milliAmp

By now you must have heard the noise about Vodafone New Zealand’s announcement of their iPhone 3G Plans.

What a lot of people are saying is that compared to international prices, these plan details are extortionate. Vodafone have made the point that their plans compare with what is on the market in New Zealand already but that doesn’t seem good enough.

A Vodafone Marketing representative got monstered on Campbell Live last night in typical John Campbell fashion. I don’t think the guy completely expected John Campbell to have complete listings of the plans available to iPhone customers from all over the world right in front of him. The guy had to stick to “we are offering a range of plans” that “represent great value” for New Zealand customers.

Vodafone also mentioned that the upfront cost for the handset on their cheapest plan is comparable to the price of an iPod Touch. Currently in the USA, the iPod Touch is more expensive than the iPhone. You normally expect a handset-subsidy when you sign up on a long contract and that point was basically saying that on the $80 a month plan you get no subsidy.

I was waiting out to see these prices to decide whether I’d get an iPhone. The announcement in the US of such cheap prices gave me a little glimmer of hope when Vodafone announced they would also offer the iPhone from as low as $199. The catch is that to get the phone for $199, you have to sign up for a 24 month contract at $250 a month. This includes 1GB of internet traffic and 600 minutes as well as 600 text messages but comparing to plans overseas it falls far short as most countries offer a plan cheaper far cheaper than that which includes unlimited traffic.

Unfortunately, I won’t be getting one in the near future. Public pressure has caused a Swiss provider to alter their iPhone plans, we’ll see if the consumer attitude is similar in New Zealand. I hope Vodafone have shot themselves in the foot. They had the potential to murder the market share statistics by getting a bunch of people who haven’t yet had a PDA or cell phone into the market by making this device affordable, similar to what has happened in the US but it appears they’ve lost that chance. It would have been perfect considering Telecom’s imminent entry into the UMTS world.

You can buy the iPhone from Vodafone without a contract by visiting a Vodafone store but the 8GB model will cost you $979 and the 16GB model $1129. However you apparently won’t be able to access the internet via the Vodafone network without a Mobile Broadband contract.

Also, visual voicemail will not be available from launch in New Zealand and you apparently cannot use an iPhone on Prepay.

Oh well.

It turns out you can use the iPhone on Vodafone’s existing on account plans as long as you have a mobile broadband plan. This means you can get an iPhone for $849 on a plan which includes 200MB Data ($0.50/mb overage charge), 40 text messages, 20 anytime minutes and 60 off-peak minutes for $48.90. This may be appropriate for those who want to only use their iPhone occasionally. This plan is the Mobilise 200 + YouChoose Base plan.