The Real Cost of the IPhone 3G
The biggest news about the new 3G iPhone is the price. The new case, the 3G and the GPS are great, but they’re features only a nerd could love. That $199 price point, though? It makes Apple’s plan to sell 10 million iPhones by the end of 2008 look like, well, selling 22 million iPods every three months. Seriously. Who will buy an iPod and a phone when they can have both, for less?
Of course, $199 isn’t the real price, from either side. You, the customer, will also have two years worth of monthly payments to the evil telco of your choice. So far, the only carrier which has revealed its full pricing structure is the UK’s O2 (AT&T has only said that it is increasing the unlimited data plans from $20 to $30 per month). So, in the UK, the cheapest you’ll manage is £99 ($194) for the 8GB handset, plus 18 months x £30 ($59) equals £639 ($1250).
