Digg

Discover the best of the web!
Learn more about Digg by taking the tour.

Telecoms fight for the right to party with iPhone 3G

appleinsider.com — Apple's iPhone 3G is exciting more than just tech-savvy consumers wanting to play with the latest gadget. Worldwide, mobile service providers are fighting tooth and nail for the right to sell the new iPhone because of its ability to attract new customers and sell them on data service plans, which providers have previously found to be a difficult

Bury

hsinray 18 days ago, made popular 17 days ago

579 diggs
digg it

Jason18790, on 08/02/2008, -12/+7duh
CaliforniaEagle, on 08/03/2008, -4/+20No *****! Of course they want a piece of the action...They are selling like hotcakes...I was in the apple store today and it was wall to wall people in NY (The underground one)
- diggmaddy, on 08/04/2008, -1/+10Yea, I remember the good old days when they used to sell the first gen iPhone for cash without any mandatory contracts. I went to the counter to buy one for myself and at both counters, to the left and right of me, people came with a stack of cash to buy 6 iPhones each. Made me feel poor buying just one for myself :(.
JohnsonGotOwned, on 08/04/2008, -3/+11I like parties.

But this party wasn't the kind of party I like.
umbrellainabin, on 08/04/2008, -5/+6Downgrade your bastard iPhone and Unlock it.....jesus
kilogrammatic, on 08/04/2008, -3/+17It's not very surprising that the telecoms are hungry for a phone that actually makes a data plan worthwhile.
digitallysick, on 08/04/2008, -12/+10I've realized the iphone has a great ui but a huge lack of funcitionality, to the point that i am selling mine and getting a nokia N95 at least it has a good cam, records video, mms, and un restricted blue tooth.
- swimtwobirds, on 08/04/2008, -3/+4web browser's pretty awful on it. and that camera's very laggy,
  just saying - those things are pricey. I'm with you on the video tho.
  It seems insane that apple are choosing to ignore video.
  Presumably that's one way they're going to make us
  buy the 3.0 model..
- abhiroop, on 08/04/2008, -2/+6DO NOT get a N95, I repeat DO NOT.
  
  The N95 has about a million features...but performs so poorly. I personally only need a phone to sms, and call (no pictures nothing). However, my provider in the UK decided to give me the N95 for free so I took it. The battery life is terrible (1 day on moderate usage of calls and internet, 3G, I don't bother with wireless). I end up charging the battery every night...The phone has on occasion switched off while I'm in the middle of a call, or just randomnly. I then have to take out the battery to reset it. Before the N95 I had a Sony Erricson w850i and it was a simple phone that felt (in my hand) very solid. That is what I liked. Anyway the N95, feels like a cheap toy, and the paint has already started to fade (its only a few months old).
  
  As I said it is a terrible phone and I sincerely hope you reconsider.
  - swimtwobirds, on 08/04/2008, -2/+4yep. i know two people who really grew to hate that phone.
    they both spent a ton on it, showed it off for a while
    and then proceeded to get really hacked off.
    Dunno how much better the 96 is,
    I think there's more ram and stuff..
    Still, the build does feel sort of cheap tho,
    you'd think they would have nailed that for
    a premier handset.
  - digitallysick, on 08/04/2008, -2/+3Yeah the iphone web browser is what sold me originally, i will miss the full keypad (vs the old way) but mostly i enjoy pictures, MMS , ive already ordered the N95 , so i will go with it for a while, i guess if it sucks i will sell it and get something else. I had a nokia 6230 and loved it, it was a great phone, most of my nokia phones have been. So i will take a leap of faith on the N95 (its the us version, with the latest firmware, supposed to be faster?) guess we will see
  - mrBitch, on 08/04/2008, -0/+2@digitallysick RE: "i will take a leap of faith on the N95 (its the us version, with the latest firmware, supposed to be faster?) guess we will see"
    
    After using it for a week, I would be interested in your impressions of the N95 vs your disappointment with the iPhone.
  - digitallysick, on 08/05/2008, -0/+1@mrBitch
    
    I should have it soon, i will follow up with an update to let you guys know what i think. After a week i will either have to sell my iphone, or sell the N95. I will see which one it is, the major downside to me , is no full keypad, the web browser on the nokia is gonna suck
  - mrBitch, on 08/06/2008, -0/+1@digitallysick
    cheers - will check back here again in a week.
    
    PS: if you have a blog, you could (maybe) post your review / comparison of the N95 as a Digg article.
- nvisn, on 08/04/2008, -4/+2+1 on that. I sold my iPhone 3G and bought a Nokia E71-2 NAM. If the iPhone is the Jesus Phone, the E71 is the anti-christ phone.
  - cthellis, on 08/04/2008, -1/+2Why would you "sell" your phone and not simply return it, since you're still obviously within the first month or purchase?
- CannedCorn, on 08/04/2008, -4/+3Your a moron, you see, the 95 is a smart phone for idiots. I have all this great functionality yet my phone is the size of a brick and it takes 17 hours to write an e-mail cause I'm using t9. Oh and I'm about 4x the price of the iPhone.
  
  FAIL
  - digitallysick, on 08/04/2008, -0/+1Not really its a trade off, which is more important, if you are happy with low quality pictures, no video, restricted blue tooth , no MMS, then be happy with the iphone, But these things are important to me, im sure i will miss the web browser app, but oh well , the pros of the nokia out weigh the cons to me
psYcon, on 08/04/2008, -1/+9Guilty as charged. On Friday afternoon I canceled my Tmobile plan which set me back $200 and then got the subsidized price for the Iphone 3g, not to mention signing up for the expensive $75+ /mo plan for a single line. AT&T is minting money with all the new contracts, in a manner which was not possible with the previous Iphone.
- willynilly, on 08/04/2008, -4/+7And you dutifully took it up the ass. Thanks for rewarding their ***** and helping to guarantee that they'll never be forced to deliver our money's worth.
  - psYcon, on 08/04/2008, -3/+1show me how I could have bought the IPhone 3G apart from signing the contract. Yea you couldn't. Don't blame me for facilitating their sale if you yourself couldn't afford to buy it. well tough luck.
  - cthellis, on 08/04/2008, -1/+1Verizon's been perpetrating more *****, which is why I was looking forward to moving. I still haven't decided if the "internet everywhere" is worth the extra surcharge (else I'll get a Sprint smartphone and use an iPod Touch instead) yet, but it's come in handy so far, and replaces my need to care about bringing other devices (like a lappy) around, so... in the end, I think I'll run with it.
    
    We'll see how it performs at Otakon. ^_^
- locojones, on 08/04/2008, -4/+3Congratulations on leaving a company who protected your rights against the Bush warrantless wiretapping scheme and giving your money to a company who was knee-deep in violating your 4th Amendment rights.....all for a shiny phone! Way to go!
  - PrometheusBorn, on 08/04/2008, -2/+3I love how simple consumer purchases have to be political statements.
    
    How dare I support AT&T's wire tapping by buying an iPhone.
    How dare I support DRM by buying something on iTunes.
    How dare I support minimum wage Chinese workers by buying an iPod... they should go jobless instead (no pun intended).
    How dare I drive to work and support this country's dependence on oil.
    
    Consumerism shouldn't be a political/moral statement, generally speaking. I'm sure there are exceptions to this... human hair woven lamp shades would be an example. (I can think of any other at the moment, so sorry if that offends)
  - locojones, on 08/04/2008, -2/+2When the only real power you have over the corporate world and its policies is to vote with your dollar, then indeed, your choice of consumerism is a political and moral statement. At the end of the day Prometheus, your dollar ultimately goes to support those corporate actions. And if you choose to give your money to AT&T, then yes, you are essentially saying that a phone is more important than your civil liberties. That's the saddest part of all.
HappyScrappy, on 08/04/2008, -9/+8They're dying to pick up 1.1% of users?

I dunno, this article reads like Apple marketing spam.
- WebDaemon666, on 08/04/2008, -2/+5RTFA!
  
  "According to Strategy Analytics, 1.12 billion mobile phones were sold last year, and 1.24 billion are expected to be sold this year. "
  
  1.1% of 2.36 Billion is 25,960,000. Those are not only new customers but also customers Stolen from your competition, win ***** win!
  
  "In the US market, the iPhone rapidly carved out a 27% share of smartphone sales within its first few months."
  
  Multiply that by the MASSIVE profits they make on Phone, Text, and Data plans. And the fact that majority of that 27% came from Competing companies.
  
  Read the Article...
  - HappyScrappy, on 08/04/2008, -5/+4I read the artcle.
    
    1.1%.
    
    27% of smartphone sales still isn't crap compared to the larger market.
    
    And as to the idea that these are all new customers, I have many friend with iPhone 3Gs (perhaps a dozen). But none of them or anyone else I met didn't own the original iPhone. I think the rate of "conquest sales" of the iPhone 3G is rather low right now.
  - TJATL, on 08/04/2008, -0/+4You thinking and knowing are two completely different things.
  - ocellnuri, on 08/04/2008, -0/+4Well, everyone I know who bought a 3G didn't own the first gen (several people) so it can go both ways with personal experience.
    
    For anything to get that much of a market share in a market that big, and in such a short period of time is actually a pretty big deal.
  - HappyScrappy, on 08/04/2008, -3/+1You think a device capturing 1.1% of the market in 14 months is a big deal?
    
    Any major feature (non-smart) phone from Samsung, Nokia or Sony-Ericsson surely sold more units in less time.
Taiyoryu, on 08/04/2008, -0/+8I'm waiting for the day a digg article is posted stating that the unlimited data plan isn't exactly unlimited. Some carriers *cough*AT&T*cough* already restrict tethering. As welcoming as carriers are to new data plan customers what happens when those data plans cut into their bread and butter SMS plans when real, fully functional IM applications hit these smartphones?
mizike, on 08/04/2008, -2/+8Why anyone who doesn't have an iPhone or Blackberry would want a data plan is beyond me. Unless you're addicted to downloading ringtones or enjoy surfing the web on a horrible browser with a horrible UI, that crawls at a snails pace to fill up your 1 inch square screen.
- TiMMY8765, on 08/04/2008, -0/+5tethering
- cthellis, on 08/04/2008, -0/+2...perhaps they have a Treo? ;-)
jjey, on 08/04/2008, -2/+7funny. I don't think there is a telco left in Australia who doesn't have iPhone plans
sucks to be in the great "free market" you live in...
which is evidently not so free.. :P
- TJATL, on 08/04/2008, -1/+3Two companies are free to have a contract with each other. If the American consumer was so against the contract, they could vote/choose not to buy the iPhone. Evidently most people are willing to accept it.
- mbradbury, on 08/04/2008, -0/+1And most of them will sell you the iPhone unlocked for a fee
- cthellis, on 08/04/2008, -0/+2Yeah, the US cell market is a fragmented, insular, contract-ridden mess right now. *sigh*
- celotil, on 08/04/2008, -0/+1But the plans are still ***** right up the arse. I still can't believe that enough people haven't said to the carriers, "You OWN the ***** network, so give me unlimited data!"
willynilly, on 08/04/2008, -2/+9What a surprise, now that they've seen that idiots will rush in to gobble up *****, rip-off data plans.

We can thank the assholes who lap this stuff up for our ever-worsening economic outlook. Thanks to people like this, we're paying $150 for cable, $50 for local phone service, a never-ending array of bank fees... and there are no high-quality products available at all in some categories.

HAVE SOME SELF RESPECT AND DEMAND VALUE FOR YOUR MONEY. Because when you don't, you're not just screwing yourself over.
- TJATL, on 08/04/2008, -1/+2I did. It's been 4 months since I had cable tv. I'm guessing you aren't willing to part with your Daily Show and Countdown fixes?
  
  Idiots don't understand that every time a product or service is purchased it's a vote for that company to stay in business. If you are tired of paying what you think is a high price for a product/service then quit complaining about it and quit using it.
  - PrometheusBorn, on 08/04/2008, -0/+1Well said.
    
    I've been fof cable for 2 years. What I found was that a $80 antenna in my attic gets me all the major networks in high def with no monthly fees. It's great! 839 less channels of garbage I wouldn't watch anyway. (I sadly miss BSG, Daily Show, and Adult Swim, but I can buy DVDs for the $$ I save)
    
    I don't understand how there can be so much whining. I'll chalk up things that are lacking in the iPhone category to improvements that I may someday see, but I'm not going to go whine about it forever. If it made the service not worthwhile, I'd simply cancel.
  - GruntboyX, on 08/05/2008, -0/+1i have self respect. I nixed my cable and phone line. Currently using a 20 dollar At&t naked dsl line. Pretty soon going to be turning off my cellphones for VOIP and just shove a tracfone in my glove box for the occasional car trouble.
    
    If i really wanted to get fancy, i would get my ham license and just use that instead of a prepaid. Expect for the inconvenience of looking like a complete dork, pulling a radio out to call home for free is a plus.
    
    besides why would I pay 30dollars a month for a data plan on my cellphone when i can get a 20 dollar data plan for my house that is unlimited and sharable for all my computers?
kurubio, on 08/04/2008, -7/+1MAN IPHONE Kicks ass its a shame that theyre going with these exclusives otherwise Id buy one right away!!!!!!!!!!!!
PainToad, on 08/04/2008, -2/+1eg. Three Mobile Australia
IH8PS3, on 08/04/2008, -7/+1iFone? more lyke DieFone.

i've had my 3315 since i am 17,

snake 2 ftw
jaws1995, on 08/04/2008, -1/+0not surprising really
locojones, on 08/04/2008, -2/+1"...the simplicity of the iPhone's network-savvy Maps, Mail and the mobile Safari web browser sells data plans hand over fist."

It's really easy to tout your data plan sales when they are mandatory and mutually exclusive of the features of the phone. If the data plan were optional, vast swaths of customers would never pay for it.
- cthellis, on 08/04/2008, -0/+1Data plans have been mandatory for smartphones for years now. Or, while not necessarily "mandatory," you must sign up for them or the vendor will remove their subsidies.
  
  A few years back I wanted to Treo it up, but Verizon was charging $40-45 for any sort of data plan, and if I didn't sign up for it (which I didn't want to. I really just wanted to merge my cell phone with a reasonably good PDA, and would wirelessly connect if anything) the device would cost $600+. Considering the phone had no WiFi, that would make it even more to get a wireless card, and I would have to lose my extra data to be able to do it. (At the time there were no wifi/storage combo SD cards.) I bowed out.
  
  The iPhone signs you up for such things, but that's basically the way of life for smartphones. Even now, most carriers force you to carry SOME sort of data plan before you can take a Treo, Blackberry, or whatever else out. You can force through a lower-cost no-data plan if you will, but they'll probably remove their subsidies and do whatever else they can to restrict you. (Some handsets might even be crippled above and beyond what is rational if you don't have a data plan set up for it.)
  
  Such is life.
samimnot, on 08/04/2008, -1/+0If these "feature rich" smart phones are the wave of the future, then I guess I'm just out of luck.

For me, personally...an iPhone nano would be perfect, if :
-Face of unit is completely touch screen, sans the click wheel
-Just communication...phone, e-mail and iCal, period (In other words "DO NOT" include: GPS, Camera, Web Browser, or iPod)

Steve, if you're listening ;-) is that really asking for to much? I just want a phone to "communicate" with / that fits "easily" in my pocket / and has a "7am thru 11pm" battery life.
NewSearchEngine, on 08/04/2008, -1/+1it is called iPhone, but as a phone, it is not great. The true value of iPhone is the web browser. I check my email on iPhone, check stock, weather on iPhone, it is much more convenient to do so than laptop.
Login or register to add a comment

Create a new account or login to join in the conversation on Digg. You'll also be able to Digg stories to help promote things you like.

Telecoms fight for the right to party with iPhone 3G

Login or register to add a comment