VoIP on iPhone attractive but pricey

Hype over Apple's soon-to-be-released iPhone has included suggestions that it could use VoIP, but one analyst has pointed out that this would come at a price.

The iPhone's Wi-Fi connectivity could in theory allow it to switch over to VoIP calls fairly easily, especially if Apple's design team comes up trumps again and merges normally complex actions into a simple click.

But Tristan McIntyre on industry blog Mac.Blorge.com points out that the high price of the iPhone when it goes on sale, coupled with monthly bills and call costs, may negate any good feeling customers get from free VoIP calls.

The iPhone is currently set to hit the American market with prices set at $600 (£300) for the phone alone, while buyers will also have to sign up to a contract with provider AT&T which will charge monthly fees.

Mr McIntyre writes: "At $600 before monthly fees, two year contract and data plan, it's quite hard to be excited about the random free phone call when you're in range of a Wi-Fi connection - 'I just spent hundreds and hundreds of dollars to make a few free VoIP phone calls when I'm within Wi-Fi range! Yay!' - it loses the effect."

Apple's iPhone has received a good deal of media attention due to the success of the iPod over the last few years, however it has been criticised for the high price, being sold only through one operator, being larger than many other current phones and the touch screen being prone to attract grease.

American consumers will soon get their hands on the iPhone, but British buyers will have to wait until 2008 before it is released in the UK.