It will cost more than $600.

Joe — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 04:07:54 -0700

It will cost more than $600. Unless you have other business in Europe or a place you can stay for free, the cost of plane fare, meals and accommodations makes the cost of a trip to Europe JUST to pick up an iPhone a lot more than if you just bought one in the US with a contract and then bailed after the first 30 days and paid the early termination fee. Terminating within 30 days requires return of the phone, terminating after 30 days does not.

I really want an iPhone, but

ardentgailla — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 13:49:06 -0700

I really want an iPhone, but I'm I don't know about spending $600 bucks on one. I've actually considered getting a cheap knock off until I have the credit to get off the gophone plan and get a regular plan. Then, I could just get one with my plan. If they come down on the price significantly, I'm game.

Speaking as someone living

Whippy — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 05:26:29 -0700

Speaking as someone living in the US, I'm considering buying an iPhone and just terminating the ATT contract after a month. It depends on how much ATT will nail people for early termination, but it might end up costing less than $500, even counting a month's worth of the $70/month plan.

Want an unlocked iPhone 3G? Grab $600, head to Europe

Venture Beat — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 13:01:03 -0700

A lot of people bought and unlocked the first generation iPhone to use all around the world. Apple chief executive Steve Jobs even made a joke about it during his WWDC keynote address.

Knowing this, Apple and AT&T are reportedly finalizing a way in which every iPhone sold in the United States would have to be activated with AT&T. In other words, there will be no unlocked iPhones sold in this country unless you don’t mind unlocking it and still paying AT&T a monthly service fee.

The rest of the world could be luckier however. Because Apple has deals with a different carrier in almost every country, it has had to agree to a wide range of prices and options for selling its iPhone 3G. It’s likely that in quite a few countries outside of the U.S., you’ll be able to buy an iPhone without a contractual agreement.

This non-subsidized iPhone would likely cost around $600, according to Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster.

$600 is a lot, roughly three times the amount the device will sell for when subsidized around the world. But it’s also the price of the original 8 gigabyte iPhone. Plenty of people had no problem paying that a year ago, so will they now do the same to unlock the new phone?

Munster believes that some will — especially in Europe — but that it won’t make up a huge percentage of sales worldwide. While 1 million of the estimated 3.6 million iPhones sold in Europe this year may be sold as “pre-paid,” worldwide those numbers will be only 2.7 million pre-paid out of 12.9 million sold. Again, these numbers are based on sales estimates.

In North America, which one can assume will not include the United States, since Apple and AT&T have given no indication that they will sell an iPhone without a contractual agreement, the number of pre-paid iPhones sold is expected to be 1 million out of 8 million total units.

Apple is said to be getting between $325 and $425 from AT&T for each iPhone 3G sold at the $199 to $299 subsidized price in the United States.

More impressive is that the estimates from Gartner and Piper Jaffray have the iPhone controlling 17 percent of the worldwide smartphone market by the end of 2009. In North America, they expect that number to be closer to 30 percent.

Find the full chart with the estimates below.

[photo: Duncan Rawlinson]

More news, commentary, and predictions from The Industry Standard:

Prediction: Apple hits 18% share of US computer market by end of year
Prediction: Apple's iTunes to displace Wal-Mart as largest music retailer in U.S.
Analysis: Independent gaming could flourish on the iPhone
Analysis: The big merger of 2008: The mobile phone and Web
Analysis: Apple's most important WWDC announcement: GPS on the iPhone

The Industry Standard - Want an unlocked iPhone 3G? Grab $600, head to Europe - Comments

It will cost more than $600.

I really want an iPhone, but

Speaking as someone living

Want an unlocked iPhone 3G? Grab $600, head to Europe