IPhone Coming to o2, maybe even for christmas

Sponge Bob

I was _wondering_ why O2 were suddenly rolling out EDGE , and had string suspicions that it may be related to the Apple iPhone which is an EDGE device ( not 3g Yet until next year earliest ...Apple are very paranoid about roadmaps ).

My suspicions have been confirmed for me

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/22/ft_iphone_launch/

T-Mobile, Orange and O2 are to sell the iPhone in Germany, France, and the UK respectively, according to the Financial Times. The paper also reports that the operators have agreed to give Apple 10 per cent of all revenue generated from iPhone users.
The companies concerned have dismissed the story as speculation and rumour, though the FT quotes "people familiar with the situation".

I would think that Ireland may be included in the UK deal that O2 have made, it only has 1/14 th extra population.

The FT article states

Apple plans to limit iPhone's European launch this autumn to the UK, France and Germany. It will continue the roll out elsewhere in Europe next year, when it will launch in Asia.

But I feel that Ireland will be included .

The US iPhone is already radio compatible with Ireland and can be charged off a PC so I think a US iPhone would work as a pure 2g /GPRS in Ireland if it bought today ...possibly even on EDGE if you had a sim that allowed it and if in the 40% of cells that currently support EDGE

Thank feck its not 3 launching it seeing as the bastards will not even supply their customers with a bog standard SMTP server.

Blaster99

Maybe, but there's very little co-operation between the various O2's so I wouldn't assume anything. They're treated as completely separate organisations. Unlike Vodafone, let's say.

Perhaps of more interest is that the iPhone model in the States is to revenue share the data bundles. There aren't any data bundles to revenue share around here, with the exception of 3, so it may well signal a general move towards decently priced data bundles, iPhone or no iPhone.

Spud83

There have been so many different rumours about this for ages, just check out the iPhone thread

There is an apple event being held in France sometime in Septemeber I believe. I think details of the European iPhone will be announced then, and possible details of the new iPod line-up i.e a 6G full sized iPod.

watty

I think an E-series or N-series Series 60 3rd editon phone from Nokia with quadband GSM , GPRS, EDGE, 3G etc is better value than iPhone. Also loads of applications to download and even a free SDK if you want to write your own. Works on any network including WiFi.

Also Apple stuff is often made by Foxconn, not a top PC Mobo maker for quality.

Apple Nano 2G = €250 (Made in far East)
China MP4 player with 2G internal, 2G SD slot etc < €100

Apple = Overpriced & Over hyped.

Stokolan

I'll happily stick with my N95. As glamorous as the iphone looks It don't seem to have anything else that would want me to buy it.

And I agree with watty apple stuff is too over priced.

rebel.ranter

I wouldn't count on O2 Ireland being in on the deal for the iPhone. The article said that only major european countries will get it first. As Blaster99 said O2 Ireland & O2 UK are different companies with lots of different packages,deals & offerings. Just look at their respective web pages.
As for rolling out EDGE to support iPhone, it's merely a coincidence.

Sponge Bob

O2 Ireland are a large reseller of Apple gear in all their shops .

Furthermore O2 Ireland and UK share a lot of marketing material such as flashy TV ads.

Its because of this cheap extensibility of the marketing budget and the sharing of media outlets such as C4 and Sky that I can see it being launched in Ireland as an extension of the UK campaign into an existing sales operation that sells Apple gear.

watty

I'd not be surpirsed if Sponge is right. But still won't buy one. They are nearly snake oil.

rc28

Isn't there a thread on this in the "mobiles and pda's" forum?? I really fail to see what this has got to do with broadband

watty

You are right. The device does not even support Broadband, only Internet.

carrotcake

This topic's subject is a little misleading!

I'd say that O2 will get the iPhone here, but nowhere in that article does it say anything about Ireland, nevermind whether it'll be Christmas or not.

There also hasn't been anything about T-Mobile in Austria or Switzerland getting the iPhone, given that T-Mobile in Germany is getting it.

Bluefoam

Orange France said today that no European carriers have been appointed and that France, Britain & Germany would be first to roll it out, however it will take months to set up the networks. Other countries will follow in the new year - as usual, Ireland will be the last to get it.

TBH, I'm not gonna leave Meteor no matter how good it is...

Sponge Bob

I know its 200k EDGE and not BB ( EDGE may go to 1mbit in a year or two as it happens its called EDGE EVOLUTION ) .

Meteor also do EDGE .

Nevertheless its no slower than both Clearwire or Ripwave are ....is it .

We should ban all mention of them too

zaratustra

Has anyone got IPhone unlocked in Ireland? Working with any irish network?

watty

Why whould you bother when there are subsidised Moto, Samsung, Nokia, SonyEricsson phones that do more, have 3G and let you install your own software?

bk

watty wrote:

Why whould you bother when there are subsidised Moto, Samsung, Nokia, SonyEricsson phones that do more, have 3G and let you install your own software?

Because having actually used an iPhone, despite all of it's short comings (some serious), it is far superior to all those other phones. The UI is simply sublime, a modern work of art and completely blows all the rest out of the water, despite their far superior technical specs (well for the N95 anyway).

You know specs aren't everything, there are many MP3 players with far more features and better specs then an iPod, I've got a iRiver H120 myself with FM radio, dictaphone, OGG support, digital out, etc. Yet the iPod sells in massive numbers due to its far superior UI.

UI and image is more important to most people then specs. Specs are only really important to us geeks.

Having said all that I'll be waiting until the iPhone gets 3G, but I will get one.

Of course the new iPod Touch announced today looks great too.

Doctor DooM

No thanks. Will stick with my n95 and a fully grown up ipod.

Cabaal

While I can see this is mentioning mobile broadband its mentioning mobiles more then anything, as such I'm moving this to mobiles

aCA

zaratustra wrote:

Has anyone got IPhone unlocked in Ireland? Working with any irish network?

I have been using an iPhone on Meteor for the last couple of weeks and I have to say I'm very impressed with it. I got a friend in the US to get one for me. Yes, I know its been so over hyped in the media, but it still doesn't change my opinion that it is a great device. It certainly suits my need, but may not be to every ones taste.

I'll give a quick run through of my thoughts on it, not a review cause theres plenty of them around the net. The built quality of the device is great, but the user interface and the speed that it operates at impressed me the most. I previously had a Nokia N73, and the iPhone works so much quicker.

The screen is great, even in direct sunlight, you can never see any fingerprints on it unless you turn the phone off. The ipod features are good, I keep all of my music on my pc in iTunes anyway, so it quick for me to get all my music or videos on the phone. I also find the calendar useful, the large screen really helps with this. On previous phones the smaller screen sizes always discouraged me from using the calendar features.

There are lots of features that other phones have, as people have mentioned, that are not in this phone but most of the time i don't miss them. I'm not sure a straight list comparison of feature for feature is fair way to judge this phone compared to say a N95. There are going to be alot of people who want and need all the features of a real smartphone, however as a general good looking phone, email, internet, calendar and ipod in my pocket device the iPhone works for me.

Spud83

aCA wrote:

I have been using an iPhone on Meteor for the last couple of weeks and I have to say I'm very impressed with it. I got a friend in the US to get one for me. Yes, I know its been so over hyped in the media, but it still doesn't change my opinion that it is a great device. It certainly suits my need, but may not be to every ones taste.

I'll give a quick run through of my thoughts on it, not a review cause theres plenty of them around the net. The built quality of the device is great, but the user interface and the speed that it operates at impressed me the most. I previously had a Nokia N73, and the iPhone works so much quicker.

The screen is great, even in direct sunlight, you can never see any fingerprints on it unless you turn the phone off. The ipod features are good, I keep all of my music on my pc in iTunes anyway, so it quick for me to get all my music or videos on the phone. I also find the calendar useful, the large screen really helps with this. On previous phones the smaller screen sizes always discouraged me from using the calendar features.

There are lots of features that other phones have, as people have mentioned, that are not in this phone but most of the time i don't miss them. I'm not sure a straight list comparison of feature for feature is fair way to judge this phone compared to say a N95. There are going to be alot of people who want and need all the features of a real smartphone, however as a general good looking phone, email, internet, calendar and ipod in my pocket device the iPhone works for me.

Can I just ask how the speed of the internet apps (safari, email, maps, youtube) hold up. Is it really slow running on what I presume is an edge network from meteor.

aCA

I have really only been using it over wifi (at home & work) so far, I signed up with Meteor for their unlimited data bundle, but it will not be activated on my account until next Monday so I will test it more then. I'm not expecting miracles for web browsing though as reviews from people in the US generally don't have great things to say about its speed over edge. I received some emails over edge last week though and the speed was fine for that.

The web browsing with Safari over wifi is good, its reasonably fast at rendering the pages and its easy to navigate with. You can also open several pages at once. Maps is good and fast over wifi also, its easy to zoom in and out and you can switch between satellite and map views. Also, I just remembered I forgot to mention the camera. It is pretty crap, no comparison to say the camera on the n73.

Spud83

I thought it would be good over wifi alre. I would be interested to hear what you have to say over the Edge connection though. The reason I would be interested as I think the Edge network might be faster over here as not a lot of people make use of it, so although it might be the same max speed with less users you should have a better chance of attaining that max speed.

bruce wayne

can these be bought without contract in the US.....or is it only on Ebay ?

aCA

Yes you can buy the phones without contract in any Apple store in the US. They come with an AT&T simcard but are not activated. You are meant to activate it and signup to AT&T at home online using iTunes. Which, I obviously didnt, just got the phone and bought a turbosim for $50 (http://www.bladox.com/) which now seem to be hard to get or else going for crazy money of ebay to keep cause of demand. They will probably be easy to obtain again once new shipments arrive. Then it just takes a few steps (http://www.hackint0sh.org/) to get it working with any simcard. Apparently there is, or will be soon, a software unlock for it.

I had the extra cash at the end of the summer and wanted to do it for an experiment / something to do. I'd imagine its not beyond Apple to block this hack as part of a software update for the phone, in which case I'd have to sell it back to my friend in the US. So for most people I'd guess, its probably worth waiting till O2 bring them out here officially.

dumbyearbook

Does the Iphone run on HSDPA? (3.5G) O2 are also rolling that out its what their mobile broadband runs off where available Meteor dont have that.

aCA

nope, no 3g of any sort, just gprs or edge.

smok

I have to say that people are missing the point when it comes to the iPhone - sure its not 3G, but before new generation ipods come out, most countries will have a large WIFI coverage. As far as they see it, 3g is thier competitor!

dumbyearbook

A 3G iphone can be easily done to the original device from what Ive heard it just requires a change of code and boom- its 3G - its in the chipset or whatever its just they dont have it engaged.

and once itunes wi-fi comes to the iphone (simple download) they'll be lovin 3G as faster track download = more downloads = more $$$$$$

im open to correction mind i have no tech experience

id say this is more likely than country wide wi-fi as per the above?

chrislad

No interest in this now that the iPod Touch has been announced. I'm much more open to that.

warrenstown

aCA wrote:

just got the phone and bought a turbosim for $50 (http://www.bladox.com/) which now seem to be hard to get or else going for crazy money of ebay to keep cause of demand. They will probably be easy to obtain again once new shipments arrive. Then it just takes a few steps (http://www.hackint0sh.org/) to get it working with any simcard. Apparently there is, or will be soon, a software unlock for it.

Sounds like a plan now that they've dropped $200 in price. What exactly should we be looking for in the links above to unlock it? Does the phone have to opened up? Does it take long to do?

Spud83

Apple press evert 18th of September in Europe.