3G iPhone Thread - [sourcing Qs / news about 3G iPhone here *ONLY* !!!]

Gekko

hhhmmm I'm getting 5 unlocked (non-3G)16gb iPhones tomorrow.

I'm not sure this is a good thing.

The activation in-store thing does seem to kill any hopes of getting them from the US so they can effectively be used sim-free here.

rogue-entity

I am waiting to see if O2 will allow existing iPhone owners to upgrade, and what priceplans they will offer come the 11th. If O2 play ball, I will go ahead and get one of the new ones and sell my old one for €300.

Considering if the US follows suit and does like here, making you sign on the dotted line before walking out with your new phone, I would expect there to still be a demand for the 2G phones if you cant easily get an unlocked 3G one.

condra

There will still be a demand yes, but not for €300. No way.

cgarvey

The difference between o2 Ireland and o2 UK, aside from the huge tariff differences, is that o2 UK already have pricing details (and had a 'come back tomorrow' notice on their site yesterday). o2 Ireland still have no reference to 3G iPhone.

Newstalk are reporting that Irish availability will be from the 21st (as against the 11th).

As for pricing, o2 UK have stuck to Steve's $199 worldwide, and that's including VAT. Same for the 16GB @ $299. You can get both version free on higher charges.

So, surely o2 Ireland will retail 8GB @ €128 and 16GB @ €192. I wouldn't put much money on that though!!

PowerHouseDan

http://www.o2.co.uk/iphone/paymonthly

Wibbs

Gekko wrote: »

hhhmmm I'm getting 5 unlocked (non-3G)16gb iPhones tomorrow.

5? Bloody hell. Glutton are you.:D

I'm not sure this is a good thing.

Why not? The only practical diff with the new iphone is better battery time, gps and 3g and a non recessed headphone socket(whopp de doo). That's your lot in reality. The rest is hype. Same main processor, same memory, same screen, same camera, same lack of MMS etc. The software update is what gives you the real functionality which will work with your "old" one. The price is a change yes, but again the paddy price factor will come into play there. Yes 3G is obviously an upgrade, but if you surf on wifi for the most part, that's not as big an issue. The new case will get a mucky as the old if not worse. The white will look minging very quickly and the bendy back on the thing will just mean it'll rattle on your desk more. Put it this way, I'm gonna buy an old one at some point. Do you know anyone with a good price?

The activation in-store thing does seem to kill any hopes of getting them from the US so they can effectively be used sim-free here.

I really don't think so. You can already get them as a pre order from the states on e thingy. Locked to AT&T, yes, but then so was the old one. They can be unlocked. The SDK was unlocked within 1 day of release to developers. I guarantee these phones will be available unlocked from the states in pretty short order. I would give it a matter of hours when they are released. There are also the markets that insist that phones aren't tied into specific contracts so apple and the software has to allow for that.

I reckon that while apple make a packet from phone contracts they're not that averse to hacking. If they were they could have stopped it much more effectively than they did. I can see why too. In my experience, in this country at least(and I suspect in a hell of a lot more) there were far more unlocked iphones than official O2 ones. It's a win win for apple. They sell the phone(and even get an upfront hit from AT&T or whomever) yet don't really have to support it as it's been unlocked.

It's also a bit weird that so many iphones even show up in the non official market. Apple control their market very strongly, yet you could go onto e thingy and buy 10 or 12 of the things.

Don't get me wrong, I think the iPhone is a great product. A serious kick in the arse for the other phone designers and especially windows mobile*. Yes there are better phones, but few come close to the all over integration and style and ease of use that Apple are justly famous for. It may very well go somewhat similar way of MP3 players. Before the iPod and still to this day, there were other, better MP3 players, yet if someone says MP3 player the iPod is the first one that pops into your head. It's the equivalent of Hoover to vacumm cleaners. Apple are very very good at working out what people actually use, not what geeks and afficionados may use, or what will sell a product in a review. 99% of people don't want or need graphic equalisers or anything of that nature. They just want, Play, fasty wasty forward and lets play that again.


*Windows mobile is a good OS with some great features, but it's hampered by the MS mindset. It's a separate OS tangent from their main windows OS with a separate trajectory. You'll not see windows XP Vista or W7 on your phone anytime soon or ever. The iphone OS is essentially mac OS X(10.3 IIRC), so they can concentrate on a single OS trajectory into the future. One hand will feed the other. MS demo touch OS features recently that are already in the iphone and hence are in Mac OS X or can be over night. Throw linux and a linux phone into the mix and game over MS.

Wibbs

PowerHouseDan wrote: »

http://www.o2.co.uk/iphone/paymonthly

I notice the iphone is also going to be available as pay as you go according to the site.

http://www.o2.co.uk/iphone/paygo

SimpleLogic

Oafley Jones wrote: »

I don't think we'll see many jailbroken iphones from America anymore. AT&T have confirmed that all phones will have to be activated inside their stores from now on, there will be no more online sales. Furthermore it's not actually cheaper for Americans- they now face more expensive tariffs that more than offset any initial saving.

Is it defonately not going to be sold without contract in store?

PowerHouseDan

Pretty much obviously at a higher cost, o2 have no excuses not to bring out a more attractive package for 3g iphone customers.

PowerHouseDan

As per this post http://www.macworld.co.uk/ipod-itunes/news/index.cfm?newsid=21562 269pound for pay as you go iphone.

tallus

Any word on wether o2 Ireland are going to follow suit and offer a payg iphone ? I'd love to get my hands on one.

PowerHouseDan

o2 ireland has posted no adverts with regards the new iphone sure they still have the old iphone in stock. I doubt we will see a pay as you go version be lucky if we see affordable pay monthly price plan.

tallus wrote: »

Any word on wether o2 Ireland are going to follow suit and offer a payg iphone ? I'd love to get my hands on one.

Wibbs

The paddyprice factor strikes again. :rolleyes: It is such a pain and local biz is and has lost out because of it.

tinkerbell

I notice both 8GB and 16GB versions of the iPhone are free on the highest pay monthly tariff on the UK O2 website ... typical Irish O2 have nothing up yet. I also see that UK O2 have visual voicemail ... did they always have that?

scary

I reckon o2.ie wont announce anything yet, as they wont change their tarrifs, so they will wait till the news of iphone 3g dies down, so the uproar wont be as bad.

jester77

hmm, don't see anything to tempt me into an upgrade. Had GPS on my last phone with Tom Tom and tbh I probably only used it 3 or 4 times. 3G... hmm, while I do have an unlimited 3G plan I don't think it's enough to make me switch to the newer iphone, I'll put up with the extra 10-15 seconds delay. Think I'll wait for the next revision when they add a better camera and 32GB. Disappointing show and their stocks reflect it too.

carrotcake

Still waiting for a 32GB version here too. Hopefully they'll bring one out when they release a 64GB Touch (which hopefully will be before the end of the year).

jpfahy

O2 Ireland are such money grabbing w*****s. That mindset is so typical of this country, no wonder the IT sector here is going down the tubes. Pile them high and sell them cheap should be the attitude, can they not see that they would profit more that way?

notahappycamper

I rang O2 customer care - they have no information! Fcuking typical you think Apple would liaise with the provider in each of the countries they say they are launching in and have something for the provider to tell their customers!

I'm also pissed as I bought the 16GB Iphone back in March and now the 3G one is out! :mad:

dmn

I think the best thing O2 IRL can do right now regarding their current iPhone model would be to offer it on pay as you go and at an attractive price in order to clear stocks before July 11th!!

swingking

If the iPhone becomes available on pay as u go in the uk then Im sure there would be nothing stopping me getting one from newry. Feck o2 Ireland
Posted via Mobile Device

jpfahy

notahappycamper wrote: »

I rang O2 customer care - they have no information! Fcuking typical you think Apple would liaise with the provider in each of the countries they say they are launching in and have something for the provider to tell their customers!

I'm also pissed as I bought the 16GB Iphone back in March and now the 3G one is out! :mad:

It was up to O2 to get the information (which would not have been hard), they just didn't bother. Incompetent backward thinking management again. When they do wake up the new price plans should be a laugh.
And there was me with my official iphone thinking that they would improve the tariffs here after a month or so like they did in the UK - O2 Ireland and O2 UK are obviously very different companies
Hey O2 - wheres my visual voicemail

dmn

O2 IRL have just inserted a banner at the top of it's iPhone page stating "say hello to the new iPhone...coming July 2008" Strange that it doesn't say July 11. I know somebody said in another thread that they heard on NewsTalk that O2 IRL would launch it on July 21 for some reason.

http://www.o2online.ie/wps/wcm/connect/O2/Home/Shop/Phones/iPhone/

I'm waiting to see if they knock the price of the existing model which doesn't look very attractive (price wise) below the coming soon banner

jpfahy

Do they seriously think there are eejits out there that are going to pony up 499 for an iphone now - thats just amazing. What idiot is in charge of Sales at O2?
If they had done things properly earlier, they wouldn't have any old stock to get rid of. O2 UK cleared their stock ages ago.
It's hard to believe that such incompetence is permitted in an IT/Telecommunications company. Its like something you would expect years ago in the civil service

keith_d99

Heard a mention on Ian Dempsey that they are going to drop the O2 exclusivity thing? As in, the iPhone will be available to all networks. Any truth in this?

swingking

on the news report on today fm it said from 49 euro
Posted via Mobile Device

johnk123

Yep, they have a "save €100 on 8GB iPhone" below that banner now. Last night i was all for the new iphone and now im not so sure whether to get the current model or wait for the 3G one???

fitz

I can't fathom O2 Irelands strategy on this one tbh.
If they sold them at the lowest price they could, they'd get a heap of new business. Surely that new, ongoing business is worth more than selling a relatively small number of high priced units. I just don't get it.

Tempted by the new one, but not switching from Vodafone to O2 until they provide simple things like free voicemail. Their tariffs are just too expensive.

carrotcake

I'd imagine O2 are keeping quiet until they sell out of old iPhones.

jpfahy

carrotcake wrote: »

I'd imagine O2 are keeping quiet until they sell out of old iPhones.

That'll be quite a while at 499