So what's to blame for the glacial pace of adoption thus far? According to market research firm GfK Group, it may have a lot to do with the handset's cost of 269 pounds ($554), which it claims is rather steep in the face of UK consumers who are not used to paying in excess of 200 pounds for a phone.
That's the real answer. For the UK market to adopt the iPhone in larger numbers, it needs to cost less, as UK customers as used to having something for nothing when taking out a contract mobile that they just won't pay the asking price of £269.00! If it had been £199.00 or less, then I am sure the forums would have been full of praise for the iPhone, showing it as better value than an iPod Touch, as you got a phone thrown into the bargain, but the truth is most people will buy the same old boring Sony Ericsson's, Nokia's or Samsung's, get a free phone and just pay the cost of the monthly contract and see it as a great saving.
I bought my iPhone a week after it came out in the UK and I wouldn't exchange it for ANYTHING. The number of handsets I've gone through in the last year is frightening, but since I got the iPhone, I just don't care about anything else on the market. It has some amazing features and works like a dream, I love the fact that I can sync it with everything on my Mac (which is a first, as most mobile phone manufactures only include PC software), but most forum posts only seem to want to give it a hard time for the things it can't do (who really cares about the lack of MMS when the e-mail side of the iPhone is so great? With Mail on the iPhone, there's no tiny video clip limit, small sound clip limit or picture re-sizing limit that MMS normally forces upon you and yet people complain that there's no MMS? Why would you want it when most modern phones have an e-mail client, I don't see what all the fuss is about).
I hope more UK customers adopt the iPhone, as I would hate to see Apple decide that the UK will miss out on future generations of the product and I (for one) would hate to go back to using a regular (read "seen it all before") handset.
That's the real answer. For the UK market to adopt the iPhone in larger numbers, it needs to cost less, as UK customers as used to having something for nothing when taking out a contract mobile that they just won't pay the asking price of £269.00! If it had been £199.00 or less, then I am sure the forums would have been full of praise for the iPhone, showing it as better value than an iPod Touch, as you got a phone thrown into the bargain, but the truth is most people will buy the same old boring Sony Ericsson's, Nokia's or Samsung's, get a free phone and just pay the cost of the monthly contract and see it as a great saving.
I bought my iPhone a week after it came out in the UK and I wouldn't exchange it for ANYTHING. The number of handsets I've gone through in the last year is frightening, but since I got the iPhone, I just don't care about anything else on the market. It has some amazing features and works like a dream, I love the fact that I can sync it with everything on my Mac (which is a first, as most mobile phone manufactures only include PC software), but most forum posts only seem to want to give it a hard time for the things it can't do (who really cares about the lack of MMS when the e-mail side of the iPhone is so great? With Mail on the iPhone, there's no tiny video clip limit, small sound clip limit or picture re-sizing limit that MMS normally forces upon you and yet people complain that there's no MMS? Why would you want it when most modern phones have an e-mail client, I don't see what all the fuss is about).
I hope more UK customers adopt the iPhone, as I would hate to see Apple decide that the UK will miss out on future generations of the product and I (for one) would hate to go back to using a regular (read "seen it all before") handset.
I'm not that hung up on the MMS issue either although all my mates use MMS and they couldn't send me pics or video to an iPhone and iPhone doesnt support taking video anyway, but I can live with that (wonder if the iPhone will ever support video). Total cost is the bigger issue.
The issues with SMS are also a real bother; one can't copy or forward text messages, and that I'd be restricted to sending an SMS to just one person at a time. I'm a heavy texter and so this would be an absolute pain in the arse for me, and just dont know what Apple were thinking; it makes no sense to me.
I am hearing more and more iffy sentiments from people I know with the the iPhone, which is more disturbing than reading comments from those who don't own the phone sounding off on internet forums. To them, it's a brilliant consumer device (luvly UI, iPod, fab browser) but somewhat of a lousy phone (SMS/MMS issues, poor signal quality, ringer and volume not loud enough) and email is slow and nowhere good enough to replace a Blackberry. I know 2 lads who are planning on returning their iPhone and that's making me very cautions about getting one even if O2 drop their tariffs.
That's the real answer. For the UK market to adopt the iPhone in larger numbers, it needs to cost less, as UK customers as used to having something for nothing when taking out a contract mobile that they just won't pay the asking price of £269.00! If it had been £199.00 or less, then I am sure the forums would have been full of praise for the iPhone, showing it as better value than an iPod Touch, as you got a phone thrown into the bargain, but the truth is most people will buy the same old boring Sony Ericsson's, Nokia's or Samsung's, get a free phone and just pay the cost of the monthly contract and see it as a great saving.
I bought my iPhone a week after it came out in the UK and I wouldn't exchange it for ANYTHING. The number of handsets I've gone through in the last year is frightening, but since I got the iPhone, I just don't care about anything else on the market. It has some amazing features and works like a dream, I love the fact that I can sync it with everything on my Mac (which is a first, as most mobile phone manufactures only include PC software), but most forum posts only seem to want to give it a hard time for the things it can't do (who really cares about the lack of MMS when the e-mail side of the iPhone is so great? With Mail on the iPhone, there's no tiny video clip limit, small sound clip limit or picture re-sizing limit that MMS normally forces upon you and yet people complain that there's no MMS? Why would you want it when most modern phones have an e-mail client, I don't see what all the fuss is about).
I hope more UK customers adopt the iPhone, as I would hate to see Apple decide that the UK will miss out on future generations of the product and I (for one) would hate to go back to using a regular (read "seen it all before") handset.
This is turning into the classic kneejerk reaction from iPhone fans. The very nature of MMS is a message which is received and read within minutes by the recipient, and then responded too. If I can only send emails, I have to wait for my recipient to have access to a PC, which may be hours after I originally sent the message. You're totally kidding yourself if you think your average Joe accesses their email on their mobile phones, regardless of whether they have an email client or not. Nearly all of my friends and family have a mobile which can receive MMS. Not one of them has access to their email accounts on their phone. If I am stuck with only being able to email, it completely defeats the point mobile communication. On my current phone, I at least have the choice of whether to email the original high quality image, or to MMS it when the quality doesn't really matter and I just want a quick response. I'd rather have that choice than being coerced into only one way of doing it, which isn't entirely satisfactory.
This is turning into the classic kneejerk reaction from iPhone fans. The very nature of MMS is a message which is received and read within minutes by the recipient, and then responded too. If I can only send emails, I have to wait for my recipient to have access to a PC, which may be hours after I originally sent the message. You're totally kidding yourself if you think your average Joe accesses their email on their mobile phones, regardless of whether they have an email client or not. Nearly all of my friends and family have a mobile which can receive MMS. Not one of them has access to their email accounts on their phone. If I am stuck with only being able to email, it completely defeats the point mobile communication. On my current phone, I at least have the choice of whether to email the original high quality image, or to MMS it when the quality doesn't really matter and I just want a quick response. I'd rather have that choice than being coerced into only one way of doing it, which isn't entirely satisfactory.
Yes, true - I will openly admit to being an iPhone fan (and it would be nice for some users to have the "CHOICE" you mention - but I personally think mobile e-mail is better than MMS, which to me is a thing of the past with it's limited size restrictions, used mostly by lazy people who get a handset and can't be bothered to set it up for e-mail and get the most out of it, which is very easy these days (even for your "AVERAGE JOE"). \
For your information, I'm not kidding myself in any way, as I was once a seller of mobile handsets and I know only too well how frightened the general public usually is when it comes to learning new technology, which is why most networks still feel they have to dumb-down every new handset that comes onto the market with moronic branding, making the icons look like something a 3 year old has drawn at pre-school and removing many of the more complex aspects of the device with a more simple "early learning" style layout.
Yes, true - I will openly admit to being an iPhone fan (and it would be nice for some users to have the "CHOICE" you mention - but I personally think mobile e-mail is better than MMS, which to me is a thing of the past with it's limited size restrictions, used mostly by lazy people who get a handset and can't be bothered to set it up for e-mail and get the most out of it, which is very easy these days (even for your "AVERAGE JOE"). \
For your information, I'm not kidding myself in any way, as I was once a seller of mobile handsets and I know only too well how frightened the general public usually is when it comes to learning new technology, which is why most networks still feel they have to dumb-down every new handset that comes onto the market with moronic branding, making the icons look like something a 3 year old has drawn at pre-school and removing many of the more complex aspects of the device with a more simple "early learning" style layout.
I don't think it's that people are lazy, I think it's more likely that they have no idea how to set it up, nor do they have a data package that allows them access to their emails at a reasonable cost instead of paying per Mb.
I don't think it's that people are lazy, I think it's more likely that they have no idea how to set it up, nor do they have a data package that allows them access to their emails at a reasonable cost instead of paying per Mb.
Well, you have a point there - the cost of browsing (especially for PAYG users) is extortionate - it may have been okay when mobiles had monochrome displays and used WAP, but now with XHTML browsers where you are looking at a real web page, it costs a fortune. It should be brought into line with peoples real browsing needs.
Comments
So what's to blame for the glacial pace of adoption thus far? According to market research firm GfK Group, it may have a lot to do with the handset's cost of 269 pounds ($554), which it claims is rather steep in the face of UK consumers who are not used to paying in excess of 200 pounds for a phone.
That's the real answer. For the UK market to adopt the iPhone in larger numbers, it needs to cost less, as UK customers as used to having something for nothing when taking out a contract mobile that they just won't pay the asking price of £269.00! If it had been £199.00 or less, then I am sure the forums would have been full of praise for the iPhone, showing it as better value than an iPod Touch, as you got a phone thrown into the bargain, but the truth is most people will buy the same old boring Sony Ericsson's, Nokia's or Samsung's, get a free phone and just pay the cost of the monthly contract and see it as a great saving.
I bought my iPhone a week after it came out in the UK and I wouldn't exchange it for ANYTHING. The number of handsets I've gone through in the last year is frightening, but since I got the iPhone, I just don't care about anything else on the market. It has some amazing features and works like a dream, I love the fact that I can sync it with everything on my Mac (which is a first, as most mobile phone manufactures only include PC software), but most forum posts only seem to want to give it a hard time for the things it can't do (who really cares about the lack of MMS when the e-mail side of the iPhone is so great? With Mail on the iPhone, there's no tiny video clip limit, small sound clip limit or picture re-sizing limit that MMS normally forces upon you and yet people complain that there's no MMS? Why would you want it when most modern phones have an e-mail client, I don't see what all the fuss is about).
I hope more UK customers adopt the iPhone, as I would hate to see Apple decide that the UK will miss out on future generations of the product and I (for one) would hate to go back to using a regular (read "seen it all before") handset.
That's the real answer. For the UK market to adopt the iPhone in larger numbers, it needs to cost less, as UK customers as used to having something for nothing when taking out a contract mobile that they just won't pay the asking price of £269.00! If it had been £199.00 or less, then I am sure the forums would have been full of praise for the iPhone, showing it as better value than an iPod Touch, as you got a phone thrown into the bargain, but the truth is most people will buy the same old boring Sony Ericsson's, Nokia's or Samsung's, get a free phone and just pay the cost of the monthly contract and see it as a great saving.
I bought my iPhone a week after it came out in the UK and I wouldn't exchange it for ANYTHING. The number of handsets I've gone through in the last year is frightening, but since I got the iPhone, I just don't care about anything else on the market. It has some amazing features and works like a dream, I love the fact that I can sync it with everything on my Mac (which is a first, as most mobile phone manufactures only include PC software), but most forum posts only seem to want to give it a hard time for the things it can't do (who really cares about the lack of MMS when the e-mail side of the iPhone is so great? With Mail on the iPhone, there's no tiny video clip limit, small sound clip limit or picture re-sizing limit that MMS normally forces upon you and yet people complain that there's no MMS? Why would you want it when most modern phones have an e-mail client, I don't see what all the fuss is about).
I hope more UK customers adopt the iPhone, as I would hate to see Apple decide that the UK will miss out on future generations of the product and I (for one) would hate to go back to using a regular (read "seen it all before") handset.
I'm not that hung up on the MMS issue either although all my mates use MMS and they couldn't send me pics or video to an iPhone and iPhone doesnt support taking video anyway, but I can live with that (wonder if the iPhone will ever support video). Total cost is the bigger issue.
The issues with SMS are also a real bother; one can't copy or forward text messages, and that I'd be restricted to sending an SMS to just one person at a time. I'm a heavy texter and so this would be an absolute pain in the arse for me, and just dont know what Apple were thinking; it makes no sense to me.
I am hearing more and more iffy sentiments from people I know with the the iPhone, which is more disturbing than reading comments from those who don't own the phone sounding off on internet forums. To them, it's a brilliant consumer device (luvly UI, iPod, fab browser) but somewhat of a lousy phone (SMS/MMS issues, poor signal quality, ringer and volume not loud enough) and email is slow and nowhere good enough to replace a Blackberry. I know 2 lads who are planning on returning their iPhone and that's making me very cautions about getting one even if O2 drop their tariffs.
That's the real answer. For the UK market to adopt the iPhone in larger numbers, it needs to cost less, as UK customers as used to having something for nothing when taking out a contract mobile that they just won't pay the asking price of £269.00! If it had been £199.00 or less, then I am sure the forums would have been full of praise for the iPhone, showing it as better value than an iPod Touch, as you got a phone thrown into the bargain, but the truth is most people will buy the same old boring Sony Ericsson's, Nokia's or Samsung's, get a free phone and just pay the cost of the monthly contract and see it as a great saving.
I bought my iPhone a week after it came out in the UK and I wouldn't exchange it for ANYTHING. The number of handsets I've gone through in the last year is frightening, but since I got the iPhone, I just don't care about anything else on the market. It has some amazing features and works like a dream, I love the fact that I can sync it with everything on my Mac (which is a first, as most mobile phone manufactures only include PC software), but most forum posts only seem to want to give it a hard time for the things it can't do (who really cares about the lack of MMS when the e-mail side of the iPhone is so great? With Mail on the iPhone, there's no tiny video clip limit, small sound clip limit or picture re-sizing limit that MMS normally forces upon you and yet people complain that there's no MMS? Why would you want it when most modern phones have an e-mail client, I don't see what all the fuss is about).
I hope more UK customers adopt the iPhone, as I would hate to see Apple decide that the UK will miss out on future generations of the product and I (for one) would hate to go back to using a regular (read "seen it all before") handset.
This is turning into the classic kneejerk reaction from iPhone fans. The very nature of MMS is a message which is received and read within minutes by the recipient, and then responded too. If I can only send emails, I have to wait for my recipient to have access to a PC, which may be hours after I originally sent the message. You're totally kidding yourself if you think your average Joe accesses their email on their mobile phones, regardless of whether they have an email client or not. Nearly all of my friends and family have a mobile which can receive MMS. Not one of them has access to their email accounts on their phone. If I am stuck with only being able to email, it completely defeats the point mobile communication. On my current phone, I at least have the choice of whether to email the original high quality image, or to MMS it when the quality doesn't really matter and I just want a quick response. I'd rather have that choice than being coerced into only one way of doing it, which isn't entirely satisfactory.
This is turning into the classic kneejerk reaction from iPhone fans. The very nature of MMS is a message which is received and read within minutes by the recipient, and then responded too. If I can only send emails, I have to wait for my recipient to have access to a PC, which may be hours after I originally sent the message. You're totally kidding yourself if you think your average Joe accesses their email on their mobile phones, regardless of whether they have an email client or not. Nearly all of my friends and family have a mobile which can receive MMS. Not one of them has access to their email accounts on their phone. If I am stuck with only being able to email, it completely defeats the point mobile communication. On my current phone, I at least have the choice of whether to email the original high quality image, or to MMS it when the quality doesn't really matter and I just want a quick response. I'd rather have that choice than being coerced into only one way of doing it, which isn't entirely satisfactory.
Yes, true - I will openly admit to being an iPhone fan (and it would be nice for some users to have the "CHOICE" you mention - but I personally think mobile e-mail is better than MMS, which to me is a thing of the past with it's limited size restrictions, used mostly by lazy people who get a handset and can't be bothered to set it up for e-mail and get the most out of it, which is very easy these days (even for your "AVERAGE JOE").
For your information, I'm not kidding myself in any way, as I was once a seller of mobile handsets and I know only too well how frightened the general public usually is when it comes to learning new technology, which is why most networks still feel they have to dumb-down every new handset that comes onto the market with moronic branding, making the icons look like something a 3 year old has drawn at pre-school and removing many of the more complex aspects of the device with a more simple "early learning" style layout.
Yes, true - I will openly admit to being an iPhone fan (and it would be nice for some users to have the "CHOICE" you mention - but I personally think mobile e-mail is better than MMS, which to me is a thing of the past with it's limited size restrictions, used mostly by lazy people who get a handset and can't be bothered to set it up for e-mail and get the most out of it, which is very easy these days (even for your "AVERAGE JOE").
For your information, I'm not kidding myself in any way, as I was once a seller of mobile handsets and I know only too well how frightened the general public usually is when it comes to learning new technology, which is why most networks still feel they have to dumb-down every new handset that comes onto the market with moronic branding, making the icons look like something a 3 year old has drawn at pre-school and removing many of the more complex aspects of the device with a more simple "early learning" style layout.
I don't think it's that people are lazy, I think it's more likely that they have no idea how to set it up, nor do they have a data package that allows them access to their emails at a reasonable cost instead of paying per Mb.
I don't think it's that people are lazy, I think it's more likely that they have no idea how to set it up, nor do they have a data package that allows them access to their emails at a reasonable cost instead of paying per Mb.
Well, you have a point there - the cost of browsing (especially for PAYG users) is extortionate - it may have been okay when mobiles had monochrome displays and used WAP, but now with XHTML browsers where you are looking at a real web page, it costs a fortune. It should be brought into line with peoples real browsing needs.