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The iPhone 3G is likely to cost around AED3,000 to buy in the UAE when it goes on sale, followed by a monthly AED500 monthly charge, industry sources say.
Etisalat said on Monday that they will be launching Apple’s iconic phone in the UAE, and in Saudi Arabia through Mobily, later this month.
Pricing details have yet to be announced, but according to industry experts Arabian Business has spoken to, customers may have to pay around AED3,000 ($817) for the handset followed by a AED500 ($136) monthly charge.
That would make it significantly more expensive than in the UK, where O2, a subsidiary of Spain’s Telefonica, provides the handset free of charge on a monthly GBP45 ($65) payment plan.
In the US, AT&T charges $199 for the iPhone under a two year payment plan, where the monthly charge starts at $70 per month in the New York City area, in addition to a $36 activation fee.
“You would have thought there would be quite a strong interest,” one analyst said of the UAE market.
“It’s a relatively affluent market. You only have to stroll around the malls to see high end handsets and smartphones.”
One reason for the iPhone’s late entry into the Gulf market could be Apple’s lucrative revenue sharing agreement with iPhone operators, which was axed for the iPhone 3G, he added.
The UAE Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) had previously said that the iPhone may never come to the UAE since an exclusive contract with one of the country’s two telecom operators would be in breach of its “principle of fair competition”.
