The sheer hotness-factor of Apple’s iPhone is enough to build up a certain amount of hype for the device’s Friday launch on its own, but Vodafone too has played its part over the last week, teasing the public with promises of “exciting iPhone 3G plans” and going on to say that the phone would start at just $199. Too good to be true, right?

Right. Today the plans were finally announced as follows:

So the promised $199 option is there, but unfortunately you will be paying $250 per month for 24 months for that privilege. The more realistic option is paying $699 for the 16GB phone and then $80 per month; but even that is astronomical for someone like myself who currently spends about $20 per month on prepay.

I was very very eager for an iPhone… no longer. I have no doubt that the iPhone will sell well - it’s not like this is the first time an Apple device has been overpriced - but personally I’m not prepared to spend such a large sum of money and tie myself into a phone contract I don’t need just to keep up with the Joneses.

Bring on the prepay option.

On a side note, Vodafone’s web site took a hammering and was completely inaccessible from 10am through to around 12pm as people flocked to see the pricing. Considering that Vodafone is the largest mobile telecommunications company in the world, this is pretty poor.

What’s more, as of 6pm Vodafone hasn’t emailed me anything about the new plans. Glad I registered my interest early!