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iPhone UK set to ship - October

H

Hustle

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 29, 2007
791
104
USA
Sorry if this is in the wrong forum....

I've just been reading the MacWorld magazine here in the UK, and it seas that the iPhone is set for release, October 2007 in the UK and that Vodafone is most likely going to be the leading carrier, instead of 02 as rumors said.

Did anyone else know this?. I always thought it was set for December.
 
WEll it is only really going on what the current line of thought was and at the time of publication that was the current line of thought. More recently there has been lots of talk about 02 being te carrier so if the article was written today it would say "that despite previous talk of vodafone getting the contract it seems the 02 will now be the iPhone carrier" for example. So read it as it is old news which it is.

They may end up being correct as all of the information is pretty much conjecture as nothing has been confirmed by any parties as to the carrier and the release date.
 
I think its Q4. So thats anywhere in October, November or December.

I'm still thinking it could be T-Mobile, seeing as its almost definite that they are doing it in Germany. (There was a iPhone pictured on the german T-Mobile site).

Price needs to come down in the UK, because as I'm sure you'll know - we're not used to outrageously expensive phones. Theres not a single consumer phone/Smartphone that isn't available free on at least one contract IIRC.
 
A blog on the MacWorld Uk site by a journalist speculates about the iPhone being released on all major carriers (o2, VF, Or) as the phone market is so different here in the UK.

Lets hope for all parties, sure would boost sales if people did not need to switch. Be interesting also to see which carrier gave the best performance!
 
I personally don't think price will be a problem over here, despite almost every other phone being available for free. I think a price tag of £300 (£50 more than a direct currency conversion) for the 4Gb version would still fly off the shelves.

However, as I've said before - it *needs* to be available on a reasonable PAYG tariff to do so. More and more people use PAYG rather than contract over here - and we certainly don't have a situation whereby Parents get their kids contracts in their names, unlike in the states.

£300 on a PAYG tariff and you can almost guarantee it will be top of everyone's list for Santa this xmas :p
 
TheChillPill said:
However, as I've said before - it *needs* to be available on a reasonable PAYG tariff to do so. :p
Click to expand...

Is there such a thing as a reasonable Pay As Yo Go tariff in the U.K.?

TheChillPill said:
....we certainly don't have a situation whereby Parents get their kids contracts in their names, unlike in the states.
Click to expand...

Don't we? Perhaps I'm foolish, but I don't like rip-off pre-pay tariffs. I'd rather let them have better value for money on the strict understanding that they don't abuse the privilege. Time will tell, but so far so good.
 
TheChillPill said:
I personally don't think price will be a problem over here, despite almost every other phone being available for free. I think a price tag of £300 (£50 more than a direct currency conversion) for the 4Gb version would still fly off the shelves.
Click to expand...

I think that £300 should be the upper limit for the 8GB model. An more than that seems a silly amount of money to spend on a phone.
 
CD3660 said:
Is there such a thing as a reasonable Pay As Yo Go tariff in the U.K.?
Click to expand...

I guess it depends on your usage, but the majority of people I know are with o2 - their package gives you 300 free texts per month if you top up £10 per month. Obviously that £10 goes towards your calls, or extra texts if you need them. I very rarely need more than that, despite using the phone for business too. There are no contracts I'm aware of that would come close to being able to match that without giving me something I don't need.

Where PAYG does fall down (at present) is Data usage.

CD3660 said:
Don't we? Perhaps I'm foolish, but I don't like rip-off pre-pay tariffs. I'd rather let them have better value for money on the strict understanding that they don't abuse the privilege. Time will tell, but so far so good.
Click to expand...

I think you are likely to be the exception rather than the rule. I don't know anyone that would be prepared to do it for their children, despite 'not being short of a few bob'.

xUKHCx said:
I think that £300 should be the upper limit for the 8GB model. An more than that seems a silly amount of money to spend on a phone.
Click to expand...

As nice as that would be, there is more chance of Steve Jobs confessing his love for Bill Gates. £300 for an 8GB would be a direct conversion against the price in the US for the same. Firstly we have a small premium added anyway, secondly we have higher VAT, and finally virtually no-one takes the highest interest rate in to account. I suspect we'll see prices of £299 and £349 for the two models.
 
TheChillPill said:
I guess it depends on your usage, but the majority of people I know are with o2 - their package gives you 300 free texts per month if you top up £10 per month. Obviously that £10 goes towards your calls, or extra texts if you need them. I very rarely need more than that, despite using the phone for business too.
Click to expand...

That sounds very reasonable if you text a lot but don't talk a great deal. Personally I use between 600 and 900 cross-network peak time minutes and reckon that would cost a fortune on PAYG.

It costs me just £30 per month and my contract is such that I can substitute sms or mms for talktime on a very flexible basis. True peace of mind at an excellent price point.

I've looked at the O2 PAYG tariffs (of which there are many) and find that, for me, there are too many complicated permutations to fathom.

TheChillPill said:
I suspect we'll see prices of £299 and £349 for the two models.
Click to expand...

That would do nicely!
 
i'm worried about the iphone launch in europe. those europeans seem to care more about cell phone function and whether it has 3G and bluetooth stereo headphones support. i could care less, but most americans dont care if their phone does all that stuff. it may do great in europe, but i think it may flop till a 3G comes out. i am kind of nervous as a stock holder. it dropped $9 last time we thought the iphone sold poorly.
 
AHDuke99 said:
i'm worried about the iphone launch in europe. those europeans seem to care more about cell phone function and whether it has 3G and bluetooth stereo headphones support. i could care less, but most americans dont care if their phone does all that stuff. it may do great in europe, but i think it may flop till a 3G comes out. i am kind of nervous as a stock holder. it dropped $9 last time we thought the iphone sold poorly.
Click to expand...

The percentage of users who use 3g phones is still relatively small - it's only the vocal technical minority who seem to actually care about 3g.

From my own experience of working in retail for o2 I have to say that 3g capability is something most customers don't even understand, nevermind demand.

Whilst I would love the first iPhone to have 3g here in Europe, I seriously doubt that it will prove to be its downfall like so many people seem to think - the average consumer is not even going to care.

-Leemo
 
Leemo said:
The percentage of users who use 3g phones is still relatively small - it's only the vocal technical minority who seem to actually care about 3g.

From my own experience of working in retail for o2 I have to say that 3g capability is something most customers don't even understand, nevermind demand.

Whilst I would love the first iPhone to have 3g here in Europe, I seriously doubt that it will prove to be its downfall like so many people seem to think - the average consumer is not even going to care.

-Leemo
Click to expand...


thanks for that. i'm really not that knowledgeable about european phone wishes. from reading this forum, it seems like everyone wants 3G. i know everyone listens to music on their phones when i've been in europe. the iphone is good for that. maybe it will be alright, then. personally, i've never used 3G, so i dont know its advantages over GSM/EDGE.
 
AHDuke99 said:
thanks for that. i'm really not that knowledgeable about european phone wishes. from reading this forum, it seems like everyone wants 3G. i know everyone listens to music on their phones when i've been in europe. the iphone is good for that. maybe it will be alright, then. personally, i've never used 3G, so i dont know its advantages over GSM/EDGE.
Click to expand...

Oh absolutely - I can see why everyone here wants 3g, it's quicker! In all honesty though, it's not going to make much of a difference to its introduction here in the UK. It's going to be snapped up either way - no other phone can even consider matching it for user experience. Working at o2 I (unfortunately) have to play with all the phones we have and sell them to people, and it's just scary at how much nicer the iPhone is going to be to use compared to something supposedly advanced (such as the Nokia N95).

People cite the N95 as being way ahead of the iPhone by having GPS, HSDPA and a 5mp camera - but so what? The battery is appalling, it likes to crash extremely often and GPS is extremely slow to begin with - and this is coming from someone who OWNS ONE! We have so many returned back to our store because of problems it's not even funny.

People want a phone that works. Works well. Not a gazillion megapixels or super-duper broadband speed internet with a half-arsed browser copy.

Hence whilst the iPhone is going to do just fine in Europe thank you very much!

-Leemo
 
Leemo said:
The percentage of users who use 3g phones is still relatively small - it's only the vocal technical minority who seem to actually care about 3g.
Click to expand...

Personally, I believe that the average potential purchaser of the iPhone in Europe will expect it to be 3G and probably would not settle for anything less.

What's the point of having such a capable device and not using the latest technology available? Talk about inbuilt obsolescence!

Come on Apple, you know you can do it (if you haven't done it already)!
 
CD3660 said:
Personally, I believe that the average potential purchaser of the iPhone in Europe will expect it to be 3G and probably would not settle for anything less.
Click to expand...

I honestly can't see that being the case. As mentioned above, very few people know enough about 3G for it to be a consideration. I consider myself to be very tech-savvy (have home automation and funky stuff like that!) but even I couldn't really care less whether it had 3g or not.

People don't utilise 3g here because the experience is crap quite frankly. Whilst most phones do email, it's pretty much unusuable from a practical point of view.

I think the experience of using email and browsing the web on the iphone will make a significant difference to peoples usage over here - much more so than it has in the US. That will be more than enough to get people buying it, whether it has 3g or not. Only after a few months of usage will people start asking for 3g - and only as a result of frequent usage. Prior to that, it's not going to be a 'deal breaker' for people.
 
UK phone in US

What I would be interested in is whether or not you could take the Apple phone from the UK and use it in the US. It stands to reason if it is an open phone in Europe that a European phone would work here. A guy can dream...
 
TheChillPill said:
I think the experience of using email and browsing the web on the iphone will make a significant difference to peoples usage over here - much more so than it has in the US. That will be more than enough to get people buying it, whether it has 3g or not. Only after a few months of usage will people start asking for 3g - and only as a result of frequent usage. Prior to that, it's not going to be a 'deal breaker' for people.
Click to expand...

Perhaps you're right, but I have to say that I would be reluctant to go with anything less than 3G.

I have a 3.5G data card for my Sony Vaio SZ2XP laptop which I use when I'm out and about, and it is impressively fast (with unlimited use for £20 per month!). I'm not sure I could put up with GPRS having got used to HSDPA. I find few things more frustrating than slow internet speeds!
 
paduck said:
What I would be interested in is whether or not you could take the Apple phone from the UK and use it in the US. It stands to reason if it is an open phone in Europe that a European phone would work here. A guy can dream...
Click to expand...

By 'open' I assume that you mean 'sim free' or unlocked.

The question is: 'Will it be an open phone in Europe?'

I hope so, but somehow I doubt it.
 
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