So what has Vodafone got in store for us?
Pricing
| iPhone Plans | iPhone 250 | iPhone 500 | iPhone 1GB |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost per Month | $80 | $130 | $250 |
| Included Minutes | 120 | 250 | 600 |
| Included TXT | 600 | 600 | 600 |
| Included Data | 250MB | 500MB | 1GB |
| With plan | iPhone 250 | iPhone 500 | iPhone 1GB |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8GB iPhone | $549 | $449 | $199 |
| 16GB iPhone | $699 | $599 | $349 |
- Prepay: $979
- Outright: 8GB – $979 16GB – $1129
The general public will be privy to Vodafone’s pricing of the ‘special’ rate plans for the iPhone as at 10am this morning, and I’d hazard to guess that their response will be as yours is now. So what went wrong?
Political climate
Firstly, the political climate that Vodafone are operating in within New Zealand.
Vodafone has enjoyed a cosy duo-poly for many years with an ex government owned incumbent that was almost universally reviled due to their continuing monopolistic manner of doing business. Regulation for mobile services was slow to arrive (and still hasn’t in it’s entirety – it currently only affects mobile termination charges) and very light handed. Regulation also only effects voice calls – hence the horrendous data charges we currently see for mobile data via a cellphone (or cellular based device such as Vodem).
Competition
Telecom has transitioned from AMPS/TDMA (‘025’) to CDMA (‘027’), and are currently building a GSM – oops UMTS – system for their mobile network. This is the 2nd change in less than 5 years, and while multi-mode handsets (which work on more than one mobile system) have eased the pain somewhat, this has introduced several issues on the handset front.
The CDMA handset range from established manufacturers (especially market leader Nokia) was limited, Multi-mode handset options are limited, and the customer has had to transition between handsets more often than they might have otherwise. Add to the above the fact that Telecom’s marketing for their mobile business was very poor, essentially meant that Vodafone wasn’t beating their opponent as soundly as it looked at first glance; their opponent was beating themselves.
Telecom have picked up their game in the recent past, but Vodafone are still seen in many quarters as the company of choice to be with in the mobile space.
Marketplace
Due to the political and market regime here in New Zealand mobile companies here are used to charging what they like, and can be fairly confident the only real competition in the marketplace will not rock the boat.
Conclusion
Whilst Telecom and Vodafone will finally be using similar, interchangeable technology for their networks at last, this is still some way off. Hence Vodafone are in the enviable position of being able to sell the device of the moment, safe in the knowledge that no matter how much they want to, Telecom can’t do the same. It looks like Vodafone have decided to make hay while the sun shines.
Comments
39 responses to “Vodafone’s iPhone rate plans – Why???”
Oh no – really 🙁
VF sure have changed a lot since I was there. It used to be about giving the customer what they want but now it looks like it’s about making as much money as possible.
Oh how the mighty have fallen.
Noooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!
I guess I’m changing my plans for Friday. How could they do this???????
I’m all for fashion and looking good sweetie and I know it comes at a price but I didn’t think it’d be that price!!!
Looking at those prices I’m going to be keeping my 2G iPhone for now. Don’t really want it for surfing the internet that much and I get to stay on the plan I’m on which will save me a heap over those.
Does anyone know if the version 2.0 firmware will run on the 2G iPhone?
I was sitting on the fence here about whether to go with an iPhone and these plans are pushing me toward keeping what I got. Phone looks pretty impressive but Vodafone’s not doing much to make it a no brainer. Just the opposite in fact.
Vodafone know how much people want them so have priced the phone low and the plans high to rip us who really want one. Vodafone are crap these days. Come on Telecom hurry up and announce the iphone!
Does anyone know what these look like yet – vodafone won’t go sticking bright red logos all over it will they? If they do they can keep it and I’ll get one from overseas
I just wish they’d announce it so everyone stops gong on about it. Although when they do everyone’ll go on about it even more
More getting ripped off in NZ. Just like our broadband our petrol our food. No wonder everyones leavin
You guys do know its only a phone aye?
:p
ONLY A PHONE? ONLY A PHONE?
It’s the Jesusphone!!!
It’s all about the looks, sweetie 😉
Im curious about the reliability of this.
Sorry to sound hasty about it. But I mean, theres no sources. theres nothing except prices..
http://www.vodafone.co.nz/iphone/
well that site seems to have crashed and burned lol
… You werent wrong..
Vodafone not only have a crappy website, they have crappy plans as well.
A move like this from vodafone is absurd to say the least.
Yay telecom, here i come.
I cant wait for them to release the new sim system of theirs.
Hold on a mo’ it’s only 10.30 there – how come the prices have been up for an hour and a half when they were only released half an hour ago, hmm!!!
Its the mothership – travelled in time LOL
Oops. Must have been due to daylight savings, or a trick of the light 😉
It looks like everyone else thought about as much as we did 🙁
I wrote up my thoughts about this here: Apple iPhone in New Zealand: Vodafone’s Greed
Davids last blog post..Ruby on Rails: From Hackers to the Enterprise
Canada has http://www.ruinediphone.com
time to start a new one! NZL based.
There isnt a prepay option. That is the cost for the iphone on a normal plan.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4610626a28.html
Since this clown thinks it’s not expensive he can pay mine.
What a tool.
Hi everyone,
I was prepared to pay a premium price to use an iPhone because, like other Apple products, I thought I would see a better return on my invested time and money with real usefulness. These prices are insane though! So no Vodafone NZ iPhone for me unless they seriously adjust their prices.
I would gladly switch to Telecom if the offer reasonable rates despite not being a fan of their past business practices.
Y’all might be interested in other places people are voicing their displeasure:
http://www.macworld.com/article/134320/2008/07/canada_iphone.html – see comments
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/nzmac/petition.html
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/iphone_rip_off_New_Zealand/signatures.html
http://www.geekzone.co.nz/iphone/5335
http://www.polldaddy.com/poll.aspx?p=763628
Oh yeah, a few other blog posts, too:
http://blog.wellies.org/post/41384990/vodafones-iphone-rate-plans-why
http://acute-distress.com/post/41115499/iphone-release-t-minus-7-days
Cheers,
Walter
If you guys are feeling a bit angry, you could help by signing this petition 🙂 http://www.petitiononline.com/3giphone/petition.html
Andrew:
Yes they have. The days you remember at BellSouth/Vodafone are long gone.
Carly:
As outlined above, it a called opportunity.
Adam:
I guess you’re well and truly off the fence by now. Most wouldn’t blame you in the least.
Anna:
No. Apple are very strict about presentation, and there’s no way they’d let Vodafone put ‘bright red stickers’ all over it!
Energetic Bunny:
It looks like your worst fears have been confirmed. There’s now more talk than ever after plans like those.
GR81:
The Vodafone site was down for 45min. It’s what happens when one builds the hype and neglects to make sure the system can cope. Apple have become experts at this, so perhaps they could offer some assistance to their ISP partners to alleviate this.
Aaron:
I hope the reliability was to your liking 😉
David:
it looks as though we agree on a lot of points here.
Walter,
Thanks for that. Good to see we’re not alone in our commiserating over what looks to be very poor pricing.
The 3pm news has just been on the radio, and like the last 3 hourly updates, they’ve focused on the $6,000 TCO for the iPhone.
Marketing is about perception. Vodafone have made a massive error of judgement in this instance. The many and varied lines of communication mean that the majority of population are well versed on the true cost of items, and can easily compare prices here to overseas.
The company have made an attempt to extort cash from their customers, have been caught with both their hands in the proverbial cookie jar, and are getting their just desserts.
Now let us see if they do the wise thing and take note of the tremendous backlash, or carry on in their arrogant ways. The ball is firmly in their court.
http://blogs.nzherald.co.nz/blog/your-views/2008/7/8/what-do-you-think-vodafones-iphone-pricing-plan/?c_id=1501154
The Herald also has a long running thread of very unhappy people.
Civil disobedience is required. I choose not to buy an iPhone from Vodafone, should enough people choose this option Vodafone will be very red-faced indeed.
If you buy the iPhone by itself, you might be able to get the plan down to ~$50 a month using their You Choose Base 20 and the 200MB per month broadband. That is still too much for me. I have a Treo 600 on pre-paid, and put about $20 on every few months.
I think Vodafone are shooting themselves in the foot. I’d gladly pay $30 a month for broadband and do the rest on pre-paid, but they don’t do that. $50 per month is too much, let alone $80, or $250 (are they fucking insane?)
I hope they get dismal sales and realise that the should treat the iPhone just like any other phone, and get real when it comes to their monthly plans.
That’s not civil disobedience – that’s voting with your feet.
It’s capitalism and if Vodafone want to practice it by pricing the iPhone as they have then we have the right to practice by not purchasing iPhones.
Seems pretty simple to me!
Here’s a link to the John Campbell TV3 interview with Vodafone’s Head of Marketing – Mark Rushworth.
Interview Windows Media
Interview Quicktime
So far this has been all about individual plans, but what about users on corporate account plans?
What would an iPhone cost me in this instance? And would I be able to use it on my existing plan with no change in rates?
I had all my money ready to buy one of these ditch my current phone and plan which are still very good and queue up at freezing midnight but no. not now,not even if i could afford it after petrol food and Uncle Helens taxes would i go and support the monopoly of vodafone. whos running this telco? labour? this is sad and makes me very angry. Screw you vodafone im ashamed to still be on your network.
My brother is getting one in the UK.
Cost is about NZ$120/month but he gets 1200 minutes of calls and UNLIMITED data! And the iPhone is FREE!
This kind of device is only elevated from being a paperweight by the data capability, so VF have totally ruined it for everyone. If data can be unlimited elsewhere, why not in NZ?
[quote comment=””]My brother is getting one in the UK.
Cost is about NZ$120/month but he gets 1200 minutes of calls and UNLIMITED data! And the iPhone is FREE!
This kind of device is only elevated from being a paperweight by the data capability, so VF have totally ruined it for everyone. If data can be unlimited elsewhere, why not in NZ?[/quote]
Haha, remember, because its too expensive says the guy from voda. I took so little interest in what he said, i even forgot his name. All that came out of his mouth was bullshit.
I think hes gonna’ need excess toilet paper.. Maybe they should charge him a monthly rate for extra rolls.
Alex:
It appears Vodafone are standing firm for the time being. They appear to feel justified in what they want to charge to iPhone customers. Early adopters are being hit hard.
Dave:
I’m with Natalie on this. The free market allows Vodafone to price as they see fit, and the same free market allows consumers the choice as to whether to purchase or not. Of course, once another provider starts selling these in New Zealand, the gloves are off.
Justin:
They could quite well be mad. Greed can do that. Vodafone complain that not enough people use mobile data for economies of scale to set in, yet until they drop the price to a reasonable amount, it’s going to stay that way. If they expect consumers to sign up en masse and hope that in good time Vodafone reciprocate and drop prices, then they are not in touch with how things work in the real world.
Luke B:
Agreed. I have had hundreds of emails, texts, etc from a lot of angry people, including quite a number who are cancelling their Vodafone contracts out of principle. Number portability is a wonderful thing…
Marco:
That’s more like it. Given the competition in the UK though, we’re not likely to see a similar scenario here.
Aaron:
Sometimes it’s best to say nothing at all. Apple are masters at this, and I think Vodafone can take a lesson from Apple on this front. From the interview on Campbell, to the media and press statements so far, Vodafone come out looking worse and worse.
I can’t justify an iPhone at those prices. So they work better than anything else, but for that much they’re nothing more than a toy for the rich. Apple could sell 10 times as many if the price dropped by a few hundred here, Vodafone could have more people using the features and data (if they drop the way overprices charges on that too) and everyone would be happy.
I have lost all respect for Vodafone now. They used to be a little bit special but that’s well and truly gone out the window.
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