Vodafone pricing plans for iPhone 4 leak out

If a company is launching a new product, details of that new product are usually kept in levels of security that even the Pentagon might find a little excessive.  Not so at Vodafone where the entire tariff structure for the iPhone 4 was leaked out yesterday.  The cynical among you might suggest that this reeks of a PR stunt to get Vodafone ahead of its rivals but as the tariffs are set at prices that would make Roman Abramovich blush we would have to disagree.

For starters, if you want a free 16GB iPhone 4 then you will have to sign up to a contract for two years at £45 per month.  This tariff comes with 1200 minutes and unlimited texts as well as a healthy 1GB data allowance but it is still on the expensive side.  We would also doubt whether any phone would last for two years so we assume you’ll be expected to pay an extra fiver on top of that for insurance purposes.  So you are probably talking £50 per month FOR TWO YEARS.  We happen to think this is a bit extortionate when you can get a good Android handset like the HTC desire for around £35 per month on the same network.

For 18 month plans you simply have to add another five pounds, so to get a free iPhone 4 16GB you’ll have to pay £50.  Now unless you’re the owner of Manchester City Football Club you may feel that these prices are a touch expensive.  Apple and Vodafone would argue that to get a premium product you have to pay premium prices but we would argue that we are in the worst economic climate since the war and customers deserve a bit of a break.  There are a few plusses, the most expensive that buying a 16GB model gets is £189 which is relatively decent value.

The 32GB model is really where prices go through the roof.  You can only get a free iPhone 4 if you are prepared to pay £60 per month on a 24 month contract or £65 per month on an 18 month contract.  For the more palatable £45 per month 18 month contract you will have to pay £149 for the iPhone 4.

So there you have it.  Vodafone’s plans have been laid bare for all to see, albeit only for a short time, but enough for a keen eyed engadget reader to let us all know what the big red network has planned.  The question you have to ask yourself at the launch of the iPhone 4 is whether that 1GB data allowance is worth the extra money.  We’ll give you more details of the other networks deals as soon as we get them.