Apple iPhone for $250? It could cost a lot more, nearly $1000!

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Monday, 16 June 2008 11:56

Your IT - Mobility

MacRumors discovered that Vodafone Italy has already published prices for the pre-paid iPhone 3G.

The prices are €499 for an 8GB iPhone 3G and €569 for a 16GB iPhone 3G.

That’s approx US $772 or AUD $823 for the 8GB iPhone, and approx US $880 or AUD $938!

So much for an iPhone at AUD $250.

A couple of MacRumors site readers note a 20% sales tax in Italy, and while ours in Austalia is only 10% we're still talking hundreds of dollars more for a pre-paid iPhone than one on contract.

Of course we don’t what Australian prices will be, but could they truly be that different?

We also still don’t know what Telstra or 3 Mobile will do in regards to selling the iPhone 3G. There’s still a chance they will make surprise announcements close to July 11.

We can also safely assume that the MacTalk.com.au announcements of a few weeks ago that the iPhone 3G would work on any network, without special unlocking software, are wrong, as Vodafone claims the pre-paid iPhone 3G will still be locked to its network.

Although how long will that locking process be for? Vodafone does allow any Vodafone-branded phones purchased in Australia to be unlocked at www.vodafone.com.au/unlock.

Could the iPhone 3G be unlockable sooner than we might expect, especially if you’ve paid nearly $1000 to secure your own?

News.com.au suggests the iPhone 3G plans in Australia could start “with a $49 cap and additional monthly data plans of between $5 and $15”... but with Apple, it’s hard to know anything.

July 11 can’t come soon enough to get all of these questions answered. 26 more sleeps to go!