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Zach Bass (a.k.a Ernie Varitimos) is Chief Bloviator of Investor in the Wilderness. He has 30 years experience as a Tech Maven, Investor and Consultant. Zach has been using Macs since their introduction in 1984, and investing in the markets just as long. His mission is to help guide all level of investors through the Apple Ecosphere and make sense of the markets. Zach's take on Apple, the markets, and life pursuits, will keep your mind tuned.

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Kiwis First in Line for 3G iPhone will Pay Deeply Down Under

July 10th, 2008 • Related • Filed Under
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Vodafone, New Zealand’s biggest mobile-phone operator, will start selling the 3G iPhone at 12.01 am Friday morning. That’s 8 am on Thursday (Jully 10) here on the east coast of the United States. Who will be the first Kiwi in the world to buy the much ballyhooed Apple product? Well it looks like a 22-year old student Jonny Gladwell, who camped out well in advance, will have the honors.

Unfortunately the Vodafone price plan will leave a sour taste in the mouth of Kiwis. They’ll be shelling out an incredible $250 per month for the 1 gigabyte plan. Ouch! With an exchange rate of about 75 cents on the US dollar, that works out to approximately $188 US per month! That’s nearly the cost of the 8 GB iPhone every month!  Even the minimum plan at $80 NZD/$60 USD is way over the top, way down under! It only includes a miniscule 250 MB data per month, that’s just a few YouTube videos!

That’s a helluva price tag for a student. I hope Jonny has either a good job, or very generous parents. Apparently the quality of Life is pretty good in the land of Kiwi. Purchasing a 3G iPhone down under is a hefty price to pay to keep it up.

 

More on this topic (What's this?)
iPhone = Tickle Me Elmo? (The Curious Investor, 7/13/08)
Apple’s 3G iPhone Will Be Even More Successful (The Razor's Edge, 7/9/08)
AT&T Sells Too Many iPhones (Telecom Ramblings, 10/22/08)
Weekend Linkfest (World Beta - Engineering Targete..., 7/11/08)
Read more on IPhone, Vodafone AirTouch Public Limited Company at Wikinvest

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    Here in Portugal it's 250MB FOR ALL PLANS!

    Although the plans aren't that much expensive, configuring the plans with the same MB of data and different minutes/sms makes me realize:

    - Vodafone doesn't get the iPhone as a handheld computer that does phone but thinks it's a cellphone with Internet;

    - Vodafone is resisting the wave of change from voice centric networks to data/IP centric networks;

    - This puts the iPhone user in a straitjacket forcing him to always walk on egg shells and be extremely careful with the mileage and to be strapped at home or to a Wi-Fi hotspot to download anything significant [since the only cell carrier that has Wi-Fi hotspots doesn't carry the iPhone and Vodafone doesn't, there you have it]. And it stops the user from using Google Maps and avoid net accessing apps from the App Store;

    - Vodafone is greedy, it knows it'll be easy for any user - more so the ones that are more computing challenged - to spend another at least 250MB which will make for an extra €15/month or more!

    All in all, I'm sure this was NOT what Steve Jobs had in mind for the iPhone.

    The iPhone concept and its success comes from having an internet accessing computer in one's pocket/hand - having it on a 250MB/month straitjacket is not what it's meant for!
 

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