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So if you take off the 19% VAT in Germany you are left with a US$467 price, there is no reason to be that much more that in the US

There's a special fee on iPodish devices that goes to the performing rights organisation. Then, warranty expenses will be higher because customer protection is much better in the EU ( = more costly from the manufacturer's point of view).
 
Just checked the Apple.de website and you in fact can purchase the iPhone from Apple. Just a heads up n this mate!

no it didn't think that but i thought about that there isn't any announcement about if the wifi will be free.
 
Uhm, no contract infos? They must be bad or so good that they have to be secret. :D

Another point of interest here is the SIM unlocking. You have the right by law to get your cell phone unlocked after a 2 years contract for free, if not, you´ll get refund or special conditions for upgrading.
 
Ugh, that website is ugly.
What's with all the pink text and this blurry glove pointer?

They get to sell the most beautiful cell phone and have absolutely no taste in design their site. Simply awful.

That's the "Deutsche Telekom" for ya. Everything is in that pink shade (I think they got the copyright on it), and their stores are called T-Spot (T-Punkt). I would hate walking out of a store called G-Spot with one of those Pink plastic bags. Errr, I mean T-Spot :D

Seriiously though, they're expensie and have bad coverage and bad customer service. I'm on prepaid right now, it's cheaper than normal contracts and I can ditch them whenever I please to go to another carrier or travel for half a few months.

Can I get an iPhone and not register it for a tariff like it is with ATT in the US? I'd like to get one, unlock it and use my prepaid SIM card.
 
Or maybe the dollar is artificially deflated for various reasons. I know it's not the Euro, but I assure you I can get more with the pound in the US and in the UK than I could with the dollar.

You can't equate it like that, stuff only looks so cheap in the US compared to Europe right now because the dollar is so weak - and weakening further due to the Fed rate cut of 9.5% yesterday. Five years ago when there was 0.85 euro to the dollar it was the other way around.

One could argue that Apple pricing should perhaps reflect the current rate a little more but they're protecting themselves against fluctuation back in favour of the dollar in the year ahead because they'll never change their prices based on rate changes unless there's a major model upgrade where they can hide such a change.

In fact the real way to look at it is what is one dollar worth in terms of cost of living for a person in the US and what's one euro/£ worth for you/me in Europe.

That being said it does mean that you can grab a bargain right now if you happen to be going to, or know someone visiting the US.
 
Thats nice, but...

Why is it that Europe is now able to use the iphone, but I can't even though I live in the US? I live in Montana, and there is no AT&T service out here. :mad:
 
nnnnnn,looks like nothing special in the Europe market.We have to see when the 1th million iPhone is sold for a further discussion

Last week, buddy, where were you? :)
Cause, yeah, multi-touch is definitely nothing special. Nobody likes to have full-featured internet in their pocket, definitely not maps, and oh, I don't like being able to listen to my music, movies, tv shows, talk long distance to folks, take picture, and send and receive e-mails from one tiny device, all while running Mac OS X Leopard.
 
Why is it that Europe is now able to use the iphone, but I can't even though I live in the US? I live in Montana, and there is no AT&T service out here. :mad:

You could complain or you could open a franchise... One gets you the iPhone, one doesn't...
 
You're just kidding. No one will spend 3000 NIS on a gadget over here. All that people you see with expensive Noika get is subsidized.

people already spend around 2000NIS for SIMPLE phones, not even smartphones.

Israel loves gadgets, I'm sure it'll be a huge success. Besides, who said the iPhone won't be subsidized as well? It appears that apple is willing to take the approach of different marketing to different markets.
 
One could argue that Apple pricing should perhaps reflect the current rate a little more but they're protecting themselves against fluctuation back in favour of the dollar in the year ahead because they'll never change their prices based on rate changes unless there's a major model upgrade where they can hide such a change.

Very true.

Also, Apple is hardly the only worldwide company that charges the same in dollars as they do in Euros. For example, as I recall, Sony (PS3) and Microsoft (XBox) both charged the same in USD and € at least at product launch.
 
I keep hearing about Canada, and I doubt it. I mean it's been "known" for sometime now via the rumour mill that T-Mobile Germany, o2 UK, France, etc would be announced. We've heard nadda about Canada. I don't think it's Apple, it's likely that they're unable to strike the sweet deals with mobile carriers which they've been able to do in the States and some EU countries.

For Canadian carriers, you have to remember a couple of things:
There is exactly ONE company - Rogers - which owns infrastructure capable of servicing a GSM phone coast to coast. It runs two networks - Rogers Wireless, and Fido.

Rogers is not one of the "incumbent" utilities, so it is under no obligation to share its infrastructure with any of its competitors.

All of the other networks operate on CDMA networks.

So basically, Apple has 4 choinces:
1) Come up with an agreement to bring the iPhone to Canada on one of the Rogers networks.

2) Convince one of the other 2 national carriers to make the huge investment it would take to establish a second nation-wide GSM network.

3) Go it alone and sell the iPhone in Canada without a network partner.

4) Wait until it has no choice but to develop a CDMA phone to accommodate other, larger markets which haven't adopted GSM, and then release in Canada after that.

Given Roger's current price scheme for data plans, I don't think option (1) is going to move too fast.

Option (2) is totally out of the realm of possibility.

Option (3) might be nice, but I doubt it could happen.

That leaves option (4). So I'd guess no official release of iPhones in Canada for quite a while yet.
 
Well i think Apple wil do something else with Belgium and release without a contract but, i think apple will have a contract with let's proximus or base or mobistar for a good iphone contract that people at own will can get if they have an iphone. i think so because in my apple shop in Antwerp there's a small poster saying: iphone expected December 2007

Someone mentioned the possibility of Apple and the iPhone carrier renting the iPhone in Belgium. This would get around the contract / unlocking issues.
 
Someone mentioned the possibility of Apple and the iPhone carrier renting the iPhone in Belgium. This would get around the contract / unlocking issues.

Renting, do you mean like for 6 months orso for a small amount of money?? wow that'll be strange, IMO
 
I am usually not a moaner (prove: got a SR MBP with the lower-third-yellow-cast issue and I am not moaning at all :) ) but I think Apple is trying to push out the EGPRS leftovers and Europeans are meant to help in getting rid of them.

Yes, € 399,- is not to bad – I can live with a approx. USD 50,- surcharge, but:

a) over here in Germany HSDPA is ubiquitous (I **** you not)
b) free or complimentary Wifi is (almost) unheard of (apparently mainly due to legal/responsibility issues) – true for coffee shops and the like as well as exploiting open connections

I am a recent switcher to the Mac-side and one of the things I truly admire(d) about Apple is that they include a feature only if performs/delivers 100%. EGPRS does not give me a decent internet surfing experience, it just doesn’t.

As others pointed out: We have no confirmation whether the German T-mobile hotspots will be available for no charge for iPhone users but even if they are: I have three Startbucks in 5min walking distance and T-mobile Wifi is broken on all three of them – last time I checked (and it was working) they charged ridiculously high amounts (order of magnitude: USD 15,- for 30min) so nobody is using it, nobody cares.

Maybe it’s my limited experience with Apple but it is sad to see that they too are just a we-get-it-right-on-the-second-or-third-try company.

My contract runs out in November and all the iPhone craziness made me seriously consider a mobile internet device. As much as I loathe the crappy user experience but I think I’ll have to learn to live with either the Samsung SGH i600 or the Nokia E61i… Damn! :mad:
 
Uk got the iPhone, Germany and France will follow soon... and Belgium is sandwiched in between those 3 countries and not getting anything, ow the pain, the pain :) But it least it will prevent me from throwing more money at apple gadgets when my current phone is working great...
ps. I think that after those 3 countries the Netherlands will get it next, just to rub it in our face ;-)

LOL. I got my fingers crossed! ;):D
 
According to 'webwereld', a Dutch site, a spokesman from T-mobile NL confirmed that they will deliver the iPhone in The Netherlands and Austria as well. However, T-mobile says they don't know when it will be available.
I doubt we'll get the current model in the Netherlands. The last provider to support EDGE is trying to get rid of it. All providers have invested enormous amounts of money in UMTS licenses and equipment. We'll probably have to wait for the 3G version.
 
You could complain or you could open a franchise... One gets you the iPhone, one doesn't...


The squeaky wheel gets the oil.

Although it is probably a good thing I can't get an iphone. It would be one more unnecessary gadget to waste my money on. I'm gonna go buy another lens for my camera instead!
 
so it seems November 9th is shaping up to be the the released date for all European countries getting the iPhone... would be nice if they announced Canada to receive the device on the same day... Christmas shopping season is quickly approaching... say it with me now... caaannnn - aaaaaaaa - dddaaaaaaaa.

not going to happen any time soon in canada
Jobs has too far to go with negotiations, because Canada has no unlimited data plans, and the data is so expensive that I pay less roaming in canada for data then canadians do on their home networks, no nationwide free long distance, calling the suburbs from vancouver is considered long distance.... even voicemail and caller ID costs extra. Rogers being the sole GSM provider doesnt have much incentive to change all of this (Fido is owned by Rogers), and therefore canadians get screwed as usual
 
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