Well, well, no 3G iPhone for UK or Europe - who cares?

Stan Beer
Tuesday, 18 September 2007 19:05

Business IT - Technology

Apple has announced its November 9 release date for the iPhone on the UK O2 network and those who were expecting a new high speed 3G product will be disappointed at the slow Edge phone on offer. However, as iPod marketing director Greg Joswiak said early this year, Apple expects most serious Internet use for the iPhone to take place over Wi-Fi in hotspots rather than through the cellular network anyway - and access will be free in 7500 of those hotspots.

That said of course, the new iPod Touch series also offers Wi-Fi Internet access and its much cheaper than the iPhone - but it's not a phone.

So what will users get for their expensive £269 8GB iPhone plus mandatory £35, £45, or £55 a month plans for 18 months? Basically the ability to make phone calls and send SMS messages in various quantities from 200 minutes up to 1200 minutes of calls and 200 up to 500 SMS messages. All very good but not especially cheap for a mobile phone service, athough the conferencing is a delight to use.

Then of course is there is the visual voicemail and resident email - once again very good but not essential.

So why will consumers in the UK and Europe buy the relatively slow 2.5G iPhone on an 18 month plan knowing that a little more than 12 months from now a 3G version will be available? In a word - the total package.

It's by no means the best phone on the market, being a little wide to fit comfortably in the palm, no removable battery, hands free speaker is weak and of course no 3G for fast data on the run. However, as a total package, the iPhone is a killer. It's user interface is perfection; it's display is phenomenal; you can access iTunes from hotspots; you can access the Internet from hotspots using a full strength browser (even if you don't like Safari it beats the rubbish on most mobile phones); making phone calls with the touch screen is easy as is accessing, composing and sending emails and messges.

All in all, the iPhone is a 2.5G product that more than compensates for any shortcomings that are offered by most 3G products on the market. Having used a 3G phone for two years with barely a foray onto the net, I'm willing to stick my neck out and predict that Europeans will be more than happy to shell out for the 2.5G iPhone until the new 3G model is available a year or more from now. Furthermore, in Europe, roaming between countries should be relatively cheap, so with a choice of carriers from different EU countries, unlocking the phone may not be as big an issue as it is in the US.

The big issue for carriers in the UK and Europe will be those who missed out on the right to sign on iPhone users and, for the ones that were successful such as O2, how they're going to make money out of the deal, with Apple reportedly stitching them up big time.