All iPhone All The Time
by MaxPower
In keeping with our 24/7 iPhone in Canada = super expensive coverage, here is CBC's iPhone iNdex (see what they did with the letters there... cute). The iNdex provides the minimum commitment pricing, and then shows what you get for it. The longer the term, inherently the higher the minimum commitment. CBC's story headline says Rogers iPhone 2nd most costly in the world. Second only to Vodafones $2,554 contract in Italy, however even that is beat down like a rented mule by Rogers' Fido brand at $2,572 (take that Italia!). Except Italians can also go with Telecom Italia for a nice $1,368 minimum commitment.
Some samples of the data - note these aren't all apples to apples comparisons (see what I did there? cute). Some contracts give you unlimited data, some make you pay for texts etc etc. Just to give a ballpark figure of how much the 3G Jesus phone will cost you internationally.
Canada - minimum commitment $2,176 Rogers/$2,572 Fido
US - $1,848
Mexico - $1,344
UK $1,242
Netherlands $1,248
Ireland $1,440
Italy $1,368 Telecom Italia, $2,554 Vodafone
Australia $938 Telstra, $804 Optus, $1739 Vodaphone
New Zealand $1,855
Hong Kong $1,512
Japan $1,920
Switzerland $840 Orange, $816 Swisscom
Norway $1,000
Sweden $1,314
Finland $1,440
So our Aussie friends get the best prices on the iPhone. All this begs the question, is a mobile phone, even one like the Jesus phone, worth $1,000 - $2,500 total cost? Mayyyybe at Australian prices, but at Canadian prices I know my response, which is why you won't catch me lining up tomorrow AM.