim Free can be £450, given apple sell the phone for £499, the subsidy is on the order of £50 over 2 years (which the carriers probably make back because of other limitations on tarrifs)

For reference Giff Gaff will give 1500 minutes for £25, which means the difference is £480 and you get more minutes (and no contract)

To Clarify, just using O2/T-Mobile/Orange/Vodafone (on contract) against Giff Gaff (no contract) as an example

on contract 24 months x £45 = £1080 (no handset cost)
no contract 24 months x £25 = £600 + £499 handset = £1099 (but no contract and more minutes)

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thats what i dont really understand about here

the handset from apple factory unlocked sells for 629 €
the handset factory unlocked for 1 € + 24 x 29 € is 696 € (after 2 years) BUT u get free text and data for two years so u basically paid 67 € for the iPhone 4S itself.

lets say apple takes the 629 € from the phone provider, that would mean that the phone company gives me unlimited text and data for 2,7 € a month over 2 years. how can our phone provider even afford selling it for 1 €

Somebody went through and -1d most of your posts! c'mon y'all... let's critically analyze and not just hate...

bushido said:

thats what i dont really understand about here

the handset from apple factory unlocked sells for 629 €
the handset factory unlocked for 1 € + 24 x 29 € is 696 € (after 2 years) BUT u get free text and data for two years so u basically paid 67 € for the iPhone 4S itself.

lets say apple takes the 629 € from the phone provider, that would mean that the phone company gives me unlimited text and data for 2,7 € a month over 2 years. how can our phone provider even afford selling it for 1 €

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The phone provider probably does not pay VAT for the phone itself, and may be able to bulk buy them (reducing costs), as such they make more money than 2,7 € per month

Chupa Chupa said:

Nope. Living in the U.S is the much better bargain. Just ask any member of Falun Gong.

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Thanks for the lesson in patriotism.

Obviously, I was referring to the deal on the iPhone, and not commenting on life in China.

Not having devoted sufficient study to the issue of life in China (not since my visit there in 1988), I don't feel qualified to comment. Obviously your knowledge is more extensive than mine, but this is discussion for PRSI.

We get a similar deal here in Japan. Free iPhone on a two-year contract, with monthly fees as low as 2,500 yen (about $35) for bare-bones data and voice service, or around $80 a month for "unlimited" data.

iPhone has been essentially free on contract in Japan since the 3G. The iPad and iPad 2 have also both been free on contract for the 16 Gig model.

This was the sticking point for the China Unicom deal and why it took so long to develop.

This will result in HUGE sales in China. They will become the number one market in less than a year. The demand will bury Apple's manufacturing capacity. Hurry up with that expansion Foxconn.

If you are an app developer with an English only app, port it now. Sales of the ported version will dwarf your English language sales....

The iPhone is also free for many European customers.

Only American customers get vastly ripped off by cell phone companies and pay the highest prices in the world, except for some exotic places.

Competition clearly does not work in the US with cell phone companies.

The only explanation is that the cell phone companies formed an illegal cartel, do price fixing, and have found means and methods to camouflage this illegal practice from the authorities, and/or using loop holes.

(And, by the way, how would you really proof price fixing, except if the fixers were really dumb?)

In the US, you pay more for adding a text plan than a European pays for the whole phone plan.

Cell phone rates should be 50% lower to compare with what the rest of the world is paying.

Nostromo said:

The iPhone is also free for many European customers.

Only American customers get vastly ripped off by cell phone companies and pay the highest prices in the world, except for some exotic places.

Competition clearly does not work in the US.

Cell phone rates should be 50% lower to compare with what the rest of the world is paying.

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Competition works in most sectors, just not this particular one.

AustinIllini said:

Competition works in most sectors, just not this particular one.

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You quoted me before I did refining edits.

Of course, competition works actually better in the US for many products and services than in other places.

This is what puzzles me about telecommunications. In this sector it doesn't work.

The US is cursed with companies like Comcast: high prices, no service (got famous for the Comcast man falling asleep waiting for phone support through his own company)

US cable TV is outrageously expensive if you consider the fact that most channels are ad funded. (no problem paying for good programming like HBO).

Cell phones: bad, bad, bad - as discussed.

Internet providers: again the US has the highest rates. Here the situation is even worse than with cell phones. US customers pay up to 400% of what customers in other countries pay for high speed service. And, as we speak of "high speed": 10 Mbs is already called "blazing fast", while in Europe most people enjoy 50 Mbs for 25% of the US fees.

Like in Chicago in the 1930's, where crime gangs had their territories, internet providers have theirs in the 2010's. This almost non-existent competition makes prices screaming high.

This high price - low performance problem with US telecommunications is one serious risk for the US to compete with other countries. The flow of information is so important that I can't believe how passive the government is to unchain the telecommunications market. (on the contrary: the internet providers would love to charge even higher for "premium speeds", and slow down private individuals).

Telecommunications: this mess has to be fixed in this decade, or it'll weigh down the US economy.

thewitt said:

If you are an app developer with an English only app, port it now. Sales of the ported version will dwarf your English language sales....

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I have never seen an iPhone here that was not jailbroken and obtaining pirated apps. The Chinese have little moral obligation against pirating - you should see the amount of copied DVDs, games, and software here.

mat4020 said:

I have never seen an iPhone here that was not jailbroken and obtaining pirated apps. The Chinese have little moral obligation against pirating - you should see the amount of copied DVDs, games, and software here.

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I have 40 employees in Suzhou who run stock iPhones and iPads, but I understand your point.

This article is really misleading. Yes the iPhone may be free, but you have to sign a one to three year contract all of which you have to pre-pay 5880 RMB ($930 USD) which will be deducted from your phone bill on a month by month basis for 12, 24 or 36 months. So yeah, far from free.

Here is China Unicom's iPhone contract page for details, in Chinese though
http://iphone.10010.com/

That should make up for the slave labor like treatment.

Good for white collars whose phone bill can be reimbursed. They get iphone 4S for free.

Ok but....

So phones are cheaper in the UK......... Everything else is cheaper in the USA......

What you spend extra on your phone in the USA you save of petrol (gasoline) so what would you prefer...?

I'd rather not be spending $2.15 a litre on petrol than saving 50% or more on my phone.

Blitzspear

OllyW said:

It's been available free on contract in the UK since it was released. Different deals for different markets.

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Exactly, same here in Hong Kong.

TheJing said:

I wanna move back to China! Everything is so cheap there!

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Are you kidding me? When was the last time you were in China because EVERYTHING is more expensive there than in the US (including food, clothes, cars, electronics). The only material things cheaper are cigarettes.

in Canada the iPhone 4S is only $159 on a Telus contract ... works out to less than $4.50 per month

Nothing is free except for the grace of God.