As well you know, we (like pretty much everyone else going) are kind of excited about the new iPhone 3G S. The only problem so far has been the scant updates from O2 about the updated Apple phone’s release.
It's nice to finally have some details on release.
Fortunately enough, O2 has posted a block on its forum that tells us just about everything it was we wanted to know about the iPhone 3G S in Ireland, most importantly, we now know just how much it’s going to set you back if you want to pick one up. If you’re on bill pay, you can expect the 16GB model to hit you for €199 or the 32GB model to set you back €299. Both seem to be quite reasonable.
The real complaints will come from non-bill pay customers, who can expect to take a bit more damage over it. To pick up an iPhone on Speakeasy you’ll be looking at the princely sum of €519, which sounds an awful lot like gouging, but who are we to complain – Speakeasy customers don’t really have any other options… except maybe switching to bill pay.
You can read about all the details of the iPhone launch on the main 02 Ireland page for it here.
Alternatively, there are some more details in this posting on the O2 forum, including the fact that tethering won’t be supported in Ireland at launch. There’s a part of me that wonders if there just hasn’t been a charge finalised in there somehow… You can read the O2 posting about the iPhone, here.
Naturally all this is only really interesting if you’re willing to put up with the disparity between pricing in Ireland and the UK, which casts O2 Ireland in a decidedly negative light. Indeed, it’s only worse when you look at it with currency converter in hand – you
begin to see a pricing arrangement that looks almost designed to cause offense. I know I’ve said before that I love charts, graphs and metrics, but I lack the capacity to do one up in a hurry. Suffice it to say that for £34.26 in the UK you’ll get a package that bears little to what you get for €40. You have to wonder, why £32.26, it seems such an odd price.
Ah... there's a bit of similarity after all.
The biggest difference is that in Ireland your €40 gets you unlimited texts and calls to O2 (which is alright if you happen to be part of some kind of strange O2 exclusive cult) and a 1GB per month data setup. The issue people are having is that in the UK your €40 (let’s call a spade a spade here, shall we?) nets you 600 free minutes, 500 free texts and unlimited data.
I don’t normally jump on the “rip off Ireland” bandwagon, but there are times when I can feel that sentiment whole heartedly.
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