iPhone interest in UK increases fourfold with advent of 3G model
Though it will come as little surprise to those following the iPhone story, Apple's exclusive wireless provider in the UK said this week that regional interest in the new iPhone 3G is nearly four times that of the original model.
The Telegraph reveals that Telefónica's O2 has seen over 130,000 people pre-register on its website to receive more information on the new Apple handset since the device was announcement last Monday.
By comparison, it took nearly two months from the time the original iPhone was announced in the UK before the British carrier received just 35,000 similar requests from consumers.
Ronan Dunne, O2 UK chief executive, has said that the £269 price of the original iPhone had been "an issue for some segments of the market", but added that those who did buy into the touch-screen handset wound up spending an average 30 percent more a year on their mobile bills.
This time around, O2 will be charging just £99 for the 8GB iPhone and £159 for the 16GB model with 18-month contracts, but is also offering incentives to existing iPhone owners by which they could get either model for free when they agree to sign up for one of the carrier's pricer tariffs.
Last year, a hefty portion of British wireless customers also said their interest in the original iPhone was soured due to Apple's decision to forgo 3G wireless technology in favor of supporting only the slower 2.5G flavor.
Unlike in the US where 3G networks have only recently begun to take form, Europe is known for the widespread deployment of the speedier standard, and thus the original iPhone was often seen as running on yesteryear technology.
Apple has said that its own test show the iPhone 3G to be nearly 2.5 times faster in internet application usage than the 2.5G model, or almost as fast as using Wi-Fi.
The Telegraph reveals that Telefónica's O2 has seen over 130,000 people pre-register on its website to receive more information on the new Apple handset since the device was announcement last Monday.
By comparison, it took nearly two months from the time the original iPhone was announced in the UK before the British carrier received just 35,000 similar requests from consumers.
Ronan Dunne, O2 UK chief executive, has said that the £269 price of the original iPhone had been "an issue for some segments of the market", but added that those who did buy into the touch-screen handset wound up spending an average 30 percent more a year on their mobile bills.
This time around, O2 will be charging just £99 for the 8GB iPhone and £159 for the 16GB model with 18-month contracts, but is also offering incentives to existing iPhone owners by which they could get either model for free when they agree to sign up for one of the carrier's pricer tariffs.
Last year, a hefty portion of British wireless customers also said their interest in the original iPhone was soured due to Apple's decision to forgo 3G wireless technology in favor of supporting only the slower 2.5G flavor.
Unlike in the US where 3G networks have only recently begun to take form, Europe is known for the widespread deployment of the speedier standard, and thus the original iPhone was often seen as running on yesteryear technology.
Apple has said that its own test show the iPhone 3G to be nearly 2.5 times faster in internet application usage than the 2.5G model, or almost as fast as using Wi-Fi.
Comments
I am waiting to see sales. And whether Apple can keep up with the pent up initial demand as well as predicting and supplying the proper build rate after.
The July 11 date is worldwide, isn't it? That is going to be a headache!
However, I do recognise that much of the last year was probably an investment in testing the waters and developing new technologies.
Let's see where they go from here.
But apart from that they've hit the tipping point. It's now good enough for the UK and about the same price as other people's phones. Before it was far from either of those.
I'm more interested on seeing what the features/price will be of the Pay as you Go version.
I am under the impression that there will not be prepaid option for the 3G iPhone in the US. Perhaps you pay an unsubsidized price for it, they may offer it; but the $199 price appears to be for a 24 month contract only.
I'm more interested on seeing what the features/price will be of the Pay as you Go version.
im the same as you mate, thats all im waiting out on. i think i can do with out a 32gb model, i just wont bother putting all my music on it. it will be interesting to see how the pricing will go. as soon as i know i will decide
We've had 3G networks up and running for years here in Australia. The previous iPhone was way behind for our networks
Yeah, Australia's great, rah, rah.
But here's the reality: They're bloody awful. If you're lucky you get 3G in the cities, but outside of that only with Telstra (which is monstrously expensive) do you get anything but GPRS. That's right, 60Kbps at best. No EDGE. It's really awful and an embarrassment.
Telstra is the monopoly phone company distorting pricing all over the place. Their pricing will make your eyes water.
We've had 3G networks up and running for years here in Australia. The previous iPhone was way behind for our networks
By far the most comprehensive 3G network in Australia is operated by a company called Telstra, using the old CDMA infrastructure and called NextG. They were spun off the original government run monopoly, Telecom. However, a senior manager once said that the iPhone was not something that they were prepared to support and sure enough, no Telstra on the list of companies that will be running it out. Their loss but also a loss to those who need the greater coverage. Does anyone have a link to an original report?
Telstra needs a kick up its corporate backside.
All the best.
I simply can't see why there is speculation over the poor performance in Europe. Like I say, no multimedia high end phone is going to be adopted here without 3G. Just wait until the 11th of July - sales will far surpass that of the last iPhone.
I'm more interested on seeing what the features/price will be of the Pay as you Go version.
My estimate would be £300 to £350, comes with a sim card and is sim locked.
Just a guess but O2 doesn't want these things unlocked.
I am under the impression that there will be prepaid option for the 3G iPhone in the US. Perhaps you pay an unsubsidized price for it, they may offer it; but the $199 price appears to be for a 24 month contract only.
In Italy they announced it as ?499 = £400 = $768 which is a bit steep IMHO considering an 18 month contract on O2 costs you £639 and up
But apart from the handset price it'd be nice to know what O2 will charge for PAYG inc data and their 'iphone bolt on'. If they do normal PAYG text/voice as they do with other handsets and a £7.50 iPhone bolt-on inc data as and when you need it, I'm in, even possibly at £400. I'd prefer £250-ish though.
I wonder how much is driven purely by price, features, and hype respectively. Browsing speed is generally only slightly slower with EDGE than the T3 at work over wifi on the first gen units (which is still a better web browsing experience than any of the 3G phones I have tried.
But we don't really have an EDGE network in the UK. We've got GPRS and HSDPA or better 3G and not much in-between. We skipped on EDGE when we implemented 3G almost a decade or so ago.
edit: sorry - 6 years ago isn't really 'almost a decade'. 6 years ago was when three.co.uk launched their 3G only service.
In Italy they announced it as ?499 = £400 = $768 which is a bit steep IMHO considering an 18 month contract on O2 costs you £639 and up
But apart from the handset price it'd be nice to know what O2 will charge for PAYG inc data and their 'iphone bolt on'. If they do normal PAYG text/voice as they do with other handsets and a £7.50 iPhone bolt-on inc data as and when you need it, I'm in, even possibly at £400. I'd prefer £250-ish though.
Those prices seem a bit high. I wonder if we can correctly extrapolate how much it will be in the US unsubsidized by removing VAT and other taxes.
Oops, I made a mistake with my post.
the iphone since the number of people have signed up already exceed the amount of the initial allocation to Australia.
July 11th is turning out to be another day like 6/29/07, but only 10 times greater! Last year is
turning out to be just good practice for the real thing this year!
I was reading yesterday that one of the carriers in Australia has stopped taking "reservations" for
the iphone since the number of people have signed up already exceed the amount of the initial allocation to Australia.
July 11th is turning out to be another day like 6/29/07, but only 10 times greater! Last year is
turning out to be just good practice for the real thing this year!
The reservations were to secure one of the earliest units into supply. They (Optus) closed the offer within days of opening it although precisely how long it was open I do not know.
I was reading yesterday that one of the carriers in Australia has stopped taking "reservations" for
the iphone since the number of people have signed up already exceed the amount of the initial allocation to Australia.
July 11th is turning out to be another day like 6/29/07, but only 10 times greater! Last year is
turning out to be just good practice for the real thing this year!
Apple Stores are a good sign that there is a market for Apple products. I'm curious to see how much is given to the iPhone and iPod verses the Mac line in non-US stores. It may indicate how serious Apple is to increasing the Mac user base outside the US.