iPhone 3G S in SA today

Johannesburg, 31 Jul 2009

Arguably the most expensive mobile device, the Apple iPhone 3G S, hit South African shores today, with little fanfare.

Yesterday, Europe operations sent an e-mail to customers saying the new iPhone model will be available in stores in a number of countries, including SA. Vodacom released a single line statement this morning with the same information.

The company also released the pricing of the long-awaited next-generation iPhone, which appears to have similar cost structures to its predecessor. Many customers will be dismayed that the costs are still high.

For a full breakdown of the offerings from Vodacom, click here.

While the company has not released the retail cost of the device, some of the Apple resellers and Vodacom stores around Cape Town estimate the 32GB model will come in at R10 686 and the 16GB will cost around R9 200.

“I have never seen prices for a cellphone like this before,” says an employee at one of the Vodacom outlets.

Gaynor MacArthur, a director at Apple premium reseller Digicape, confirms these prices are in line with what she has been told.

“Not only that, but choice is limited at the moment to just the white colour, as no black models are in the country yet.”

MacArthur says she will get just enough stock to satisfy her pre-order customers, who were able to book their phones until 11am yesterday. She notes Digicape has about 60 phones booked by customers.

“Another slight hiccup was that we had to all suddenly comply with RICA and there was a bit of rush to do that,” MacArthur says.

A Vodacom spokesperson says that, while the phones will be available today, a proper launch will be held in the coming week. “However, we are really concerned that stocks are limited and so we don't want to raise expectations at the moment.”