Apple's new and much-talked-about iPhone 3G was announced on June 9 with the now famous line "Twice as fast, half the price". Steve Jobs, Apple's big boss, first said that the new iPhone would cost as low as $199, revealing no further details about exactly how and where that was going to happen.

Despite the fact that most users hoped this would be the retail price of the handset, it is actually what it sells for only if you buy the 8GB version of the smartphone together with an AT&T contract agreement for two years. The 16GB iPhone 3G will cost you $299, with the same two-year contract agreement, and neither of the versions can be bought without signing a contract. Therefore, the real amount of money that users have to give (in order to own an iPhone 3G for two years) is not at all encouraging, going over the 1,000 USD mark.

In Europe, where prices for mobile devices are generally different than the ones from the US, the iPhone 3G can come even for free. That's what O2, UK's largest mobile operator says. But in order to get the handset for free you have to pay 45 GBP (88 USD) monthly, for at least 18 months. In the end, you get to pay no less than 810 GBP (1,580 USD or 1,025 Euros) for the joy of owning an iPhone 3G.

In Italy, Vodafone announced it would offer the iPhone 3G for the following prices: 499 Euros (about 770 USD) for the 8GB version and 569 Euros (about $880) for the 16GB one. These are the prices without any contract and without any data plan, of course. With a contract agreement, Italian users will be able to get the handset for less, but the "less" part is only for show, because with the fees they have to pay on a monthly basis, the overall price is far from what Steve Jobs initially said.

The conclusion is that the iPhone 3G does not actually come for "half the price" when compared to the first generation iPhone. It would have been really nice if it had.

Besides Italy and the UK, iPhone 3G will also be available in about all the other European countries. 14 European markets will get the smartphone starting July 11, while the rest must wait for the end of 2008 to receive the touchscreen smartphone.

For the main differences between the iPhone 3G and the previous iPhone, feel free to visit this article. It might help you decide whether the new handset is worth buying it or not.