And you thought the US iPhone was expensive…

Written on September 19, 2007 by Josh Pigford and 13 people have commented

Well anyone who complained about the iPhone being expensive here in the US can officially shut it (myself included).

An ad for the 8GB iPhone in Germany (pictured above) has the phone costing a whopping 899 Euros. Do some quick currency conversions and you find that 899 Euros is over $1,200 USD! Holy smokes! That puts it right around 3 times the cost of the US iPhone.

Let’s be honest, that price is just ridiculous. I don’t care how much money you have or how bad you want an iPhone, it is in no way worth $1,200.

UPDATE: Well looks like I stand corrected. It would seem that the ad above is either a hoax or a typo (or both). The official price in Germany is 399 Euros.

Thanks Jonathan Marcialis for the tip (and article scan)

Comments RSSComments

#1 german says:
it’s 399, it’s a typo. confusing 8 and 3 is a typical typographic problem.
#2 Teacher says:
Its an fake ad. The iphone will cost 399€ in Germany.
#3 german says:
and just to add: the german telecom is like at&t in the us the only provider in germany for the iphone, and the only one who may sell it, even stores like gravis, which sell apple exclusive, wont get it. and it will be at 399.
#4 Hendrik says:
899 EUR is not the official price, T-Mobile will be sell the iPhone for 399 EUR (incl. 19% VAT) with a 24 month agreement. (see Press release in German)

The advertisement above described the price for a unlocked iPhone.
#5 Magnus says:
I can beat that… a guy posted on our site that he’s selling the iPhone for AED5150 which is around $1400.
#6 jonas says:
well, if you take into account that somebody flies over to the us, buys an iphone there, flies back, pays proper taxes and additionally hacks/unlocks it, 899EUR is not too much to ask
#7 Julian says:
That’s one of these crooked offers, to fool some dense naive german enthusiasts out of their money, as they claim, that iPhones purchased at ebay can’t be unlocked and only theirs has no simlock. Jesus, they even call it an introductory offer, that’s pretty impudent.
#8 Felix says:
That is an pre-iPhone-in-Germany-release ad. It states “…if you don’t want to wait until the end of the year…”. Surely, it’s an US unlocked iPhone.
#9 Simon says:
If you want some real shocking Apple price comparisons, I ran the UK Vs US iPod numbers a few weeks back. Take a look: iPod UK prices and release dates. Absolutely shocking!
#10 Michael says:
no fake, as felix said, it’s some german who bought the iphone in the US or ebay, unlocked it and then tried to sell it to some dumb early-adopters in germany
#11 Hans says:
Apart from any consideration that EUR 899,- were a typo or hoax, it may have been neither. Letting aside the strong Euro at the moment, pricing in Germany has always been unbelievable impudent in may cases - based on the ridicolous idea that all Germans are rich and willing to pay absurdest amounts with greatest ease and pleasure.
If you compare SLR lens prices from USA and Germany for instance, you may also think these are typos or hoaxes. In fact they’re not, they mean business…
#12 Julian says:
Since the introduction of the EURO all prices have been raised so drastically that it just takes my breath away. Literatelly they just put “Euro” in exchange for “Deutsche Mark” at the pricemark (which means they doubled the price).
But this ad is still nothing official but exactly what Michael said. It’s traded by T-Mobile for 399€ which is 559$ today. Phew, that is a nice, little price premium.
#13 nfoo says:
The ad says: 899 € - unlocked for all networks.
So they’re just selling hard- or software unlocked phones from the US for a lot of money … and illegaly … I think …