Rory Cellan-Jones asks for BBC News, “Will customers really want to pay what Apple and O2 are going to charge the iPhone’s early adopters? And given the high price that the network and its customers will face, will the iPhone prove such a great deal?”
MacDailyNews Take: A clever ruse, Rory, but we see right through it. Apple is not going to drop iPhone prices in the UK the equivalent of US$200. Look at the new U.S. price, look at the UK price and factor in the VAT and cover for currency flucutations: the $200 U.S. price cut is already in the UK price. There is no “early adopter” price for the UK iPhone. Yesterday, Steve Jobs replied to just such a question, “I don’t think that’s going to happen.” (Of course, Jobs did cover his backside with the usual, “but in technology there are no guarantees” disclaimer).
Cellan-Jones continues, “The O2 website crashed soon after the iPhone announcement, apparently gasping under the weight of inquiries from excited customers.”
“Apple design flair and sheer useability which made the iPod such a big hit and has created such a buzz around the phone,” Cellan-Jones reports. “But Nokia – and O2’s rival networks – are bound to hit back with keen prices and new handsets as the Christmas sales battle gets under way.”
MacDailyNews Take: Oh, they are, are they? How are they “bound to hit back” exactly, Rory? With what? Based on what OS? Using which UI? Will they have iPods built-in? What’s that, Rory? Are you imitating a lonely cricket chirping or is it that you don’t have any answers? Apple has over 200 patents related to iPhone that are pending and granted which Apple CEO Steve Jobs has publicly stated that Apple plans to vigorously defend. Nobody’s “bound to hit back” with anything remotely comparable to Apple’s iPhone for years. This fact won’t stop some reviewers and marketers from telling you lies.
Cellan-Jones continues, “[O2], owned by Spain’s Telefonica, believes that Steve Jobs’ ‘magical’ handset will win it many new customers from its rivals. And judging by what happened to its website this morning, it may just be right.”
Full article here.
zune tang is one funny guy (gal? sorry i canʻt tell).
anyway, O2 and T-Mobileʻs deals are a win-win situation. AAPL is a lot smarter than other telcoms in that way.
AAPL doesnʻt have to sell more fones than NOK.
stock is up, but wait for earnings.
Just curious if the iPhone haters are the same ones who were hating on the iPhone before it debuted in the U.S? If so, weren’t you wrong then? I get your strategy — just keep saying the same thing about a smaller and smaller piece of the pie and eventually you’ll find a bunch of whiny malcontents who actually live out your predictions! Sheer forecasting genius, guys.
somebody please try http://www.weather.com and tell me if this isnt the slowest most crash prone site eva. i’m using safari 1.32, but still. Obviously, the O2 site crashed not from poor implementation, but bandwith load, like certain sites do when reporting Macworld live.
Predrag,
Sadly, I have to correct your assertion that people here are used to paying full-price for their phones.
A simple glance at the accounts of any of the UK networks would show you how much of a hit they are taking on their balance sheets in terms of subsidies. I remember reading Orange’s accounts in their pre-float (pre-IPO) prospectus back in the Nineties and it was a frightening number back then.
Oh great. Now I guess we will have to hear all the whining, bitching and moaning everytime the iPhone is released in a new country. So how many countries are there in the world? Arrrrgh!!!