Vodafone doesn't waste any time, offers Samsung Jet free on contract
by Donald Melanson 
posted Jun 16th 2009 at 11:56AM
Samsung may have only just officially taken the wraps off its Jet touchscreen phone yesterday, but it looks like folks in the UK can now already get their hands on one courtesy of Vodafone -- and for free, no less. Of course, that's if you're willing to sign a two-year contract and grab a minimum £20 per month plan, which actually isn't too bad a deal as far as these things go. In case you missed it, or understandably have it confused with one of Samsung's other new phones, the Jet packs a 3.1-inch AMOLED display, along with a 5-megapixel camera, built-in GPS, a speedy 800MHz processor, a WebKit-based browser and, last but not least, Samsung's un-smartphone TouchWiz 2.0 interface.
[Via Pocket-lint]
[Via Pocket-lint]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Cell dude007 @ Jun 16th 2009 12:40PM
Just curious here. If someone familiar with Europes Mobile Carriers can answer a question I have. Maybe Engadget can help too.
Here in the US a new phone like this would cost about $149.99 or so on a 2yr, 24 month contract. So how are these carriers able to sell this phone or these type of new phones for either low euros or free? Same thing when the Storm hit Vodafone. I saw it for Free in the first month it was released.
Hope someon can answer my question.
Des @ Jun 16th 2009 2:22PM
Because voice and text dosen't cost them much to maintain compared to that monthly charge, let along getting even more money via data, phone insurance, and other charges they can get the customer into. Thus allowing the subsidising the call of the phone. After 2 years I'm sure they will make a healthy profit per customer on the monthly charge alone.
Also mobile telecoms is rather competitive in the UK with each provider trying to get and especially hold on to as many customers as possible, hence the longer and longer contract deals.
suprsonic @ Jun 16th 2009 5:05PM
I think that phone would sell for much more than 150.00 here in the states.
Richdog @ Jun 19th 2009 9:32AM
It's basically because outside of the UK, cal and data prices are inflated so much that it's basically legal theft. For example in the UK ou can get a SIM-only deal form a carrier called o2 which ranges between £15 and £30 a month and provides you with an obscene amount of stuff on an uber-convenient monthl rolling contract. For example, £25 a month gets you:
*1200 minutes (10 hours) to any network
*1000 texts
*Unlimited data
*International call saver plan
And added to this for around £7.50 a month you can add on additional bolt-ons that get you anthing from unlimited calls to landlines to unlimited texts.
Compare that to Swisscom in Switzerland where £25 a month gets you a measly free 100 minutes and 50 texts, and data is extra (and expensive, you can add another £20 for 1GB), and you see just how screwed up the mobile market really is everywhere else.
As I said, legal theft, and the UK tariffs show exactl how much it costs carriers to maintain a cutting edge 3.5G network and still provide good value for money.
PL @ Jun 16th 2009 2:40PM
Great info. It is interesting how Mobile phone tariffs work in Europe. I know Carphonewarehouse I hear is very big in UK.