Globe iPhone plans… WHAT!?

Wow, it’s been a looong time since my last post. A lot has happened in the Tech world since then, but none as significant for this TechAdok as the announcement of iPhone 3G. Other phones may have more features, but none of them have captured the imagination of the Tech public like this device. My favorite “feature” of the phone? The App Store. I’m a very happy owner of an iPod Touch since March this year (the latest firmware is very nice & stable), and the Store has almost made me forget that my baby can also play music & videos. So, when I heard that the iPhone 3G was finally announced by Globe, I was tickled pink, and a little apprehensive. Will I regret buying an iPod Touch?

Well, after going to their iPhone page, hmmmm… words cannot describe my disappointment. Still, I tried to understand why Globe released such crazy plans for the iPhone. Here are two reasons I came up with:

1. Globe wants to match the price of the iPod Touch. If you remember, when the iPhone was originally launced in June last year, there was no iPod Touch, so people had no price reference. When the Touch was released, Apple “paired” the pricing of the two devices – you could get an iPhone (with contract) at the same price as an iPod Touch that has twice the capacity. That’s how it was, until the iPhone 3G was announced. Now, you could get an iPhone (with contract again) at the same price as an iPod Touch that only has half the capacity. That’s where the notorious “US$199″ for the 8GB came from, because if you check Amazon, the current SRP for an 8GB Touch (without discount) is US$299. The highest price for 8GB iPhone with special iPhone plan from Globe (PhP16,800 for Plan 1599) is roughly the price for a 16GB iPod Touch, so it’s possible that they used Apple’s “old” policy as a starting point.
   
2. Globe has much cheaper plans than AT&T. If you go to AT&T’s iPhone FAQ, you can see that the cheapest plan is US$69.99 / month. The best match for the Globe iPhone Plans is Plan 3999. At that plan, the 8GB iPhone 3G is only PhP5,600. So, it would seem that we are actually getting a better deal here. I’m sure Apple also gets a share of the monthly revenue from Globe, so this could explain the higher price point.

Okay, those are the only 2 reasons I could think of and, to be honest, they are quite easy to rebut. The first reason could be countered with the fact I stated in that same paragraph: Apple’s new policy is to price the iPhone at a much lower price point than the iPod Touch. So, assuming that Globe isn’t too happy about a sub-PhP10K 8GB iPhone, they could have just matched the current price of the 8GB iPod Touch. Not only that, eBay & Greenhills are other sources of the iPhone, so they must always take those into account in coming up with their prepaid kit price. Gosh, now that’s painful to the eyes!

The second reason could be countered by saying that there is a large difference between the standard of living here and in the US. Therefore, it would be absurd to compare mobile phone plan rates directly. Besides that, our country is already a gold mine for telecom companies like Globe. Revenues on SMS alone would make carriers in other countries envious. So, it would have been just right if Globe charged a fair price for the iPhone and its unique monthly plans.

With that, I present the TechAdok iPhone Plans. I only changed the areas that are relevant to the selling points of the device, so the number of free minutes & SMS could stay as is. I hope Globe takes a cue from this chart so that the iPhone will be available through “legal” channels at a fair price:

TechAdok iPhone 3G Plans

I’m sure that Globe & Apple will still make a killing with the above rates. As for the Prepaid Kit, the 8GB could go for PhP29,999 while the 16GB could be sold at PhP34,999. Remember, that’s locked to Globe, so people still have to go through hoops to get the device unlocked. At the same time, that’s much closer to the “market” price on eBay & in Greenhills. Come on Smart & Sun, when it’s your turn to sell the iPhone, please please don’t disappoint us

UPDATE #1: Check out this list of iPhone 3g pricing worldwide. Gosh Globe, I really don’t know what to say..

UPDATE #2: Hmm, it seems that Globe is feeling the heat. I checked the Globe iPhone page again and, guess what, they lowered their prices by roughly 10%. Thanks for the effort Globe, but still no dice..