Herald, PC World readers call iPhone pricing an 'iRipOff'

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'Outrageous' says one, 'ridiculous' says another

By Rob O'Neill | Auckland | Tuesday, 8 July, 2008

Readers of the New Zealand Herald have given Vodafone a big thumbs down on its pricing options for the iPhone today.

The overwhelming sentiment on the feedback page was negative with just a few brave ones stepping up in defence of the tiered pricing model announced by Vodafone today.

"Once again Vodafone's pricing is outrageous. Vodafone know that it's not simple to switch to Telecom (due to the weird network Telecom uses for mobile) and have been milking it for years," writes "Stoolpigeon" of Auckland.

"Jill" of Dannemora says Vodafone customers are being handed to Telecom on a platter.

"Andrew McC", of Welcome Bay, defended the plans, pointing out that theiPhone plan looked tempting - compared to the Vodafone data plan he is already one.

Others used words like "ripped off" and "an insult" and brought up other slights such as recent instances of wrongful charging for Vodafone Live usage. One called for a boycott of the iPhone and another for a protest at the Friday launch.

Still others suggested using the iPhone on wi-fi only.

"J" of Mt Roskill said hopefully "this will be the catalyst for the government to shake these rip-off artists up. What a joke - shot themselves in the foot on this one."

Readers of the PC World Press F1 forum were similarly unimpressed.

"Jermsie" wrote: "It's pathetic to say the very least. I'll probably have a chuckle at any knob who buys one now."

"Its a god damn phone — reality check — make calls, Okay it can do lots of other things but not at that price thanks — I'll stick to my standard prepay phone," wrote "Wainuitech". "Nofam" wrote simply: "Yup ...Vodafone pricing = Epic Fail".

"CYaBro" was positive, saying the prices looked okay.

"My last bill was $127.91 on the choose 250 plan plus TXT 100. So for around the same price I can get the 250 minutes plus 600 txts plus 500MB of data."