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Mar 14, 08 - 07:57 am Comment from: Wandering joe

Top of the morning to ya, you think they'd've done it on St. Pats, but now's better than never.

Mar 14, 08 - 08:00 am Comment from: Wandering joe

I'm gettin my dates wrong again, again. They've gone and moved St. Pats to today (or tomorrow in some places). Hooray, green on everyone

It was O2 Ireland's CEO Danuta Gray who said:
"I'd say your Apple freaks will be queuing out the door when we launch."
MacWorld UK comments today:
'O2 Ireland charges from €399 (£304) for the device and offers a stingy 175 minutes of call time and 100 texts for the entry-level subscription package.'

That means the iPhone will cost $622,- or $777,- !!!!

.... and some people still wonder why the sales in Europe aren't as high as in the U.S.

In all the European countries where it's been introduced, the iPhone is a rip-off.

Apple is losing a lot of friends in Europe.

Why do Europeans have to pay $622 or $777, when U.S. citizens pay $399 or $499?

JUST LOOK AT THE DIFFERENCE ! .... and don't say it's the sales tax. That's about 17%.

Uhh, VAT is about that...

"For VAT, the EU’s role is confined to mandating that the standard minimum rate must be 15% and optional reduced rates at least 5%. So rates vary among EU countries and between certain types of goods or services. EU governments are free to apply a different rate from the 15% minimum and set a higher standard rate, to suit their specific national circumstances. And they can apply reduced rates for certain specified goods or services. These are essentially the necessities of daily life, such as food and medicine, or goods and services that are not in competition with those from other EU countries, e.g. in the accommodation sector. Exemptions are also allowed for public services (hospitals, education sector, etc.)."

So... a minimum of 15% on average, but it can be more... In many places it is 20%. 5% is a RARITY.

In the end, it all winds up the same.

What is amazing is how expensive the service plans are for how little airtime you get, and how few text messages you get. I suppose the companies are looking to make their money back (from paying Apple) in the extra airtime and text messages....

A lot of people were/are looking forward to getting an iPhone here.
Again I'll put up my son's post that he out on an Irish site. Many people agree with his sentiments (and he's a huge Apple fan):

O2 ripping us off in the Republic of Ireland.

Whether you like the iPhone or not this is simply another case of being ripped off in Ireland. In every other country the iPhone has been released, they have had unlimited data plans also usually supported by an agreement for use of wi-fi hotspots such as AT&T;'s wi-fi spots in the US and O2's own wi-fi hotspots in the UK. In the UK iPhone subcribers also have access to cloud wi-fi network which is a nationwide wi-fi provider inclusive in their O2 tariff.
What is interesting here is that the iPhone is only available in the UK on O2 and in Ireland on O2. This gives us a direct comparison between pricing policies in the UK and Ireland via the same company, for example: high tariff UK is £75 (€105) Vs €100 in Ireland. In the UK you get 3000 minutes of calls but in Ireland you get 700 minutes. In UK you get 500 texts and in Ireland you get 250. In UK you get unlimited data and wi-fi (O2 hotspots and cloud) and in Ireland you get a 1GB limit, 2c for every additional 1MB and no deal with any wi-fi hotspots. And also in Ireland, additional calls are 20c per minute which is pretty high and additional texts are 10c per text, also relatively high.
Even a tech-related article I read today states this:
"Fees will start at €45 per month under an 18-month contract; users will not however have access to unlimited data, the cap being set at 1GB for all plans. Similarly, Visual Voicemail is not being supported in the initial deployment, though it may arrive later. Both of these changes will make the Irish iPhone distinct from that in any other country."
Also, quoting the O2 website:
"Unused inclusive minutes and texts cannot be carried over to the following month." and
"*** Visual voicemail is not currently supported".

We are the only country so far with no unlimited data plan. O2 are also launching this product on St. Patrick's weekend on March 14th. It is nice to know that O2 are sending us a happy Paddy's day gift by ripping us off.

I'm amazed Apple let this past (Apple has their European HQ here).

Gavron,

when the dollar becomes strong again, would you be ok with them raising your price?

Didn't think so.

Steve516,

20% of 399 and 499 = 80 and 100 ( I've rounded these figures up! )

That means the iPhone should cost about $479 and $599 in Europe.

But we're paying $622 which is $143 more !
and $777 which is $178 more !

Moreover it doesn't cost more to ship iPhones from Asia to Europe as it does to ship them from Asia to the U.S.

Apple is ripping the Europeans off !

Pete,

What does your post mean? Please explain.

Good to here that the iPhone is in Ireland. Now we will see a U2 iPhone and iPod Touch.

snerk...

Mar 14, 08 - 10:13 am Comment from: DogGone

Ireland O2 probably doesn't have the infrastructure to offer the similar services to the UK. Hopefully they will catch up and improve their services. If not they made kill the iPhone.

One other pricing consideration is import taxes. I'm not too sure if Europe charges Apple more for importing and selling their products.

A lot of these concerns are somewhat temporary. iPhones will be a lot cheaper in a years time and probably with better features.

If the dollar rebounds will we hear people from Europe asked to be charged more? Apple has to set a price and not change it every time curency moves

apple shouldʻve just took a smaller subscription piece to sell it locked to any GSM...instead one in each country... then you woulda seen some breakout # of users

Mar 14, 08 - 02:20 pm Comment from: Anonymous©

Gav, if you live in Ireland, you get paid in Euros. If you buy an iPhone in Ireland, its price is in Euros. Your salary does not fluctuate based upon the dollar exchange rate. Your Euro buys just as much in the local market as it did yesterday. It's purchasing power that matters, and that hasn't changed. When the dollar is strong, does Apple raise the Euro price? No. And, the reverse is true.

There are always exchange rate price disparities, but you can't expect companies to change prices on a daily basis. People would complain just as much. Companies try to price within the historical exchange rate range. Since the USD-Euro history is short, the commonly assumed range is about parity, one to one. So, what Apple is doing is what most companies are doing. When the USD gets stronger than the Euro, will I see you saying that the Euro price needs to go up to be fair to Americans? No, didn't think so.

I thought that in Europe, received calls don't count against your minutes, unlike in the U.S.