Well Vodafone have now announced their pricing for the new iPhone 4 handset and contracts. It would appear that the original leaked pricing structures were way off mark. We have updated our iPhone 4 price comparison post to reflect the confirmed pricing. The iPhone 4 handset will cost £219 and there will be 18 and [...]
Vodafone iPhone 4 pricing confirmed
The iPhone 4 handset will cost £219 and there will be 18 and 24 month contracts. The 18 month contract will cost £30 per month with 75 minutes of calls, 250 text messages, and 1Gb of data. Although this works out at £10 more than the equivalent O2 contract with less calls and texts it does offer double the data. If you do go over the O2 500Mb limit just once then the Vodafone contract becomes cheaper.
It is interesting that when the wireless carriers created the 3G networks there was no mention of data, it was all about Video Calling. Now I had one of the early 3G Motorola V3 flip phones and I used video calling once. And then it failed. But that was way back in time, and things [...]
FaceTime: Video Calls reborn
But that was way back in time, and things have changed since then. Video Calling which was the big selling point of upgrading to 3G died a death and was replaced by WAP and Mobile Internet. So why has Apple re-introduced video calling in the guise of Face Time?
Well some of the social media and new generation communications platforms have done very well with text, voice, and video messaging. So maybe it is time for mobile video calling to make a comeback. As far as bandwidth is concerned there shouldn’t be a problem (unless you are in San Francisco and your name is Steve Jobs at WWDC) and of course I think that is will be great for families and friends who are apart.
Each time Apple releases a new iPhone I ask myself is buying it on contract the wise thing to do? If you are in the USA you have no choice it is AT&T signing your life away for 2 years: End Of! It used to be like that in the UK too, but with the [...]
iPhone 4 price comparisons
Each time Apple releases a new iPhone I ask myself is buying it on contract the wise thing to do? If you are in the USA you have no choice it is AT&T signing your life away for 2 years: End Of!
It used to be like that in the UK too, but with the iPhone 3GS PAYG was introduced and that changed the game. Still on O2 and the iPhone was locked to the O2 network. But then O2 lost its monopoly and other carriers got in on the act. The result is that with the launch of the iPhone 4 we will have 4 carriers available and the iPhone will be available both on contract and SIM free.
So with all these options available what is the best way to own an iPhone 4? Read on to find out…
In a surprising turn of events we have calculated that the total cost of ownership of an iPhone 4 is far cheaper in the UK than it is in the USA. Although Orange are the only UK Carrier to have currently published their pricing it is reasonable to assume that O2, Vodafone and 3 will [...]
iPhone 4 TCO Cheaper in the UK!
So if you want a new 16Gb iPhone 4 with no existing contract it will cost you £169 from Orange on a 24 month contract. From AT&T it will cost $199+tax = $211.94 (approx £143) so it is £26 or so cheaper in the USA. But here is the real cost… the airtime. For Orange the cheapest airtime contract is £30 a month ($44) from AT&T it is $70+tax = $74.55 (£50.32) a difference of $30 (£20.32) a month.
So adding all this up together it looks like it would cost $2,001 (£1,355) to own an iPhone 4 in the US for 2 years, and just £889 ($1,312) in the UK a saving of £466 or $689.
On the assumption that in 12 months time you will be wanting to upgrade to the latest iPhone 5 )or whatever) you have more options in the UK. Again with Orange you can get the same iPhone 4 on an 18 month contract costing £229 and £35 a month for a total of £859 or $1286 making an even bigger saving of £496 or $715.
