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- frem001, on 10/11/2007, -1/+60The FT and the Times say that it won't have 3G, if that is true Apple can kiss ***** loads of customers good-bye and Nokia can breathe easy for a bit. Honestly no 3G on such a device will limit it's appeal. That might be acceptable in the US but that ***** don't fly in Europe.
- petewhite, on 10/11/2007, -2/+27No one will buy a phone then a contract for that amount. Most people in the UK are used to getting the phone for free - if you look at the rivals like the Nokia N95 that is free with most £30/month or more contracts. It doesn't matter how good the iPhone is - no one will shell out £300 for it.
- JoeBaynham, on 10/11/2007, -10/+30Thumbs up! o2 is the best network I have ever been with! Unlike Orange with I could barely get one bar where I live. London.
- ImDaveK, on 10/11/2007, -0/+16Well it seems to be on the BBC website too.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6272226.stm - beaker82, on 10/11/2007, -1/+17o2 don't tend to make their own phones. o2's XDA range are actually rebranded HTC phones. You may notice that t-mobile have a MDA range, again which are also just rebranded HTC phones.
- theoallardyce, on 10/11/2007, -3/+15So for the US readers here, the most expensive 8GB iPhone will retail for around £600 or $1200, you will then need a 2 year contract (including data) with O2, assuming current 3G rates that will be about £40 a month for 2 gigs of data, thats £960 or $1920 for two years not including extra calls or mandatory return-to-Apple maintenance every 6 months when your unremovable battery dies.
$3120 or £1560 for a first generation Apple product when you know a better version is right around the corner, sounds about right. - joeydoo, on 10/11/2007, -1/+13"American Phone" haha.
The iphone is designed by a brit and manufactured in China.... Apple is a multinational organisation and anyone can buy it's stock. "American phone" has little meaning. - pilotlite, on 10/11/2007, -0/+11As far as I can make out 02 don't have EDGE in the UK. Unless we're getting iPhone 1.1 with 3G then we'll be stuck with GPRS and it's maximum d/l speed of 80kbps ( 3 times slower than EDGE ).
- geekchic, on 10/11/2007, -7/+17O2's press office has just denied this story is true.
- pinguy, on 10/11/2007, -2/+10I hope o2 is good. I was hoping they were going to go with T-Mobile as thats what I use now.
The price seems a bit to high at £300 (and I am guessing thats for the 4GB version) as you can get really good phones like the W950i for free and its 3G.
Reviews:
http://www.engadget.com/2006/02/13/sony-ericssons-new-4gb-w950i-walkman-phone/
http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/mobiles/0,39030106,49287113,00.htm
Free on O2 and Vodafone with contract:
http://www.theorder.co.uk/phones/Sony%20Ericsson/W950i - thefrenzy, on 10/11/2007, -0/+73G means faster internet access. I have a T-Mobile MDA Vario II (T-Mob branded HTC TyTn/Hermes). This phone has HSDPA as well as 3G so I can get speeds of up to 1.8 MB/s in urban areas. I can also hook it up to my laptop and use it as a modem to access company VPN/internet at broadband speeds.
3G was missold in the early days as being just for video, that's just not what it's mostly used for in business circles.
T-Mobile also offer decent flat-rate data tariffs (Web 'n' Walk) which even allow VOIP on the highest tier.
If you are doing any serious business with a phone, 3G is a must these days. - LlamaV3, on 10/11/2007, -0/+7I won't believe it until O2 or Apple announce it.
- soul12, on 10/11/2007, -1/+8calm down. it's just a phone.
- rick2k, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6If it doesnt have 3G in europe no body is going to buy it. all our smartphones have had 3g for ages :/
- TheLD, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6They are rolling out 4G in the UK this christmas.
- avatarpalin, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6I am digging you up just for using the term 'that ***** don't fly in Europe'.....
Kudos!! - synagence, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6O2's data charges are amonst the most expensive ....
T-Mobile has the best data pricing ... voda's is slightly better than it was .... O2 is £3($6)/Mb....that ***** don't fly at all!
Plus apple better sort out the software failings like MMS for EU rollout - inactive, on 10/11/2007, -2/+8Oh crap.
We'll need a mortgage.
Crap service, miserable coverage, thanks Apple.
Why do the Brits always get shafted with this stuff ?
I can imagine Sean Beans commentary on the adverts...."The Apple iPhone, only on O2, sell one of your limbs, or, an unused sibling...." - gfnw, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6Pretty much all electronics are relatively expensive here, exchange rates be damned. There have been cases in the past where something that cost $300 in the US cost £300 here, twice the price.
- Kaybar007, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5 I pay £30 a month on a contract and I got the N95, but it cost me £150. Still, it's such a brilliant phone I don't mind. Money well spent IMO.
- graduate, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5It didn't literally trickle, did it?
- saralk, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5You can move your number to any network in the UK, just phone customer services and ask for a PAC code, then give that PAC code to your new network.
- Crispuk, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5Im in this mindset too.
- frem001, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5I don't think it would be any bigger, samsung and sony can fit 3.5G into really thin enclosures and i'd sacrifice battery life to have a better browsing experience. Something like an iPhone will need to be charged once a day anyway, especially with my usage of the music part. Also when Steve mentioned the 3G problem it was quite a while ago. Maybe there are more efficient components on the market at this time.
- richardiscool, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5That's not the point. That Sony Ericsson would be £250 if it weren't subsidised by the network.
If they aren't going to subsidise the iPhone, they're going to struggle. We don't pay for phones here. - beaker82, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5What a load of rubbish, orange has a terrible reception. I'm on o2 and my colleague is on orange. We travel to meetings etc.. all over the country and 9 times out of 10. I have half to full signal, his is always a lot worse signal (we have identical phones).
Agreed the customer service isn't great. I left orange years ago because it didn't work very well where i lived (6+ years later it still hasn't improved), yet orange every year still ring me up telling me i have an upgrade available... and every year i tell them i'm no longer an orange customer! - lastrite, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Hope it's true so I don't have to change my number :S
I might wait for a 2nd gen iphone though. - Tippis, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Just to be annoying, I'll repost what I said in the T-Mobile/German iPhone post yesterday since it got lost in the flow, to give the across-the-ponders an idea of the markets around here.
This goes for Sweden (which, admittedly, is an ICT-crazy market, so it might not be indicative of the rest of Europe - if you other Europeans have similar data for your country, I'd be interested in seeing it):
In a country of ~9 million inhabitants, we have 9.6 million mobile contracts (half of which are pay-as-you-go "cash cards") including 1.2 million 3G contracts. On average, every single person aged 15 and up has his or her own private phone contract. On average, every third working adult also gets a work phone assigned to him or her.
We have 4 major network providers, 15 major carriers, and a total of ~50 registered companies which provide some for of cell phone voice call services...
While you may lose some back-end services for doing so (eg push mail for Blackberries, or, in the case of the iPhone, VVM), all phones must be unlockable and must work on all available carriers and networks.
In short, it's quite a different game from the US market, for which the iPhone was originally designed... - Tippis, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4That's the whole problem here:
Quite a lot of people don't use the 3G features on their phones because of UI and screen limitation. The iPhone does not have that limitation, but is instead limited by a very poor choice in network technology, which is likely to mean that it will not be used either.
In a nutshell, this first incarnation of the iPhone is a *huge* missed opportunity on Apple's part -- had they included all the commonplace phone functions, its UI would have suddenly made 3G worthwhile. They would have broken the last seal and could have been the first to ride the floodwave that came out of it. Instead, they cripple their phone and give other, more experienced, manufaturers ample time to improve their connectivity experience... because that's the only thing those other phones are lacking right now. - GMorgan, on 10/11/2007, -2/+6Bollocks to that. We have a very sound mobile phone market that quite frankly is light years ahead of the American equivalent. This is probably why the iPhone has been such a success there while most Europeans are scratching their heads at the flaws in the device.
Remember everyone in Britain has had a mobile phone for about 8/9 years now. Apple are entering a mature market that will be much more critical than it's American equivalent. - richardiscool, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4PradaPete, like the iPod was designed by Apple in California? When it was actually designed by Jonathan Ive - a British guy?
Same for the iMac... - prockcore, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Only on GSM. On CDMA, 3G actually uses less battery.
- meatmcguffin, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Don't be an idiot. The iPhone has SMS but not MMS.
- allenb, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Can I ask where you heard this?
Only becaues the O2 Media Centre doesn't have any press releases related to the iPhone: http://mediacentre.o2.co.uk/content/default.asp?NewsAreaID=2 - GMorgan, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5Not just that. We sign a contract and get a 3G phone with greater technical capability (like the ability to send SMS messages ;) ) for free. Not £300 for a weak phone and then a contract, better phones for free with the contract.
Apple are entering a vicious market here in Europe where there are plenty of sharks. Their main marketing tool 'oh it's Apple so is cool' will also have far less resonance here, the UK is potentially the most cynical country on the planet and will pick apart any flaws in any device. - graduate, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Agreed. Without 3G many web applications will be a real pain to use.
By the time it comes out in the UK there will probably be a new model anyway. - edebolt, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Do Apples profits go up in the UK due to the favorable export currency exchange rate or does it get sucked up with VAT and import tariffs? I seem to recall that other Apple products like the Ipod were relatively expensive in the UK.
- Crispuk, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Source?
- Splutterbug, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3Very good news for anyone getting one of these in the UK, I've used lots of different company's and O2 has best signal and customer services.
Still can't really see anyone spending £300 on a phone, I imagine these will be free on a high call plan, wouldn't work any other way. It's also good news for anyone that doesn't want one of these, as Nokia and others will be pulling out all the stops for an iphone beater. - joeydoo, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3How much would I pay for an ipod.... "with 8GB of storage??" would be a better question.
I agree that, vs. the American price, "only" £300 is in line with the the cost increase of VAT..... BUT that's only if £300 is for the 8GB model. If the 8 gig is more than £300 it's NOT good. What do you think is likely? I'm betting the £300 is for the 4GB.
And your point on it "not being an ordinary phone" is wrong. It's feature-set makes it "sub-ordinary". If they make it right with the second one then I'm in because the UI is cool. But I'm not going to enter years worth of contract (AND have to pay for the privilege!) for just a swanky UI. I would rather wait out for a proper new ipod when they release it. That will surely have have the same UI but will also have some proper storage. - richardiscool, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3O2 haven't produced any phones themselves. They do however release HTC phones under the O2 brand names, which are awesome phones.
- pressure, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3Me neither.
There were rumours that they were about to offer a data rate to beat 3 and T-Mobile. Turned out to be a laughable 20mb for £10 a month. - Thomasson, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4Great. The same o2 who screwed up my account so i couldn't ring out, then sent debt collectors after me when they misbilled me?
If it is o2, the uk iphone scene is dead already. - skinfitz, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3O2 doesn't have an EDGE network in the UK... that means one of two things - either iPhone is going to be useless for data, or it will have a different data technology (dare I say 3G?) when it's released here.
The only mobile service provider with EDGE in the UK is Orange. - saralk, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3o2 maintains around a 20-25% market share in the UK, which is on par with most of the other networks. It also has a much stronger business sector because o2 used to be owned by BT (our previously government owned national carrier).
So if Apple can add a few features to make it more business centric, it could do very well on o2. - greatkingrat85, on 10/11/2007, -3/+6It's going to cost around £300 on top of the contract. I say, the best thing about the iPhone is that it's forced competitors to up their standards to make cheaper handsets with better features and UI.
The iPhone has shown competitors what the public want from a phone and what we're willing to pay, so I'll wait for the Sony Ericsson alternative for less than half the price, thankyouverymuch. - dallardyce, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3I was thinking about this the other day - I guess MMS could be fixed in software, couldn't it? I don't use it myself very often but it can be useful now and again. I think I'd miss not having MMS on iPhone, if I were to get one.
- badapplestudio, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4Via THE REGISTER:
iPhone is 3G for Europe and is on a 3 tiered sales system. T-Mobile, O2 and Voda...
The Europeans will not have a phone that isn't 3G. They have had 3G service already for a long time. Unlike our ***** country... - MacParrot, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3Right Pete, because all your gear was made somewhere OTHER than China/Taiwan/South Korea?
- cardinalb, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3Not quite true calls to O2 customer services are free from an O2 phone.
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