T-Mobile Germany pushes 70K iPhones since launch

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Highly Ranked

rav97 @ Jan 27th 2008 6:25AM

Orange sold 70K in less than 5 weeks (first month). T-Mobile is saying it sold the same amount in 11 weeks. That's a lot worse than Orange.

Neutral

Let's not forget that a lot of Europeans did not get their iPhones via T-mobile/O2/Orange. Even before they started selling them there were enough ways to get the iPhone. And btw. why would you buy your iPhone from one of these parties with the current Euro/Dollar exchange rate? Importing them is far more interesting (and since the iPhone is very interesting to gadget enthousiast you also have a group of consumers who are willing to take that effort).

Neutral

rav97 @ Jan 27th 2008 9:07AM

@Rick
OK, let's do a little math.
The iPhone is $399 in US. That corresponds to approx. �270 (as I'm writing this). You cannot import something without paying VAT. VAT in Germany is 19%, so the new total is approx �320. They won't ship it for free; shipping it insured won't cost you less than �30 (the shipping company has to take care of all the paperwork to get it through customs, so it isn't cheap). Your final total is �350. For a device that has no warranty (good luck sending it back to the US, having Apple service it there and ship it back to you in Europe).
The iPhone sold by T-Mobile costs �399, and, like all consumer products sold in EU, enjoys a 24 months warranty.
You have to decide if a 2 yr. warranty is worth �49 to you. To me, it is.

For the rest, they're both equal. Unlocking an iPhone bought from T-Mobile is no more difficult than unlocking a US-imported one.

Highest Ranked

Iain @ Jan 27th 2008 10:26AM

Actually, there are a couple of flaws in your argument.

To start with, yes, you can import things without paying VAT.
And I'm not just talking about items under a certain value either - it's just not possible for customs and excise officers to check that everything has been properly accounted for, not to mention items that are shipped as gifts.

Your point about the warranty and the point about unlocking the iPhone cancel each other out as unlocking your iPhone should render the warranty as void as if you'd imported it.

Also, while I'm certainly not completely au fait with how one unlocks an iPhone, if the way they are sold in Germany is the same as the way they are sold in the UK, I don't think your comment about them being as easy to unlock as each other is true.

Plus, on top of all that, you've missed half the point of what Rik said (not to mention you spelt his name wrong) - that people in Germany have been able to import iPhones since before they were able to buy them in Germany or even before it was known that they would definitely be sold there.
That factor alone will account for a large number of the imported iPhones.

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