That’s right, last night I ordered my iPhone 3GS. It’s expensive, but not as expensive if I had bought it unlocked in Italy or if I got it with a contract that I would not use because I’m perfectly fine with the carrier I already have.
The price? 670 euros, that’s US$ 940.
I purchased it from a Danish reseller who imports them factory unlocked. He also imported the iPhone EDGE back in the old days when it was only available in the US, apparently with many happy customers back then.
Nevertheless, I did decide to purchase using my creditcard, so in case the shop either goes bankrupt or does not deliver the phone, I can just go down to my bank and get my money back.
The shop in question is www.macphone.dk, in case some Danish users would want to buy one from him.
Update, September 2009: I decided to cancel my order from macphone.dk, he couldn’t seem to deliver in time.
Good God dude… You paid $940 for an iPhone? That is truly something. I don’t know if the standard of living is the same here in the States and in Denmark but you paid a lot for it.
If you had asked me I would have paid for it over here and shipped it to you for a lot less than $940.
Jason. Yup, it’s crazy, right? Thanks for your offer, but I think they are all locked to AT&T in the US, so it would require me to use some “illegal” unlock methods to use it over here and I don’t want that, as everytime there’s a software update, you risk not being able to update for months while they work on a new unlock. I’ve tried that before, which is why I decided to go “legal” this time.
Had I bought one in Denmark with a 6 months subscription (only option), the total price after 6 months would have been around US$ 1100, as I recall (for the 3G, nobody knows prices about the 3GS for probably another week). But since I don’t live in Denmark, I can’t get a contract. I could also buy one from Italy, but they are around US $1150 each, unlocked.
As a last resort, I could buy one in Malta with a contract. But rumor has it that it doesn’t arrive here until late October, no thanks. But even if I did decide to wait, it would cost me probably around US $420 for the phone and another US$ 55 for 2 years, total around US $1700.
The iPhone is one piece of very expensive tech, but it’s also the only phone I’ve held on to for so long – and it just works and does a great job, that’s why I don’t mind shelling out US $940 for a factory unlocked 32GB iPhone 3GS…
Those are some ridiculous prices, seriously.
How much are your data plans? I hope they are not as expensive as phones themselves.
.-= Jason´s last blog ..I loved the stock market, this week… =-.
In Malta with Vodafone it used to be €20 a month for 600MB, they recently doubled it to 1.2GB though. So that’s $28 a month.
In Denmark it’s more complicated, the $113 a month comes with minutes, messages and data.
You guys are getting ripped off over there.
.-= Jason´s last blog ..I loved the stock market, this week… =-.
Yes we are!!!
klaus are you from malta?
Yes I am.
did the iphone 3gs arrived the one you ordered??
bdw are you from mosta?
how much did u pay for shipping??
I’m having it delivered to a friend in Denmark, so the €670 for the 32GB iPhone 3GS was including shipping within Denmark.
did you recieve you iphone 3gs???
i want an iphone 3gs but still i dont know from where i am going to buy it :S
any ideas??
No, I cancelled my order – the guy can’t seem to deliver. I made a post about it here: https://techpatio.com/2009/apple/iphone/update-attempts-unlocked-iphone-3gs-denmark-malta
I don’t want to buy one in Malta, way too expensive, specially the €200 for an unlock. I’m probably going to get one in Denmark, just need to find somebody to sign up for the 6 month subscription which I can’t (and don’t need it either).
what’s the difference between locked and unlocked iphone ??
what does it mean? so if i buy one from vodafone Malta for example and i don’t have a vodofane sim i need to pay an extra €200 ??
can someone explain this in more detail please ??
thanks
Chris
Hi Chris. Yes that’s more or less the case. I don’t know how it is with Vodafone Malta today, but back then, you had to pay €200 if you wanted to use any SIM card in it. I also heard that some ended up paying “only” €70 – including me (because somebody else managed to) – but I don’t know if they lowered the price for good or if they’re back at €200.
I still think it’s a rip off. In most places you can get a free unlock after a certain amount of time, but when I asked Vodafone Malta about it, they didn’t have any such thing in place at the time.
And by the way, please don’t buy an iPhone in the next few days. A new version of the iPhone is likely to be announced within a week or so and it would suck paying a premium price for the iPhone 3GS if Malta gets the new version soon 🙂
yes a read your post but i posted that comment before i read it hehe
the 200euro unlock is insane… who is going to buy and unlock it for 200euro ..total price of iphone 16GB 800EUROS ???? :S : O
was thinking buying it from vodafone but changing the simcard…. but thats my last option…. i want to find somewhere to buy it from….. :S
I guess you have to get it from Italy or Belgium, I think those are the two countries within EU that sells them unlocked. Australia also does, I think, but then comes VAT and customs on top of it.
is there an italian or belgium site or something that allow you to order the phone and recieve it??? how much do you thing it cost for 3gs 32gb from italy or belgium…
I’m not aware of one. If you buy from eBay you need to add a profit to the seller, too. But if you go to Italy yourself and buy it, it will cost you €719 for 32GB and €619 for 16GB – both unlocked, as far as I know. Check out Vodafone Italy website. It’s stil cheaper than buying 16GB with Voda Malta for €599 and you add €200 for unlock.
It’s crazy expensive!
can vodafone italy ship the item to malta?? i doubt it
I doubt it, they would probably prefer to sell them with a subscription.
:S ….. Still no clue from where i am going to get my iphone 3GS unlocked….. 🙁
I heard that it’s possible to buy them for $820 from this company: http://www.kington-hk.com/dontfollow
But you’d probably have to pay up front and I have no idea whether or not the guy is trustworthy and when he can deliver.
i contact i particular mobile shop in malta and told me that he is going to have the 3GS in 1 week for the price of 600euro 16gb and 700euro 32gb
(factory unlocked)
That’s not bad!! I wonder where they’re from -and what to do with warranty, I guess that the mobile shop in Mala will have to issue a warranty, since Apple only wants to service them in the country they were intended for?
they’re maybe from italy or somewhere. about the warranty… yeah he’ll have to issue a warranty but i’ll rather buy the mobile from him and let say give me 1year warranty and if anything does happen to the mobile i go directly to him and its his problem to fix it or i dont know do something about it……
( keeping in mind that the fault wasn’t cause by dropping etc…. terms and cond.)
i think i am going to change to vadafone and get my iphone from there…..
i am fed up of waiting all mobile shops says that its here in a week and never there :/
i just want 1 heeh
I just got mine. Had to get somebody else to sign up for a subscription to a phone company for 6 months so I could get the 3GS for myself 🙂 Unfortunately just the 16GB as everything else is sold out.
But it’s great, not much changed from 3G as you know, but I like that it’s a bit faster and voice control and compass seems pretty good. The camera and video recording is great, compared to the old one.