Few Italian iPhone fans?

Italian interest in the iPhone 3G may be unusually low, early reports suggest. Although some 29 Telecom Italia stores are expected to begin selling the 3G within hours, at midnight local time on July 10th, a key TIM store in downtown Milan is said to have no lineups to speak of. Similarly, two Roman stores, including one on Via del Corso, are also said to be missing any lines. This contrasts with countries like the US, Japan and New Zealand, where long queues began forming days in advance.

Reasons for low interest are unclear, but may be connected to price. The minimum cost for an 8GB iPhone and a two-year TIM contract is approximately €1,389, or $2,187; by contrast, a new phone from AT&T should costly about $1,879 under the same conditions. The situation is in fact exacerbated under TIM rival Vodafone, which is selling its iPhones for a minimum of €1,615 ($2,543).

by MacNN Staff