Just to portray a different side of Vodafone. In Croatia (which has more new phones in use than Austria actually) Vodafone is represented through 'VIP net' who in their brochure say:

HTC Desire 2199kn(407$) on a $28/2 y contract

HTC Legend same like Desire(!)

Full price for these mobiles is 833$ and 647$ respectively.

And just to put things into perspective, 28$ in Cro is more like 100$.

Free? There were never free phones, but you can get some old low class mobby for 2$.

So stop complaining :)