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The BlackBerry Storm has had its moment of glory in the shape of some pleasantly positive reviews, but while impressing in the hand and on the tech sheet is one thing, doing the same on your monthly statement is quite another. Vodafone have revealed their European pricing for the touchscreen RIM smartphone, and it’s certainly not cheap. The lowest of the four monthly plans, Perfect Choice Access 100 at €49.99 ($64), gets you the Storm for €109.99 ($141) but a mere 100 minutes and 100 text messages included, together with just 1GB of BlackBerry email.
Update: Tony points out in the comments that these are the Irish prices, rather than the general European figures. Unfortunately our Irish friends have had to get used to paying far more than the rest of us, which means that a) these prices are a relatively good deal in Ireland, and b) prices in the rest of Europe are likely to be considerably lower.
Ramp up through Perfect Choice Access 200, 400 and 600 and the messages and included minutes increase accordingly; the price also climbs dramatically, at €64.99 ($83), €84.99 ($109) and €99.99 ($128) respectively. At least that gets you a cheaper handset, with the Storm itself priced at €64.99, €69.99 (which I think is an error and should be more like €59.99) and €49.99; no free option, which will surprise and frustrate many European users. All subscribers also get mobile TV access and ten music track downloads. Extra data over and above the included 1GB is priced at €2 per megabyte.
That means the cheapest way to get a BlackBerry Storm on Vodafone in Europe will cost €1,309.75 ($1,678)over what’s presumably a 24-month contract. Ouch, or, as Engadget say, “yes, seriously”. Verizon are yet to announce their pricing plans.
Incidentally, The BGR has done some digging with their sources at Verizon and confirmed that yes, it’s that carrier’s fault that the BlackBerry Storm has neither tri-band HSDPA nor WiFi. Begin penning angry letters now.
[Image via Gizmodo]
OK..
Everyone is reading this completely wrong. Siliconrepublic is an irish site and is quoting the IRISH prices. Ireland is known for it’s very high mobile rates (both the monthly fees and the cost of the handsets) until very very recently, there wasn’t even a way to get a handset for “free”.
So, PLEASE do the research properly, the prices that Vodafone are offering are very good when compared with the current offerings (i’m paying 85euro a month for 400mins, 400sms and 1gb of data – so for an extra 5euro I get 1gb of “live” access, 10 music tracks and Blackberry email, and that’s fine with me) on the IRISH market (Vodafone, to my knowledge hasn’t confirmed prices for anywhere else in Europe. Please correct me if i’m wrong)
Seriously, If anyone from slashgear would like to contact me directly please feel free to do so!
T.
(Note, while a network may operate under the “vodafone” brand, it is essentially run separately from the “mothership”. I know for 100% fact that Vodafone IRELAND, assess their own handsets for launch as well as the content available in their protal. Granted, vodafone branded handsets will get preference, but if you compare the handsets available in the UK Vodafone, they will be different (and usually a lot less selection). SO just because one of Vodafones networks sets a certain price doesn’t mean it’ll be the same for all Vodafone networks. Infact, Ireland’s prices will more than likely be the most expensive option, just wait and see!)
Thanks Tony – and I’m sorry you guys over there have to pay so much more! I’ve updated our post accordingly.
Ouch. That one hurts the pocket. Seriously!
….thats pretty cheap. thats $70 a month. That is what you would be paying for an iphone anyway. BGR is against RIM as you can see from all of their ‘reviews’ of any blackberry product. They went against every other review to say that the tactile touch response was disappointing. However, even they couldn’t deny how beautiful the storms screen was. That means even against blackberrys they had something good to say. Keep an eye on what they report, they aren’t fans of blackberrys.
the reason why vodafone ireland didnt choose the handset to be wi-fi is simple… the package plan comes with 1gb of mobile internet useage. i use my handset constantly for youtube/email etc etc and never come close to exceeding 500mb of internet. thankfully the handset is hsdpa and works wonders with the net. unlike o2 falsely advertising there iphone speed. unless ya have a wi-fi connection ya could be waiting a while for a page to load up. grrrr…… if only vodafone bring out the iphone, i would be happy.
YOUR INFORMATION IS WRONG.
This phone is NOT expensive for what you get.
I payed £25 a month for free internet, free mobile , 250 cross network mins and 100 texts. Phone was free on 2 year contract.
I can increase mins or texts if I require. I guess it depends where you buy it.
That is cheaper than iphone, n96 and few others and its so much better.
Awesome phone. Very pleased so far.