EDIT: *facepalm* Blah, looks like I did miss a *very* important detail - The ones on the Apple US store are on AT&T plans. My mistake! You can disregard the rest of this post now, haha :)

Hi all,

I just ordered an iPhone online today from the Apple NZ store (16GB 3GS). While the price was high I was not really surprised at what it was - seems to be about average around here. So I went ahead and ordered.

But now I just looked a the Apple US store and saw the exact same thing for USD$199 (~NZD$275 at the moment). USD$199?? I like to buy locally and really couldn't be bothered with any warrenty issues hence my purchase from the local Apple store, but wow.

I could have imported one from the states, and if I needed to make a warrenty claim, just buy another. And then do that 2 more times. And then we'd be at about the same cost.

What's up with that? I'm no stranger to paying price premiums in NZ but that is just crazy. Is there a decent reason for this? Or did I miss an important detail?

I'm sure I'll be happy with my purchase but I can't help but feel massively ripped off :(

[PS apologies if this has been discussed to death, I did a very quick search but didn't turn up anything specific]