T-Mobile Austria has finally announced this week how much they ‘ll be charging buyers of the new iPhone 3G S, almost a week after Orange posted their prices online. Thus the no. 2 and no. 3 placed among providers in Austria undoubtedly plan to increase their share in the mobile market, thanks to the iPhone.
Of course, you can ‘t directly compare the price of the iPhone between the two, simply because both providers offer different services with their packages. I suspect they do this on purpose, just to confuse the consumer. Sigh!
E.g. with T-mobile you can buy the 16GB iPhone 3G S for € 49, paying € 49 monthly for 3000 minutes, 3GB data and 1000 sms. The same unit at Orange costs € 69, paying € 33.50 monthly if choose the iPhone paket “ yet you have half the amount of call minutes compared to T-mobile.
I ‘ll leave the genuinely interested to investigate further, needless to say, in Austria your choice is based on whether you need to call people who have the same provider, who are in other European countries (there Orange has a very competitive edge at the moment) or if you really plan to surf with the phone or not.
To entice potential buyers both have special offers for online orders. T-mobile refunds € 49 back to your account, gives you a money-back guarantee AND will charge no monthly rate for the rest of 2009. Orange offers a € 40 web bonus and has a limited offer to halve your monthly fee, forever!
Especially fascinating to see is how the two deal with the 3.0 innovations of MMS and tethering. Both charge extra for MMS (btw already available, unlike their American counterpart) T-mobile by file size and Orange by destination (inside their network or outside). Interestingly, T-mobile customers pay nothing extra for tethering whereas Orange is charging € 2 a month for the same service.
On a special side note, T-mobile is still throwing the iPhone 3G 8GB at you for ZERO, zilch, nada “ you read right € 0 (too many still in stock?) whereas Orange has tiered pricing for the same unit starting at € 49. Hmmm.
What about current iPhone owners salivating for the new iPhone 3G S? The 16GB will cost you € 539 at T-mobile and € 500 at Orange. Nice of them to give us the chance but not worth it IMHO.
In general, this competition is having the welcome effect of driving prices down and bringing newer and better services for the eager consumer.
And on a personal note, my hubby has been swayed to order his white 16 GB via T-mobile, enticed by the prospect of paying nothing for the iPhone contract for six whole 6 months.
The iPhone 3G S will be officially available in Austria on 26 June 2009.
So international readers, what do you think of our choices for iPhone in Austria? Better, worse than where you are?
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TAGS: 3G, Austria, iPhone, Orange, T-Mobile
