iTWire - Expect strong iPhone sales in UK and Europe

Expect strong iPhone sales in UK and Europe

by Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Wednesday, 19 September 2007
Page 1 of 2 A lot of articles about the iPhone’s launch in UK say that the current ‘2G’ iPhone won’t do well in a market where 3G cell phones and networks are common – but as any iPhone user knows, it’s not the bandwidth, but what you do with it – with a 3G model coming next year anyway. Register now to win a Canon EOS 500D Given that Steve Jobs has confirmed that a 3G model of the iPhone would come in the future, some were surprised when the iPhone’s official introduction into the UK through O2 (and unofficially France through Orange and Germany through T-Mobile too before year’s end) was exactly the same EDGE capable iPhone with Wi-Fi at 8GB launched in the US less than 3 months before. Given that Jobs had only just announced a US $200 price cut to the existing iPhone a couple of weeks before, bringing a 3G iPhone to Europe just because 3G networks were already entrenched was not a good enough reason to bring a 3G version of the iPhone to market too early. With the UK iPhone priced at £269 (or US $537), not much of the US price cut has made it to British shores, although Steve Jobs attributes this to the UK’s tax structure and a high cost of trade, and while the people of the UK don’t like it, they are used to this often being the case, with, I think, ‘The Register’ often calling it ‘Rip-off Britain’. Anyway, that is a whole different story, which also involves seeing what the price ends up being in Euros – something we’ll all find out soon enough. So, even with the price differential, which didn’t stop Americans buying almost a million iPhones before the price cut and zooming up to a million and beyond thereafter, and even without 3G, if your iPhone is locked to AT&T or O2, there is one excellent aspect to the deal that you are getting, and one that is game changing at that. What is it? So far, besides the entire package, it’s the issue of unlimited data on a mobile network. With the iPhone, both AT&T and O2 are offering unlimited data plans – whereas most other cell phone companies charge much higher rates for mobile data, so much so that using the a different carrier’s even slower GPRS or EDGE network to browse data on unlocked iPhones could be quite an expensive affair. One day, mobile data, at HSDPA speeds of 550kbps to 1.5mbps and beyond will be available at prices competitive with today’s ADSL and cable networks. Sadly, despite the excellent efforts of 3 Mobile in bringing X-Series to the world, offering mobile data in capacities up to 2GB of monthly download at the most reasonable rate for wireless broadband a carrier has ever offered, the day of wireless broadband at wired prices is still not here yet. However, at EDGE 2.7G speeds of 70kbps to 130kbps (and a burst speed of 200kbps), where you can’t download huge amounts of data anyway, the concept of “unlimited data” for iPhone users makes perfect sense – especially as the iPhone can’t be used as a wireless modem with PCs or Macs as other phones through a USB cable or Bluetooth. One interesting question when the 3G/3.5G next-gen iPhone appears – will Apple insist that the iPhone continue to always have an ‘unlimited data plan’? Time will tell – but I hope so. Wired pricing of wireless broadband is a revolution that’s only part of the way there with Apple’s iPhone data plans and 3 Mobile’s X-Series – let’s hope the next iPhone is another solid step to that pricing reality for broadband mobile data. But right now, the data is said to be ‘unlimited’. And while that’s a key advantage, the iPhone is the ‘complete package’ in all other respects, with the whole being far greater than the sum of its parts, delivering a unique and arguably easily the ultimate mobile communications experience today. Add to that a 3G/3.5G capable iPhone in 2008 and surely Apple will easily sell 10 million iPhones in 2008? Read onto page 2 for battery worries... and the conclusion! << First page < 1 2 Next page > Last page - Post your comment >>