Anyone want a 'free' iPhone 3G? Those who do must be prepared to lock into a two-year contract that will cost HK$498 a month with unlimited use of mobile data and basic airtime of 2,200 minutes. Hutchison Telecom Hong Kong yesterday unveiled a four-tiered tariff programme for the iPhone 3G in an aggressive attempt to lure new customers. The operator, which had a share of more than 50 per cent of the city's 2.2 million local 3G mobile subscribers in March, today began online pre-registration for customers eager to secure the new iPhone 3G handset from iPod maker Apple before its official release on July 11. There are three elements to a subscriber plan: the monthly charge; the cost of the handset; and an upfront payment which subscribers get back over the course of a two-year contract. For a free 8-gigabyte iPhone 3G subscribers must pay HK$4,680 upfront; a 16-gigabyte iPhone 3G handset costs HK$138, but the upfront payment is a further HK$5,322. Hutchison's cheapest plan costs HK$188 a month, with 500 megabytes of data and 500 minutes' basic airtime. The upfront payment is HK$1,742 and the handset HK$2,938. When Apple chief executive Steve Jobs launched the iPhone 3G last month, he said the 8-gigabyte model would cost US$199. Amy Lung Pui-ying, Hutchison Telecom's chief operating officer, said: 'We are enabling customers to fully embrace the [use of] mobile internet by redefining mobile tariffs. 'We foresee the new generation of customers will no longer go after call plans with excessive call minutes; rather they will look for price plans that offer complete ease of mind when consuming mobile data.' One analyst said using 500 megabytes of data with other operators would cost an additional HK$300 to HK$500 a month on top of the basic 3G tariffs. An Apple spokesman in Hong Kong said it expected strong demand from all 22 markets in Asia which start selling iPhones next week.
