The iPhone will become available on the 22nd August in several new countries around the world. This is part of the grand Apple roll out of iPhone in over 70 countries.

I watch the original announcement by Steve Jobs said the iPhone 3G 8GB model would sell for $199. He said “We think the iPhone 3G will be affordable to almost everyone.”

He then added “In almost all these countries the price is a maximum of $199″

Great! Excellent, but it isn’t true…

I live in an EU country and today I got an email from Orange with the prices for the new iPhone 3G coming out on Friday.

If you have a contract with Orange already and you don’t want to change your contract then the iPhone will cost 469 Euros which is the equivalent of $692. That is 347% more expensive.

If you get a new special iPhone contract for 46 Euros ($67) per month then the iPhone will only cost you 409 Euros ($602) with a 1 year contract and 249 Euros ($367) for a 2 year contract. That is 184% more expensive.

Over 2 years you will pay $1608 dollars in monthly subscriptions and 367 for the phone giving a grand total of nearly $2000.

The cheapest possible price for getting a handset is if you go with the 70 Euro ($103) a month subscription (with a 2 year contract) and then the iPhone will only cost 179 Euros which is $263. The total you pay over 2 years would be $2735.

So the $199 iPhone is a myth.