Video of the UK iphone launch

[chaslam]

http://crave.cnet.co.uk/video/0,139101587,49292859,00.htm

A 13 minute video of Steve Jobs and Matthew Key of the Q&A etc of the iphone.

[bavlondon]

Im foaming at the mouth......

(not literally)

[rasper]

Man that phones expensive total of £910 for an 18 month contract phone. I thought my N95 contract was expensive at £510 for a 12 month!

[pctech]

"see if they love it as much as we do"

I bet he does! You have to buy the phone outright and then Apple get a slice of your monthly spend and lets not forget Itunes.

What a cash cow!

Joking aside, it looks a nice phone but should have been W-CDMA instead of EDGE.

[DeniseR]

Shame it is on O2 otherwise I would have bought it.

Why can't they sell it sim free ???

They would probably make just as much if not more money with more sales.

Also what about those who prefer payg???

[old bill]

It should have gone to Orange at least they had EDGE in place and a good network coverage. Instead its gone to O2 who has lousy coverage and lousy C/S. I surpose that money talks these days and not getting a good service is just tough.

[chaslam]

Shame it is on O2 otherwise I would have bought it.

Why can't they sell it sim free ???

They would probably make just as much if not more money with more sales.

Also what about those who prefer payg???

Yes, thats true. Also, what happens about credit checks? If I understand this right, the account that you have signed up for itunes with becomes the account the contract is signed with, as you do it all from your computer in itunes, so do they still do credit checks? If so, what happens when you fail the credit check? You cant use your phone youve just brought?

Ive said this from the outset, Apple really should have just sold the iphone sim free, unlocked. It would be a hell of alot easier for the customer to decide what they wanted to do, and in turn, alot more people would probably buy it, because they can use whatever networks they like. Although it makes alot more money selling it like this through o2 for apple, they really should put the customer first and do what the customer wants.
I certainly dont want the iphone on o2, as do alot of people, and im sure a hell of alot of people wont want to buy it simply because of that reason, and its the same in the US, AT&T.

[bavlondon]

Yeah I was thinking about the credit check thing aswell. I guess if you fail it then perhaps you have to return the iphone? Im sure there is something proper in place though.

I think in the US the customers were able to get it connected from within the Apple/AT&T stores for a $10 fee.

As the iphone is still in its infancy then perhaps Apple wanted to make sure they were with a network exclusivly to ensure they do keep some money aside from the phone sales in the of chance the iphone was a flop. I can only imagine that future iphones will be sold as handsets from other manufacturers fo.

Id hate to think that Apple will only ever sell phones on O2 period.

[chaslam]

Wait a minute, if you think about it, there wouldnt really be any need for a credit check, will there? I mean at the end of the day, one of the main reasons (I assume) they do a credit check, is usually because they are subsidising the handset, and therefor dont want to loose out on the cost. With the iphone, you are paying full price for it anyway, so they wont be loosing out, and all they have to do if you dont pay is to cut the service off?

I dont know alot about that side of things, but its just a stab in the dark.

[snu]

Wait a minute, if you think about it, there wouldnt really be any need for a credit check, will there? I mean at the end of the day, one of the main reasons (I assume) they do a credit check, is usually because they are subsidising the handset, and therefor dont want to loose out on the cost. With the iphone, you are paying full price for it anyway, so they wont be loosing out, and all they have to do if you dont pay is to cut the service off?

I dont know alot about that side of things, but its just a stab in the dark.

It's not just because they need to recover the cost of the handset, it's also that they need to recover the cost of any services they provide to you over the coming months. The network will want some sort of indication that you're not going to run up a bill for hundreds or even thousands of pounds and then be unable to reimburse them.

[pctech]

Yes, thats exactly the reason for a credit check as they are providing network services in advance of payment in the same way as a credit card firm lets you buy goods and services and pay later.

As for the PAYG vs contract debate, the answer is that Apple want to wring as much ongoing revenue as poss out of each unit sold as they are now unable to sell overpriced, niche hardware (I'm no M$ fan but an x86 PC is more versatile than a Mac will ever be and Apple finally realises this, hence the architecture switch)

Contract customers constitute a guaranteed revenue stream whereas PAYG spend varies (I'm a PAYG user for this reason).

As for O2, yes their network isn't the greatest for data at the moment but they aren't bad for voice and the service I have received from prepay customer services has been excellent apart from once but the issue was sorted promptly after a follow up e-mail to them and at least you don't wait for ages (25 minute average wait when I had to call Virgin customer services).

Also they are more generous than PAYG offers from the other providers (inclusive minutes, 10% top-ups back every three months and a handset discount or free calltime when you upgrade).

I reckon that the Iphone will only become SIM free when the 3G version is out (which will be vastly more expensive) but I doubt the price will drop by that much.