I Have One But I Don't

Finally I went and did it. I've got an iPhone. Well actually I DON'T.

Huh?

Today I went into Shinjuku to Bic Camera to get that phone. I decided on a white one. It took ages to process the application and just before I was ready to walk out of the store, the clerk got me to look over the phone to make sure I was happy with it.

Pretty quickly I saw a small dirt-sized spec on the white back that didn't come off. I know that I shouldn't be so precious with a white one, but before I walked out I wanted it to be flawless.

Unfortunately it couldn't be resolved straight away so I come home empty-handed.

I made a new contract even though I am with the same company. For new customer's contracts, the phone outright is 80,640 yen, but if you're an existing customer the same phone is 87,840 yen! Great customer service. Hmm.

So, I'm leaving my old, existing number connected to pay out the rest of my phone installments, and set up a new contract for the iPhone. (It would work out the same if I payed it off. Why should I give SB all that money upfront?)

So why did I pay for it in full? Points!

If you have a point card you can claim, usually a 10% of the purchase price towards something else. In this case it gives me 8000 yen to play with. Going to the phone company directly gives you zero, zilch.

Besides this bonus, from the third month of the contract SB will discount 1920 yen every month, the same as if I payed it off per month.

After 24, 27 months, the real price for the phone is 34,560 yen (with the 10% store credit this becomes 26,496 yen). So, it makes that big, scary upfront payment much more palatable now, right?

The downside?

The phone is locked to the evil phone company, even when the contract is completed. Hopefully in the near future some skilful persons will work out the phone unlock, or else I'll have to use one of those lil' chip sim cards that ride on top of your existing SIM to spoof the network.

Now I just have to wait for Bic Camera to call me with my baby.

Wow, almost $3000 in a matter of days! There'll be lots of days eating just rice from now on.