The iPhone 4 is Available in Italy but the Price Is Embarrassingly High
From yesterday morning Apple’s new iPhone 4 is finally available in Italy. The launch was accompanied by the usual queues of enthusiastic users who waited from Thursday night the opening of the Apple Stores eager to grab the new phone by the Cupertino company.
In Rome’s Apple Store the iPhone was already sold out at 11 in the morning after around 3000 units were already purchased. In Milan (Carugate) there have been reports of a fight breaking out because the supplies weren’t enough to satisfy the request from customers who had been queueing up for hours.
However, there seem to be resistances expressed by Italian buyers which are to be found, more than in the whole Antennagate issue, in the embarrassingly high price of the device.
The 16 GB model starts at 659 Euros, the equivalent of about $ 856, a price that’s far too high even for a country like Italy, where the circulation of iPhone among fanatics is something like 1.2 million units, with an average penetration of 1 every 50 inhabitants (Corriere Blog).
The alternative is buying the iPhone 4 at a way lower cost or even getting it for “free” taking advantage of the many different offers by phone carriers (3, Vodafone, Tim). The downside is the mandatory subscription plan with questionable economic viability in the medium term.
Probably the best solution for those unwilling to spend all that money at once is to buy an unlocked iPhone in an Apple store taking advantage of financing solution.
However, we’ll wait for more in-depth analysis of sales numbers in order to evaluate what will happen in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!
Belgium has about the same prizes. €639 for the 16GB and €749 for the 32GB. We do not even have the chance to have it cheaper with a supscription. That’s even worse in my opinion.
That is nothing! In Romania was around 2000€ ! http://sp2.ro/4de44a
iPhone 3gs unlocked is about 900€ ;)
How about that? :D
That’s crazy!
What’s the news in this? The phone costs about the same here in India (Talking about 3Gs here). Outside of US, the phone is sold without any discount and added with the import duty, the price is simply unafordable =/
I heard the best place to get an unlocked iPhone in Europe is either the UK or Switzerland (which isn’t too far from Italy, depending if you live in the north or south :p), because those countries have the lowest prices.
Same here in Croatia (but for 3gs for now with very low availability)
Haha, I had to pay 7495 Swedish Kronor here in Sweden for my 32 GB. That’s a locked one. That’s 1040 $ or 796 €. Well, my 3GS was getting old so I had to buy it.
iPhone have got errors in antenna reception. Dont buy them!
It DID it doesn’t any more with the bumper cases and the 4.0.1 and 4.1 software update.
Here in Finland 16GB iphone 4 costs 576-600 euros and 32GB 696-720 euros + subscription plan.
http://www.sonera.fi/puhelin+ja+liittyma/iphone+hinnat
iPhone 4 hasn`t yet released here in Egypt but a brand new iPhone 3G costs 780$ which equals 4.500 Egyptian Pounds so i wonder how much iPhone 4 will cost !!!
iPhone 4 was released in Egypt . (16 GB) 7,900 Egyptian pounds (32 GB) 9,900 Egyptian pounds
Gabri who told you iphone 4 released in Egypt
it still not there yet.. how did u know the prices?
In Pakistan, it’s about Rupees. 110,000 ~ 1300$
It’s very high!
Nop in Islamabad ( Pakistan’s Capital ) it’s about 65k-7k ~ 800$-900$
wtf….
India hasn’t got it yet
like officially
its like $1000′s factory unlocked and to make your SIM micro-compatible in size.
In Indonesia it cost $1500….CRAZY
Strangely, despite a high VAT of 21%, in Ireland 16GB model only costs €599 on Apple website.
It’s called tariffs people… talk to your governments, embrace free trade.
How did you make these “headline photo” and “more links” in WordPress? It’s amazing!
You can get it on all major carriers on a 24 month contract for around £30/month (depending on the contract the phone is either free or around £100. Why on earth would you want to pay the unsubsidised price? This works out less, including the call, data and future upgrade offers you get with the contract. I have never heard of anyone paying full price for one (and I know a fair number of iphone users here in the UK)
…of course the price is embarassingly high… if we started NOT buying stuff at such prices -and not making hours long telephone calls just to say “ciao bella”, maybe the phone companies would reconsider the rates (I am a happy Mac and iPod owner so I am not an anti-Apple taliban guy :D).
is the same old story in italy, people complains about high fares, high prices and so on but no one ever do something to change this situation: NOT BUYING should be a strong signal.
cheers
Stefano
A good price comparison infographic by country:
http://flic.kr/p/8npshV (via mackozer.pl)
Okay, so even though the price is embarrassingly high, people still buy a faulty phone.. how about that Apple marketing huh? :)
Hi, in Iran it is about 1600$ ! it is too high!
i am going to USA next month , if i buy an iphone 4 from NYC , is it able to use it in Iran? via simcard i mean.
US iphones are locked to AT&T. You won’t be able to use it with another sim card. Buy it from British Apple store, they sell them unlocked for £500 (16GB)
yes you can use it in Iran just you have to go to shop to make it small the simcard
Apple’s marketing was extremelly good. Well, it was good enough to determine people buy a faulty phone. However, i believe that the price is a little bit too high for the most types of budgets, including mine. I am really looking forward to find better technology and better prices at Apple. Till now, nothing.
If you want better technology and better prices then Apple isn’t the company for you!
I am writing this on my old iBook G4, which I bought for about £800 quite a few years ago. When I went back for software a few weeks after buying the very underpowered and overpriced computer I was informed by a “Genius” that my brand spanking new laptop was now out of date.
Since then I’ve bought a netbook and a desktop all in one touch screen thing. Netbook is Packard Bell and desktop is Hewlett Packard, both have more power than this iBook and both cost less that the iBook! Incidentally, the netbook as a better battery than the iBook’s ever was as well.
If you want a good product at a fair price then I’m afraid you’re much better off buying a PC now… never thought I’d be saying that when I bought the iBook! After my experience with Apple, the iPhone would have to be very cheap to convience me to buy one.
In Spain, under a contract of 18 months and a minimum of 35 € / month of telephone bill, the iPhone costs between 200 and 250 euros.
In India the iphone 3gs was launched for around $1000 & i think iphone 4 will be launched more then $1500. Dont understand why such big difference in prices
In turkey it just launched for 1300 Euros :| crazy…
Went to Cellcom in Israel yesterday. Cost is around $2500 for 36 months. 36months!! Of that $2500, $1000 APX is for the phone only. That’s with a 1gb data plan. Or you can get the phone for $1300 by one of those cell phone stores, which get theirs from some country in europe. Their all thieves in my opinion. Staying with 3GS. I want to see what gingerbread 3.0 has to offer. I’m still waiting for a 720p screen with 10mp still/1080p video with tegra 2 inside. I think Android isn’t mature enough to make the jump.
hi,
i just want to know where i can buy here in europe the unlocked iphone4 ????????
here in slovenija we are only one country i think in the world that dont have in apple store the iphone can you imagine ????
and of course if you have a apple like me i mean the macbook ,imac than the service is no here you need to go in austria or italy because they dont know how to open a apple ……..
crazy .
regards
Throughout this grand design of things you secure an A+ for effort and hard work. Where you lost me was in your details. You know, they say, details make or break the argument.. And it couldn’t be more correct here. Having said that, allow me tell you just what exactly did deliver the results. The writing can be very engaging and this is possibly the reason why I am taking the effort in order to opine. I do not really make it a regular habit of doing that. Second, although I can certainly see a leaps in reason you make, I am not necessarily certain of how you appear to unite your points which help to make the conclusion. For the moment I will yield to your position however trust in the future you link the facts better.
By the time such phones reach Africa,especially ghana, their standards might have been reduced.The price will not also changed.WHAT A PITY…