Austria and Ireland say hello to iPhone

Apple iPhone has made its next steps in Europe. As of today the iPhone will be officially offered in Austria and Ireland too. The exclusive carrier for Austria is T-Mobile (same as in Germany), while the place to get it in Ireland is the O2 network (same as in UK).

Now anyone interested in the Apple iPhone already knows what it's all about, so we won't be getting into details about the handset itself. Instead we will concentrate on pricing and the available contracts.

O2 in Ireland will be selling the Apple iPhone for the same price of 399 euro for the 8GB version and 499 euro for the 16GB one. Signing a 18-months contract with O2 will get you access to the three available tariffs.

For 45 euro per month you get 175 minutes of talk time, 100 messages and 1GB of wireless EDGE traffic. For 65 euro per month you get 350 minutes of talk time, 150 messages and 1GB of wireless EDGE traffic. And finally, for 100 euro per month you would be able to enjoy 700 minutes of talk time, 250 messages and 1GB of wireless EDGE traffic. Visual voicemail is not available and data traffic exceeding 1GB will be charged at 2 eurocents per MB. You can find more about the tariffs here at O2 online store.

Interestingly enough, it seems there is an option that allows you not to enter or stay in contract with O2. In this way you will not be able to use the phone functionality of the iPhone - this right here sounds like an opened door to all jailbreakers, virginizers and unlockers in Ireland. Say hello to the iPhone!

In Austria the iPhone will come with a choice of two subscription plans. None of these includes unlimited data but the 3GB provided seem enough to us. The Classic subscription plan includes also 1000 minutes of calls in all networks and costs 39 euro per month.

The more expensive Supreme plan will set you back 55 euro a month but includes quite a lot more extras. The Supreme users will have 1000 minutes of call in the T-mobile networks, 1000 minutes to fixed networks and 1000 minutes for the other networks. The texters will also appreciate the 1000 included SMS in this plan. Visual voicemail is again not available.

No matter which plan you choose the 8GB version of the Apple iPhone is going to cost you 399 euro, while its 16GB sibling is valued at 499 euro. You can find more about the tariffs here at T-Mobile website.