Depending on the plan selected, Deutsche Telekom customers will be able to purchase an iPhone at a deep discount, the company said on Monday.
Apple's new subsidized pricing scheme has resulted in its carriers offering the 3G iPhones at substantial discounts in certain cases. O2 already announced last week that it will give the 3G iPhone away for free to those who sign up for its higher-priced plans.
So far, AT&T has not announced any type of variable pricing for potential buyers of the 3G iPhone in the US.
Much the same will be true in the case of Germany. Customers of the €69.00 monthly plan will be able to purchase the 8 GB iPhone for €1.00, with the 16 GB iPhone available for €19.95.
With the basic 29 euro-per-month budget plan, the phones will retail for €169.95 and €249.95 respectively, the company said. At those prices with the conversion to American dollars, the 8 GB comes well above the $199 USD "maximum" Steve Jobs set at $261.28.
Either way, Apple's revenue sharing requirement slackening seems to have European carriers scrambling to make the device as attractive as possible to consumers. This is due to the fact that European phones are already so heavily subsidized that consumers have come to expect them. Sales of the original iPhone in Europe, while somewhat brisk, certainly didn't approach the level of the States.
Apple expects to have the iPhone in as many as 70 countries by the end of this year, probably through agreements such as this one.
