[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":257},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog:2007:true-cost-of-the-iphone":3,"blogMore-Technology":156,"comments-true-cost-of-the-iphone":169},{"_path":4,"_dir":5,"_draft":6,"_partial":6,"_locale":7,"title":8,"description":9,"date":10,"category":11,"tags":12,"excerpt":15,"body":34,"_type":147,"_id":148,"_source":149,"_file":150,"_stem":151,"_extension":152,"url":153,"wordCount":154,"minutes":143,"commentCount":155},"/blog/2007/true-cost-of-the-iphone","2007",false,"en","True cost of the iPhone","So you like the iPhone and think you’ll buy one?","2007-01-10T12:25:55+00:00","Technology",[13,14],"Apple","iPhone",{"type":16,"children":17},"root",[18,25],{"type":19,"tag":20,"props":21,"children":22},"element","p",{},[23],{"type":24,"value":9},"text",{"type":19,"tag":20,"props":26,"children":27},{},[28,30,32],{"type":24,"value":29},"If you live in the USA then thanks to Cingular’s exclusive multi-year deal if you want an iPhone and go with their ",{"type":24,"value":31},"cheapest voice-only plan",{"type":24,"value":33}," at $39.99 a month (which you have to pay for 24 months) you can expect your iPhone to cost you (assuming you can get out of your current contract without penalty):",{"type":16,"children":35,"toc":141},[36,40,47,60,65,70,75,87,93,98,103,108,113,118,132],{"type":19,"tag":20,"props":37,"children":38},{},[39],{"type":24,"value":9},{"type":19,"tag":41,"props":42,"children":44},"h2",{"id":43},"in-the-usa",[45],{"type":24,"value":46},"In the USA…",{"type":19,"tag":20,"props":48,"children":49},{},[50,51,59],{"type":24,"value":29},{"type":19,"tag":52,"props":53,"children":57},"a",{"href":54,"rel":55},"https://www.cingular.com/cell-phone-service/cell-phone-plans/individual-cell-phone-plans.jsp",[56],"nofollow",[58],{"type":24,"value":31},{"type":24,"value":33},{"type":19,"tag":20,"props":61,"children":62},{},[63],{"type":24,"value":64},"4GB: $499 + $959 = $1,458",{"type":19,"tag":20,"props":66,"children":67},{},[68],{"type":24,"value":69},"8GB: $599 + $959 = $1,558",{"type":19,"tag":20,"props":71,"children":72},{},[73],{"type":24,"value":74},"Being that Cingular normally discount smartphones by around $150 when you take a contract I guess Apple could end up selling them for $599 and $699 once they are out of the Cingular deal. Hopefully this \"exclusive deal\" leaves the door open for Apple to sell them direct without a plan for a slightly higher price.",{"type":19,"tag":20,"props":76,"children":77},{},[78,85],{"type":19,"tag":52,"props":79,"children":82},{"href":80,"rel":81},"https://www.myilife.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=63",[56],[83],{"type":24,"value":84},"This guy",{"type":24,"value":86}," believes the text, voicemail and Internet supplements needed push the monthly price up by another $35 a month!",{"type":19,"tag":41,"props":88,"children":90},{"id":89},"europe",[91],{"type":24,"value":92},"Europe…",{"type":19,"tag":20,"props":94,"children":95},{},[96],{"type":24,"value":97},"When Apple come to Europe signing such an exclusive deal could severely hamper adoption and gaining that elusive 1% worldwide market share. Europe is a massive patchwork of operators and people won’t want to switch and lose their number, especially the sort of heavy-use/business people they’re aiming for.",{"type":19,"tag":20,"props":99,"children":100},{},[101],{"type":24,"value":102},"Perhaps we just have it cheaper in Europe for once?",{"type":19,"tag":20,"props":104,"children":105},{},[106],{"type":24,"value":107},"My current plan costs around $30 a month and includes 50 free minutes, 50 free texts and gives a whopping $350 discount off a HTC TyTN smartphone when you take out an 18 month contract. On that basis the price would be:",{"type":19,"tag":20,"props":109,"children":110},{},[111],{"type":24,"value":112},"$481 + $360 = $841",{"type":19,"tag":20,"props":114,"children":115},{},[116],{"type":24,"value":117},"The user interface can’t touch the iPhone and it has less storage (for now, thanks to the microSD slot) but it is also UTMS/3G, can load third party apps, has instant messaging and also can connect to a Bluetooth GPS device to interact with third-party mapping software. I can also change the battery when things go bad if needed and it runs Skype. The second camera (the one on the front) means I can video-call.",{"type":19,"tag":20,"props":119,"children":120},{},[121,123,130],{"type":24,"value":122},"Nice try Apple but I’ll wait for the 3G iPhone. Why not add some of ",{"type":19,"tag":52,"props":124,"children":127},{"href":125,"rel":126},"https://www.steffennork.de/2007/01/top-10-most-useless-apple-iphone.html",[56],[128],{"type":24,"value":129},"these fun features",{"type":24,"value":131}," in the mean-time ;-)",{"type":19,"tag":20,"props":133,"children":134},{},[135],{"type":19,"tag":136,"props":137,"children":138},"em",{},[139],{"type":24,"value":140},"[)amien",{"title":142,"searchDepth":143,"depth":143,"links":144},"",2,[145,146],{"id":43,"depth":143,"text":46},{"id":89,"depth":143,"text":92},"markdown","content:blog:2007:true-cost-of-the-iphone.md","content","blog/2007/true-cost-of-the-iphone.md","blog/2007/true-cost-of-the-iphone","md","/blog/2007/true-cost-of-the-iphone/",361,3,[157,161,165],{"title":158,"date":159,"url":160},"VTX5000: Part 4 - Communications ","2026-05-06T10:19:24.727Z","/blog/2026/vtx5000-part-4-comms-routines/",{"title":162,"date":163,"url":164},"VTX5000: Part 3 - Software ROM","2026-04-15T23:00:00.000Z","/blog/2026/vtx5000-part-3-software-rom/",{"title":166,"date":167,"url":168},"VTX5000: Part 2 - Hardware","2026-03-30T23:00:00.000Z","/blog/2026/prism-vtx5000-part-2/",[170,203,234],{"_path":171,"_dir":172,"_draft":6,"_partial":6,"_locale":7,"title":173,"description":142,"id":174,"name":175,"date":176,"body":177,"_type":147,"_id":200,"_source":149,"_file":201,"_stem":202,"_extension":152},"/comments/true-cost-of-the-iphone/1783","true-cost-of-the-iphone","1783",1783,"Lee Wallace","2007-01-11T11:00:23",{"type":16,"children":178,"toc":198},[179,188,193],{"type":19,"tag":180,"props":181,"children":182},"blockquote",{},[183],{"type":19,"tag":20,"props":184,"children":185},{},[186],{"type":24,"value":187},"Nice try Apple but I'll wait for the 2G iPhone",{"type":19,"tag":20,"props":189,"children":190},{},[191],{"type":24,"value":192},"Er, Don't you mean 3G iPhone ?",{"type":19,"tag":20,"props":194,"children":195},{},[196],{"type":24,"value":197},"Lee",{"title":142,"searchDepth":143,"depth":143,"links":199},[],"content:comments:true-cost-of-the-iphone:1783.md","comments/true-cost-of-the-iphone/1783.md","comments/true-cost-of-the-iphone/1783",{"_path":204,"_dir":172,"_draft":6,"_partial":6,"_locale":7,"title":205,"description":206,"id":207,"name":208,"email":209,"avatar":210,"url":211,"date":212,"body":213,"_type":147,"_id":231,"_source":149,"_file":232,"_stem":233,"_extension":152},"/comments/true-cost-of-the-iphone/1782","1782","I think number portability in Europe is still quite far off.",1782,"Damien Guard","damien@envytech.co.uk","https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/dc72963e7279d34c85ed4c0b731ce5a9?r=pg&d=retro","https://damieng.com/","2007-01-10T16:01:07",{"type":16,"children":214,"toc":229},[215,219,224],{"type":19,"tag":20,"props":216,"children":217},{},[218],{"type":24,"value":206},{"type":19,"tag":20,"props":220,"children":221},{},[222],{"type":24,"value":223},"You're right with it making a great non-phone device however and perhaps Apple will replace the 5G iPod with a just that.",{"type":19,"tag":20,"props":225,"children":226},{},[227],{"type":24,"value":228},"The only thing I can see stopping that is that if Apple are making a huge profit on the iPhone (probably a $10 a month kickback from Cingular per device giving them another $240 per unit) then they might not want to go for smaller margins again.",{"title":142,"searchDepth":143,"depth":143,"links":230},[],"content:comments:true-cost-of-the-iphone:1782.md","comments/true-cost-of-the-iphone/1782.md","comments/true-cost-of-the-iphone/1782",{"_path":235,"_dir":172,"_draft":6,"_partial":6,"_locale":7,"title":236,"description":237,"id":238,"name":239,"date":240,"body":241,"_type":147,"_id":254,"_source":149,"_file":255,"_stem":256,"_extension":152},"/comments/true-cost-of-the-iphone/1781","1781","I don't know about Europe, but number portability works well here in the US. I moved across Seattle and kept my number. I switched from wired to cellular and kept the number. I'm sure that, if I could afford the iPhone, Cingular would be happy to let me keep the same number yet again.",1781,"Mike Perry","2007-01-10T15:48:16",{"type":16,"children":242,"toc":252},[243,247],{"type":19,"tag":20,"props":244,"children":245},{},[246],{"type":24,"value":237},{"type":19,"tag":20,"props":248,"children":249},{},[250],{"type":24,"value":251},"I'm wondering if Apple doesn't have a cellularless version waiting. As a music and video player, the iPhone seems marvelous. And Internet browsing would still be there even it were WiFi only. It'd let users check their email anyplace they can find a WiFi hotspot. The added space could be used for a higher capacity battery.",{"title":142,"searchDepth":143,"depth":143,"links":253},[],"content:comments:true-cost-of-the-iphone:1781.md","comments/true-cost-of-the-iphone/1781.md","comments/true-cost-of-the-iphone/1781",1779264572321]