A man from Portugal has already managed to secure an 8GB iPhone 3G, photos and forum posts suggest. The poster claims to have got his hands on the device in advance of its official July 11th launch without having to pay; although refusing to say where the phone came from, one photo shows the device operating on Vodafone Portugal's network. Internet access speeds are "really good," according to the poster.
Optimus, a Portugese carrier controlled in part by Sonae and France Telecom, has announced its prices for the iPhone 3G. To buy the phone without a contract will cost 499 for an 8GB model, or 599 for 16GB. After this shoppers will have to agree to a pre- or post-paid plan; the former has a 20 monthly recharge rate, but includes 250 texts and 250MB of Internet data; each voice minute or extra text costs 17 cents. The post-paid plans require minimum usages worth 15, 30 or 50, but gradually shrink the extra voice and text fees, while offering text and data bundles ranging between 100/100MB and 500/500MB.
International carrier Vodafone has announced the monthly rates for the iPhone 3G in Portugal and Italy. In the former country, most phones will require a two-year contract; the cheapest plan is the "Best iPhone 100" option, which costs approximately 30 per month, and offers 100 minutes, 100 texts and 250MB of data traffic. Best iPhone 230 (45) upgrades to 230 minutes and texts, while the 500 plan (65) graduates to its own corresponding numbers. Data remains fixed. Prices for the actual phones range from 299 (8GB) and 389 (16GB) under the 100 plan to 129 and 219 under the 500 option.
Despite a series of conflicting news releases, Vodafone has confirmed that there will not be a pay-as-you-go version of the iPhone 3G available in New Zealand. NZMac.com first spotted the confusion in statements from Vodafone and Apple New Zealand which announced both contract and prepaid versions of the iPhone in various press releases. Vodafone cleared things up this morning, saying only the contract versions will be available in New Zealand and Portugal beginning in July 11.
Several more deals are in the works for expanding iPhone distribution, says Thomson Financial News. The group first writes that Orange, owned by France Telecom, is seeking to sell the iPhone outside of its home territory, where the device has been available since November. Orange CFO Gervais Pellissier says his company is currently in negotiations with Apple on the matter, and is looking to bring the iPhone to countries such as Spain and Poland, "among others." The carrier also has operations in regions such as Romania, Slovakia, Israel and the UK.
