“People eager to buy Apple’s latest iPhone in Finland can now do so without committing to a separate phone plan,” YLE reports.
“Teleoperator Elisa is to start selling the popular phones without a tie-in sale,” YLE reports. “To date, consumers have had to purchase a fixed airtime contract together with the handset from telecommunications operator TeliaSonera.”
YLE reports, “Elisa will launch its sale of iPhones on Thursday [iPhone 4 16GB, 589 euros; 32GB, 689 euros].”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Petteri V.” for the heads up.]
Lucky…
Lucky…
Not bad for a pocket computer!
Not bad for a pocket computer!
can you pop in any GSM sim card? that would be great.
can you pop in any GSM sim card? that would be great.
I bought a used out-of-contract iPhone. There are plenty of well-cared-for iPhones being sold because people upgrade to the latest and greatest. Now that I’ve done it, it’s fairly easy to unlock the “baseband” so that any sim card can be used. This is separate from “jail-breaking,” so everything still works as it should.
The iPhone I have now is the original “2G” model. I use it with pre-paid GoPhone service from ATT to get voice calling (I don’t use it with data service). So it is used like an iPod touch (over WiFi), except that it can make phone calls and happens to have a camera. Minimally, it costs me $25 every 90 days for the voice service; it is “pre-paid,” so it would cost more if I run out of time before the 90 days (leftover time rolls over to next 90 days). Currently, I don’t make too many mobile phone calls.
The reason I did not get an iPhone earlier is because I could not justify paying $60 or more a month for the service (and be obligated to do so for two years). And I did not get an iPod touch because I did not want to carry it AND a separate mobile phone. I already used ATT’s GoPhone service with their “cheap” phone, so putting that phone’s SIM card into an iPhone was the perfect compromise.
Plus, that original iPhone is cool looking, and I wanted to have one. No, it can’t run iOS 4, but it runs most apps with 3.1.3 (and multi-tasking on a hand-held device is a bit “over-rated”). It is impressively speedy for a design that is now more than THREE years old.
And this time next year, I’ll go find a nice iPhone 3GS for $120 or so. One year after that, iPhone 4 will be two years old and off-contract…
I bought a used out-of-contract iPhone. There are plenty of well-cared-for iPhones being sold because people upgrade to the latest and greatest. Now that I’ve done it, it’s fairly easy to unlock the “baseband” so that any sim card can be used. This is separate from “jail-breaking,” so everything still works as it should.
The iPhone I have now is the original “2G” model. I use it with pre-paid GoPhone service from ATT to get voice calling (I don’t use it with data service). So it is used like an iPod touch (over WiFi), except that it can make phone calls and happens to have a camera. Minimally, it costs me $25 every 90 days for the voice service; it is “pre-paid,” so it would cost more if I run out of time before the 90 days (leftover time rolls over to next 90 days). Currently, I don’t make too many mobile phone calls.
The reason I did not get an iPhone earlier is because I could not justify paying $60 or more a month for the service (and be obligated to do so for two years). And I did not get an iPod touch because I did not want to carry it AND a separate mobile phone. I already used ATT’s GoPhone service with their “cheap” phone, so putting that phone’s SIM card into an iPhone was the perfect compromise.
Plus, that original iPhone is cool looking, and I wanted to have one. No, it can’t run iOS 4, but it runs most apps with 3.1.3 (and multi-tasking on a hand-held device is a bit “over-rated”). It is impressively speedy for a design that is now more than THREE years old.
And this time next year, I’ll go find a nice iPhone 3GS for $120 or so. One year after that, iPhone 4 will be two years old and off-contract…
@ken1w
if that works for you, great. i had a first gen iPhone for a few years and honestly, the way it runs iOS 3.1.3 makes me want to throw it. i wouldn’t pay for a device that works that horribly.
honestly, if i were you i’d get a cheap Go Phone and just buy the current generation iPod Touch. you’d get a WAY better iOS device experience for not that much more money (and it wouldn’t run like crap) and still pay the same amount for voice service.
@ken1w
if that works for you, great. i had a first gen iPhone for a few years and honestly, the way it runs iOS 3.1.3 makes me want to throw it. i wouldn’t pay for a device that works that horribly.
honestly, if i were you i’d get a cheap Go Phone and just buy the current generation iPod Touch. you’d get a WAY better iOS device experience for not that much more money (and it wouldn’t run like crap) and still pay the same amount for voice service.
@ h2a
Maybe your old iPhone needed a “Restore” using iTunes to refresh the system, after it had been incrementally update from version 1.0 (or wherever you started) all the way to 3.1.3. Mine obviously has a fresh installation (with the minor hack to unlock the baseband). People call it “firmware,” but it is really more like system software on a Mac, not typical “firmware” that is embedded into the hardware. Actually, I just remembered that I also slightly increased the allocation of flash storage set aside for use by the system software (which slightly decreases the storage available for apps, music, videos, etc.); perhaps that helps too (in the same way that Macs with plenty of contiguous free space on the startup volume run more efficiently).
Seriously, I thought it would not work so well running some of the latest apps; no doubt there are new apps designed with the A4 in mind (or at least the CPU in the iPhone 3GS) that would cause it to choke. But for the ones I’ve tried, including some free games with 3D and sideways scrolling 2D, it has worked great or “well enough to be fun.” Besides, most of the apps I’ve used so far are not games; they are “functional” (or informational) rather than being “graphical.” An Apple IIe could probably do the processing fast enough.
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” /> One app I use frequently is Kindle to read ebooks, and that’s basically my iPhone patiently waiting for me to finish reading the page so it can display the next one.
Nothing wrong with slightly “trailing edge” tech (my Macs tend to be the same way – NOT the absolute latest model)… And because I can get a new “old” iPhone every year (if desired), I’ll be able to own every model (probably skipping the “3G” because I started out with a 3-year-old first gen iPhone). Most iPhone owners are on two-year upgrade cycles.
@ h2a
Maybe your old iPhone needed a “Restore” using iTunes to refresh the system, after it had been incrementally update from version 1.0 (or wherever you started) all the way to 3.1.3. Mine obviously has a fresh installation (with the minor hack to unlock the baseband). People call it “firmware,” but it is really more like system software on a Mac, not typical “firmware” that is embedded into the hardware. Actually, I just remembered that I also slightly increased the allocation of flash storage set aside for use by the system software (which slightly decreases the storage available for apps, music, videos, etc.); perhaps that helps too (in the same way that Macs with plenty of contiguous free space on the startup volume run more efficiently).
Seriously, I thought it would not work so well running some of the latest apps; no doubt there are new apps designed with the A4 in mind (or at least the CPU in the iPhone 3GS) that would cause it to choke. But for the ones I’ve tried, including some free games with 3D and sideways scrolling 2D, it has worked great or “well enough to be fun.” Besides, most of the apps I’ve used so far are not games; they are “functional” (or informational) rather than being “graphical.” An Apple IIe could probably do the processing fast enough.
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” /> One app I use frequently is Kindle to read ebooks, and that’s basically my iPhone patiently waiting for me to finish reading the page so it can display the next one.
Nothing wrong with slightly “trailing edge” tech (my Macs tend to be the same way – NOT the absolute latest model)… And because I can get a new “old” iPhone every year (if desired), I’ll be able to own every model (probably skipping the “3G” because I started out with a 3-year-old first gen iPhone). Most iPhone owners are on two-year upgrade cycles.
That is $800 and $930 (roughly)
A lotta dough!
That is $800 and $930 (roughly)
A lotta dough!
Actually that is in Italy the case for a long time. It’s called regulations. Enjoy your freedom Americanos, you pay a lot for it!
Actually that is in Italy the case for a long time. It’s called regulations. Enjoy your freedom Americanos, you pay a lot for it!
They haven’t shown up here yet: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1937
I can report that 3 in Sweden has NOT made any unlocked iPhone 4’s available yet. They (along with all of the other carriers in Sweden) have had a multi-week waiting list since introduction and have decided that Apple will need to provide a sufficient supply of units for their “locked-in” customers before 3 will fill any orders for unlocked phones.
As a prospective customer I don’t like this. As a stockholder I am happy to see the sustained demand.
They haven’t shown up here yet: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1937
I can report that 3 in Sweden has NOT made any unlocked iPhone 4’s available yet. They (along with all of the other carriers in Sweden) have had a multi-week waiting list since introduction and have decided that Apple will need to provide a sufficient supply of units for their “locked-in” customers before 3 will fill any orders for unlocked phones.
As a prospective customer I don’t like this. As a stockholder I am happy to see the sustained demand.
Seems like Apple is working the old business model of going to your opponents (in this case Nokia) backyard and winning that battle first. Selling unlocked phones is exactly what is needed in order to kill the last resistance in Finland..
TeliaSonera being the only one carrying the iPhone has meant SIGNIFICANTLY increased phone bills compared to -not similar but – identical services from other ISPs.
I will save the price of the phone purchase in reduced phone bills in under a year!!!
You need to remember that in Finland ALL networks are 3G.
Seems like Apple is working the old business model of going to your opponents (in this case Nokia) backyard and winning that battle first. Selling unlocked phones is exactly what is needed in order to kill the last resistance in Finland..
TeliaSonera being the only one carrying the iPhone has meant SIGNIFICANTLY increased phone bills compared to -not similar but – identical services from other ISPs.
I will save the price of the phone purchase in reduced phone bills in under a year!!!
You need to remember that in Finland ALL networks are 3G.
The problem with the same concept in the US (buying unlocked, then paying for a contract-free, subsidy-free service) simply doesn’t work out that well. We can safely assume that the iPhone, if ever offered legally as an unlocked, contract-free device, would cost at least $650. Right now, cheapest voice/data plan for the iPhone is $55 ($40 voice + $15 250MB data). Unfortunately, contract-free, subsidy-free plans are very difficult to compare in the US.
AT&T’s prepaid plans (GoPhone) are just way too expensive. The cheapest contract-free, subsidy-free equivalent is a $25 card where they charge $0.25 per minute of air time (incoming or outgoing). Data is clocked at whopping $20 per MB (???!!!). So, having an iPhone on AT&T’s pre-paid plan would require to completely give up the data, which is the primary purpose of the iPhone to begin with.
T-Mobile, on the other hand, is much more reasonable. Much, much more. They have pre-paid and monthly plans. For best comparison, we’ll take the monthly. For $15 per month, you pay 10 cents per minute, and unlimited text and MMS. T-mobile’s data is (much more reasonable) $1 per hour.
So, in order to match AT&T’s cheapest iPhone plan of $55, you’d have to be able to get similar level of service for significantly less than $55 (to account for the subsidy portion).
So, with T-Mobile, in order to get, say, 200 minutes of airtime, plus 20 hours of internet, you’d end up paying exactly $55 — just like with AT&T. If you limit your 3G internet to just ten hours, you save $10. The primary difference, though, comes from free unlimited text and MMS, for which AT&T charges arm and a leg.
So, even if the iPhone were to become available in the US as an unlocked device, open to any GSM carrier (i.e. T-Mobile and AT&T), without two-year plan, the deal would still be hard to justify.
The problem with the same concept in the US (buying unlocked, then paying for a contract-free, subsidy-free service) simply doesn’t work out that well. We can safely assume that the iPhone, if ever offered legally as an unlocked, contract-free device, would cost at least $650. Right now, cheapest voice/data plan for the iPhone is $55 ($40 voice + $15 250MB data). Unfortunately, contract-free, subsidy-free plans are very difficult to compare in the US.
AT&T’s prepaid plans (GoPhone) are just way too expensive. The cheapest contract-free, subsidy-free equivalent is a $25 card where they charge $0.25 per minute of air time (incoming or outgoing). Data is clocked at whopping $20 per MB (???!!!). So, having an iPhone on AT&T’s pre-paid plan would require to completely give up the data, which is the primary purpose of the iPhone to begin with.
T-Mobile, on the other hand, is much more reasonable. Much, much more. They have pre-paid and monthly plans. For best comparison, we’ll take the monthly. For $15 per month, you pay 10 cents per minute, and unlimited text and MMS. T-mobile’s data is (much more reasonable) $1 per hour.
So, in order to match AT&T’s cheapest iPhone plan of $55, you’d have to be able to get similar level of service for significantly less than $55 (to account for the subsidy portion).
So, with T-Mobile, in order to get, say, 200 minutes of airtime, plus 20 hours of internet, you’d end up paying exactly $55 — just like with AT&T. If you limit your 3G internet to just ten hours, you save $10. The primary difference, though, comes from free unlimited text and MMS, for which AT&T charges arm and a leg.
So, even if the iPhone were to become available in the US as an unlocked device, open to any GSM carrier (i.e. T-Mobile and AT&T), without two-year plan, the deal would still be hard to justify.
Long story short: What would you rather pay:
$200 for the iPhone
$55 per month for two years; or
$650 for the iPhone
$45 per month, no term limits
$450 difference, for $10 per month cheaper service. Almost 4 years in order to come out ahead…
Long story short: What would you rather pay:
$200 for the iPhone
$55 per month for two years; or
$650 for the iPhone
$45 per month, no term limits
$450 difference, for $10 per month cheaper service. Almost 4 years in order to come out ahead…
If you travel… the inability to switch networks is a killer. Roaming charges are not fun.