ChannelLife New Zealand - Industry insider news for technology resellers
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Thu, 2nd Jun 2011
FYI, this story is more than a year old

Today the New Zealand Herald reported Vodafone has increased the price of iPhone 4s, despite no increase in price from manufacturer Apple.

The site reported the cost of a 16GB iPhone 4, on a two-year contract, prior to the rise would have been $619. New customers would be in for $949. The difference in price for a 32GB iPhone 4 pre and post price rise was $799 to $1129.

According to the Herald, a Vodafone spokesperson said the price changes were the result of a "commercial decision", which could be due to many factors including exchange rate.

As of this writing, the New Zealand dollar is at one of its strongest levels ever against the US dollar. Although an iPhone 4 can not be purchased direct from Apple's US website (without a contract through US carriers AT&T or Verizon), the phone is available unlocked through Amazon and ebay for around US$525. At current exchange rates that works out to around $700 before shipping is taken into account.

Although Vodafone is the only mobile carrier in New Zealand to offer the iPhone directly, it will work with the SIM cards of other carriers.