UK iPhone news..

[Stoo]

According to the Timesonline, O2 has out-bid it's rivals to secure the exclusive rights to the iPhone in the UK...

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/to...cle2028678.ece

Apple *must* release a 3G variant in the UK then as O2 doesn't have EDGE, and running on GPRS would just be suicidal...

[Ferral]

We were talking about the iphone instore yesterday. Apparently from what we have heard it is only available on the higher tarrifs in the US, decision made by the manufacturers.

We have nothing up on our intranet in the forthcoming releases for it but no doubt will get it at some point. Like you mentioned also it will definately have to be 3G as no UK networks yet support Edge technology.

Wouldn't be surprised if Samsung had something up their sleeve to go up against it, look at the F300, comes with a 1 Gb memory stick and the media side is really good for music and videos etc

[DR]

Ferral - all the info about the US stuff is public - the tarrifs are about 35£ a month - the price will be like an N95 - so they will subsidise in the UK

Vodafone nearly had it but lost it... Why would we deploy EDGE here? 3G is far better....

[MD]

Given the supply/demand factor I think its HIGHLY unlikely the iPhone will be available free with a tarriff, not even on circa £75 deals.

Apple has been clever going for a share of usage profits too on the handsets and this could, in theory fundamentally change the way the UK mobile market operates if other manufacturers follow suit.

As always it catch-up for everyone else when Apple enters the arena, but in all honesty, I think the tech savvy amongst us will have read the US reviews and wonder just what the UK is going to get and if o2 have bought a lemon - aside from the fanboi purchasing, just how much is it going to cost them?

Reading the lines between the business model o2 are going to have to shift ALOT to make it cost effective.

Matt

[Stoo]

Rumour is that the handset will be £300 with a contract..

One thing O2 would need to do is to introduce a data tarriff similar to T-Mobile's web 'n' walk, or Vodaphone's new data package (which I guess was a sweetner in their negotiations with Apple..), or all the iPhones srubbishrubbishrubbishrubbishy features would be somewhat pointless..

As for attempting to run it on a GPRS connection, I can only imagine the horror..

[Tom Scott]

My take on this is.... its a shambles, Apple clearly don't understand the UK mobile phone market. Making a handset exclusive to one network is just asking for poor sales figures of the device over here. Its always been the way that people shop around for the best tariff on the best network with the best discount on the device. Giving O2 a free reign to charge what they want for the device on whatever tariff is not a clever move.

It would basically be like giving the new iPod to Dixons only, and letting them charge what they want.

You wouldn't catch me using O2 even if they paid me, the customer service and the billing issues they have are terrible. Then again you wouldn't catch me using a touch screen device either as they're far too fiddly, and it takes about 5 times as long to do anything in comparison with my BlackBerry.

Like you mentioned also it will definately have to be 3G as no UK networks yet support Edge technology.

Orange do in certain areas, I know because it was using it on my BlackBerry once and it was bleedin fast.

[Stoo]

Huh? There have been handset/network timed exclusives over here many times in the past, and the pricing of the phone really isn't that much different to when certain "premium" handsets have been released in the past in combination with certain tarriffs.

I personally have had no issue with O2's customer services, or their billing - I've been with them for 5 years now with no problems. Mind you, I've also been with Orange and T-Mobile in the past without issues either.

Anyway, this is all speculation until Apple or O2 make a formal announcement so the details probably will change.

[Tom Scott]

Huh? There have been handset/network timed exclusives over here many times in the past, and the pricing of the phone really isn't that much different to when certain "premium" handsets have been released in the past in combination with certain tarriffs.

I completely agree there have been handset exclusives in the past to a particular retailer, but they've generally been very short-term exclusives. This sounds like its going to be a much longer type of exclusive. These previous handset exclusives have generally been to individual retailers and not individual networks though....

[Ferral]

I'll keep an eye out on our internal stuff see if and when we are getting it, our big release at the min is the new Motorola Z8 which was supposed to be out 3rd July but nothing as of yet. We also have the exclusive on the Samsung U700 at the minute, wuite a nice 3G variation on the U600.

There is a new Nokia due out also, 6111 I believe it is. Looking really nice and can do a lot of the stuff the N95 can do. Just mentioned the pricing as I heard about it yesterday without doing any research, me and my manager were talking about it as a customer came in enquiring about it.

N95 is currently going for £500 if you just want to buy it, on our £35 per month tariff you still have to pay £100 to get the phone on a new connection.

HSDPA is the fastest thing on the mobile networks currently and it has been rolled out on all major networks in the UK now. It is built on 3G but even faster and quite a few phones are now coming with the ability to connect in that way. Just been looking about with regards to Edge technology and stand corrected, from what I have found Orange are the only operators that are currently supporting it in the UK.

Either way, I am looking forward to getting my hands on the iphone and having a tinker, see just what it can actually do.

[Steve B]

Whats the current downstream speeds for HSDPA in the UK?
Anyone know when UMTS Rev. 8 is going to be ratified?

[Stoo]

iirc it's 3.5MBit, with ~8Mbit coming later?

[Steve B]

cheers im a bit behind the times

[Durzel]

My take on this is.... its a shambles, Apple clearly don't understand the UK mobile phone market. Making a handset exclusive to one network is just asking for poor sales figures of the device over here. Its always been the way that people shop around for the best tariff on the best network with the best discount on the device. Giving O2 a free reign to charge what they want for the device on whatever tariff is not a clever move.

It would basically be like giving the new iPod to Dixons only, and letting them charge what they want.

You wouldn't catch me using O2 even if they paid me, the customer service and the billing issues they have are terrible. Then again you wouldn't catch me using a touch screen device either as they're far too fiddly, and it takes about 5 times as long to do anything in comparison with my BlackBerry.





Orange do in certain areas, I know because it was using it on my BlackBerry once and it was bleedin fast.

I pretty much agree with this. It seems pretty arrogant of Apple to assume that people will forgo whatever frustrations they have with service providers to be locked into a contract with one company which you can guarantee will be overpriced (no competition).

That being said the rabid fanboism of Apple users is probably strong enough to disregard any shortcomings the phone itself might have, or any cost & service issues they have with O2. It will sell like the proverbial hot cakes over here regardless of tariff or service provider.

[Stoo]

It will sell like the proverbial hot cakes over here regardless of tariff or service provider.

Which is exactly why they're doing it, and why the networks have been fighting to get the exclusivity..

[manwithnoname]

According to the Timesonline, O2 has out-bid it's rivals to secure the exclusive rights to the iPhone in the UK...

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/to...cle2028678.ece

Apple *must* release a 3G variant in the UK then as O2 doesn't have EDGE, and running on GPRS would just be suicidal...

I read earlier in the year that Apple was expecting (hoping) use patterns of: At home using wifi and on the move using GSM, I translated this to mean download stuff at home and make calls, read email, or view/listen to what you have downloaded on the move.

What is the data rate of EDGE vs GPRS vs Wifi? from my understanding relative to wifi speed the difference between EDGE and GPRS is not that significant, i.e. wifi is not great and EDGE is poor (I'm referring to the iphone performance not the theoretical data rate)

Given the supply/demand factor I think its HIGHLY unlikely the iPhone will be available free with a tarriff, not even on circa £75 deals.

Apple has been clever going for a share of usage profits too on the handsets and this could, in theory fundamentally change the way the UK mobile market operates if other manufacturers follow suit.

As always it catch-up for everyone else when Apple enters the arena, but in all honesty, I think the tech savvy amongst us will have read the US reviews and wonder just what the UK is going to get and if o2 have bought a lemon - aside from the fanboi purchasing, just how much is it going to cost them?

Reading the lines between the business model o2 are going to have to shift ALOT to make it cost effective.

Matt

I reckon if you spend £75 month you'd get it free - only thing you probably wouldn't get free would be the 'chav-tastic Nokia 8800 Gold' - but then again I pay £15 month and don't look at the high tier handsets too much, if at all.

Be interesting see have much 'soul' has to be sold to Apple for the privilege of selling the iphone and if it will be exclusive for the duration of the iphone life. In the UK the operators seem to get a exclusive deal on a handset for a few weeks at launch then it a free for all - unless its a rubbish colour of a handset.

It could be an great deal for the operator who gets it, assume it not a lemon, if the users are so happy they never want a different handset - no churn ... maybe that's cloud cuckoo thinking.

[SadikP]

Amazon are taking per-orders for the 8GB iPhone. Its priced at £329