The last couple of weeks have been fueled with speculation as to when the much anticipated iPhone 4 will land in South Africa. Rumours have been running wild, and I have received countless emails asking when the official launch is. So far there has been no official word from the service providers, so we all need to just sit tight and keep our ears to the ground. As soon as I know anything, I will def let you know here :)
But that said, Namibian cellular service provider MTC has recently announced that they will be stocking the iPhone4 & iPad. On the MTC site there are 2 promos with the details:
The iPhone4 deal they are are offering is:(The exchange rate is 1 to 1, so the prices below are basically in Rands)
iPhone 4 once off payment of N$2 999 on a contract.
Contract cost is N$399 (per month) and you get-
- 300 anytime minutes
- 300 anytime minutes from MTC TO MTC
- 300 sms’s
- 600MB data
The iPad offering is:
Once off Payment N$1,999 and N$399 per month for what looks like a 32GB 3G iPad
This included:
- 100 MB mailbox
- 600 MB data per month
You can also buy the iPhone4 and iPad without the contract:
- Apple i-Pad Wi Fi 16gig N$ 9,667.19
- Apple i-Pad Wi Fi & 3g 32gig N$15,704.69
- Apple i-Pad Wi Fi & 3g 64gig N$ 14,267.19
- Apple i-Phone 3gs 16gig N$ 9,336.56
- Apple i-Phone 4G 16gig N$ 13,764.06
- Apple i-Phone 4G 32gig N$ 15,093.75
The prices seem pretty exhobirant for the outright purchase, and am hoping the South African SP’s come up with (a lot) cheaper pricing.
[Thanks to Mr. @PietSous for the heads up about this thread on the MyBroadband forums]
6 replies on “Namibia gets the iPhone4 & iPad before SA”
By comparison: iPhone 240 on Vodacom (as it currently stands):
240 bundled anytime minutes
100 included SMS
250 MB data
for the low, low price of only R595 per month
Dear Vodacom, shame. on. you. Namibia is a vast country twice the size of Germany, with only two million people. And yet MTC can manage to cover most of this low-population density country (which is pretty inefficient from an MNO point of view), work on a potential user base of only perhaps 1.5 million people and somehow still manage to give packages that are vastly better than what we pay in SA.
Shame on you.
(It’s also pretty obvious that MTC *wants* people to go the contract route by putting an insane premium on outright purchase. But I believe a phone is something you take on contract, and these contract prices quoted are great compared to South Africa.)
PS: MTC is, from what I hear in “the industry”, still operating at ridiculous profit margins. Shame on you Vodacom.
Saw this on mybroadband earlier – everyone was talking about it. I agree – shame on you Vodacom!!! You totally suck!!!
At least I have my iPhone 4 and iPad already :)
I almost choked on my sandwich when I saw those prices. R10k for an iPad? R14k for an iPhone? Smoking the good stuff!
Interesting calculation I did:
The outright price for the 16GB is N$ 13,764.06
The total contract + once-off for the 16 GB would come to N$ 12,575.00. (And that includes up to 14,400 anytime minutes, 14.4 GB data and 7200 SMS’s in addition to the phone.) I don’t think this a bad deal at all.
It’s pretty obvious that MTC is VERY keen to have your contract business.
Colleague of mine bought Apple i-Phone 4G 32gig in Oz for about R13000 converted. So it seems that is about the world trend. Doubt if VodaScum is going to come in any cheaper. Pity, but their gonna force us to get this from places like Thailand and China
That’s my mybroadband thread :)
As I said in the first post of the thread I started,I think the contract cost is really good if you compare it to what Vodacom currently have. I wish I could get an iphone 4 from vodacom for only R400 a month with a phone cost of R2 999 where you get 300 anytime minutes,300 anytime minutes from vodacom to vodacom,300 sms’s,600MB data.
I think MTC has got a good deal here and our cellular operators are not going to beat it which is very sad!