A Global Pain: iPhone 3G Prices Around The World

Also, check out A Who's Who Guide To The First In Line For The iPhone 3G

At June 9th's WWDC, Steve Jobs said Apple had 5 goals in mind when creating the iPhone 3G.

1. 3G
2. Enterprise Support
3. Third Party Applications
4. More Countries
5. More Affordable

We got 3G. We got enterprise support. We definitely got third party applications.

And yes - the iPhone is going to be available in 70 countries...

But is it really more affordable? We gathered prices from service providers around the globe and converted them all to US dollars so you can have an easy face-to-face comparison.

You'll see the price of the actual iPhone 3G device, the prices and features of various plans, and the overall cost over the 2 year contract (and in Canada's case, 3 year). 

You be the judge: is the iPhone more affordable? (Hint: No.)

Country: USA

Carrier: AT&T

iPhone 3G Price

• $199 (8GB) $299 (16GB) if you're eligible for upgrade / a new AT&T customer
• $399 (8GB) $499 (16GB) if you're "upgrading early"

Individual Plans

Family Plans

Text Messages

Overall

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Country: Canada

Carrier: Rogers Wireless

iPhone 3G Price:

• $199 (8GB) and $299 (16 GB) with a 3 year contract

Rogers Wireless' iPhone 3G Pricing Plans:

Overall

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Country: Sweden

Carrier: TeliaSonera

iPhone 3G Price:

• Varies with plan. Data available only for 16GB model. See below.

TeliaSonera's iPhone 3G Pricing Plan:

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Country: England

Carrier: O2

iPhone 3G Price:

• Varies with plan. See below.

O2's iPhone 3G Pricing Plan:

Overall:

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Country: Holland

Carrier: T-Mobile

iPhone 3G Prices:

• Vary with plans. See below.

T-Mobile's iPhone 3G Pricing Plans:

Overall:

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Hong Kong

Carrier: Hutchison Global Communications

iPhone 3G Prices:

• Vary with plans. See below.

Hutchison's iPhone 3G Pricing:

Overall:

Yeah, the iPhone'll cost you a pretty penny - no matter where you live.

As you might've noticed, the luckiest people are those residing in Hong Kong and Macau - whose most expensive plan runs US $1,554 over two years with a 16GB iPhone 3G included.

Keep in mind that you'll also be dropping cash while shopping in the App Store - you know you won't be able to deny Super Monkey Ball.

In closing, I'd like to point out the gap between the cheapest and the most expensive iPhone carriers - Hutchison Global Communications (Hong Kong & Macau) and TeliaSonera (Sweden).

While Hutchison's most expensive plan would run you US $1,554...TeliaSonera's equivalent plan would be a whopping $4,356. A difference of $2,802. We're talking cell phones here - but it feels like we're talking cars.

And for all the people protesting Rogers' prices, just take a look at Sweden. They're paying more in 2 years than you are in 3. (But yes, the fact remains that Rogers' prices and plan details are quite ridiculous).   

Comments

[Jonathan]

Someone's left out Australia...

You'd think that with such a strong demand over here, that Optus would design plans that at LEAST gave the option for unlimited data, even if it was EDGE-only! Optus had better be prepared to deal with the wrath that is a bunch of angry customers with very expensive phone bills. (Or at least offer some kind of built-in regulatory measures.)

[Phillip Quinlan]

Add New Zealands rediculous prices here:
http://www.vodafone.co.nz/iphone/plans.jsp

Crazy am I right?
Most expensive in the WORLD!

[Leonardo]

Hey guys, I'm looking forward the iPhone here in Brazil.
I saw the prices in New Zealands... God, it sucks, too expansive but I'm still thinking that here will be more than there.
Guys, everything here is expansive. "Claro" is going to bring the iPhone here in Brazil and in some sites I can see an iPhone like R$2.000,00(like Us$1.250,00)
I don't know if it's true but unfortunately I think I will not have enough money to buy. An 8GB iPod touch here is like R$1.100(like Us$687,50) it's more than sucks... =(