O2 Offered iPhone Contract in UK

davidmcg writes "There has been speculation on who will provide the service for iPhone in the UK. Now, the answer has been provided. It seems that O2 has been offered the contract to provide telephony services in the UK for the iPhone. It seems that the iPhone should be available in the UK in time for Christmas. O2 have refused to confirm or deny these reports, so is it yet another unconfirmed iPhone rumor or is it fact? We can only wait to find out."

Comments

What about smaller countries

[suv4x4]

I live in Eastern Europe and the presence of Apple here is basically nill.

There isn't a single Apple store here. There are 3rd party distributors which sell Apple hardware/software and that's about it. With the kind of deals iPhone is after (tightly integrating the iPhone functionality with a specific provider), I see a big chunk of the world simply denied access to the iPhone (with the exception of illegally imported and hacked units I guess..)

Re:What about smaller countries

[droopycom]

A big chunk of the world is denied basic such as:

- peace
- clean water
- clean air
- housing
- electricity

Yes, I do also dream about the slick iPhone, but right now this dream is being tainted by mixed reviews anyway.
And my $499 are better spent buying a new stove anyway...

Being "denied" iPhone is kind of like being "denied" twinkies, oreos or root beer...

Its just a freaking gadget. Your life wont change.

Announcing things before Steve Jobs does....

[emjoi_gently]

If O2 does have the contract, you know they will keep quiet about it until they are given permission to talk.

3G for Europe?

[aluminumcube]

Just an uninformed theory, but I think Apple would need to go 3G with the iPhone if they want to really succeed in the Euro market. Most Americans have never had the exposure to get addicted to a fast net connection on a cell phone, so going with EDGE is grumble-worthy but not a deal breaker for the US mass market. Europeans, on the other hand, are 3G fanatics from what I understand.

Re:3G for Europe?

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't think 3G is a big deal in the consumer market - at least not here in the UK. It may be different for business users, but for personal cellphones only T-Mobile has a sensible mobile data plan; the others are living in a different world. Orange - to whom I am a bonded villein for another 8 months, 3 weeks and 4 1/2 days - recently wrote to ask me if I wanted to pay £8 a month (that's $240 for you Americans) for a data plan capped at 30Mb. Each month. Frankly, I don't even look now at a phone's data performance. It's just not a factor right now.

And in case you now think I'm some sort of Luddite, I bought one of those credit card-sized LCD personal organiser databanks from the Innovations Catalogue when I was 14.

Re:3G for Europe?

[bogjobber]

If someone is willing to fork out $500 on a phone, they are much more likely to also want top of the line features (ie 3G). Even Apple can't compete *solely* on their brand name. They actually do have to be competitive on the features they offer, especially in the higher end of the market.

Re:3G for Europe?

[l-ascorbic]

humour (that's humor for you Americans)

Why do they need exclusive contracts?

[jaaron]

Why can't Apple just sell an unlocked phone and really help change the market? Is it the visual voicemail app that needs operator support? Is Apple going to negotiate contracts in every country? What a mess.

Re:Why do they need exclusive contracts?

[tsa]

I agree. Apple tries to bring the retardedness of the American mobile phone market to Europe. I don't think people here are so keen on switching provider for the iPhone as they are in America, simple because they are not used to switching providers for a new phone. But, I could be wrong. In any case not being able to buy it without the subscription is the ultimate show-stopper for me. In the long run buying without a subscription is usually cheaper.

Re:Why do they need exclusive contracts?

[DavidD_CA]

I would have to imagine there are two reasons.

Like you said, the visual email thing requires a good deal of vendor support. And I imagine a vendor is only going to put forth the effort required if they see a substantial return on that investment.

Likewise, there's a very good possibility that AT&T has paid Apple for exclusive rights to the launch (a two year term). That contract, which could be worth a lot of money, is probably worth more to Apple than any kind of "good will" that might change the market or the sales they missed because of it.

All that being said, in two years they will likely make it "open" and you'll be able to get your iPhone from any vendor. We'll see though.

3G?

[p0tat03]

Given the limited nature of American 3G networks, the whole iPhone and EDGE thing can be (to some extent) explained away. But considering how widespread 3G is in Europe, I'd hope Apple has a 3G-ified version of iPhone ready for them. The lack of 3G in the phone, IMHO, is one of the more critical mistakes that Apple has made, especially in introducing such an obviously media-heavy device.

3G chips too power intensive

[hypermanng]

Jobs said he's not going to do 3G until they can get 3G chips that use less power. Who wants to bet Apple is arranging to have exactly that available by the fall?

Re:3G chips too power intensive

[iamdrscience]

Jobs said he's not going to do 3G until they can get 3G chips that use less power. Who wants to bet Apple is arranging to have exactly that available by the fall?

I'll take that bet. If chip companies could make lower power 3G chips, they would. It's not like Apple's the only company that wants 3G chips that consume less power, in fact, they're one of the smaller companies (in terms of the production volume of their phones) that wants chips like that.

3G chips need more power than EDGE chips, it's just a fact and although there may be advances so that they require less power than they do now, no amount of "arrangement" by Apple is going to speed that up.

Re:3G chips too power intensive

[iamdrscience]

My point is that the demand is already there for lower power 3G chips and the fact that Apple wants them now too doesn't change anything. Every phone manufacturer would kill for lower power 3G chips and every 3G chip manufacturer is already trying to deliver them. The incentive is already there -- if some company came out with a 3G chip that used significantly less power they know they would kill all their current competitors as well as increase the market for 3G phones because at present there are a lot of phones that don't include 3G chips specifically because of their power costs (once again, the iPhone is hardly unique in this regard).

European FCC

[lastninja]

Since this is bound to raise questions about will it have 3G type. I thought I should ask a related question. I guess the EU have some sort of FCC equivalent that asserts that devices with radio comply to standards. When would apple have to provide them with an iPhone with a 3G chip, for it to make the before end of 2007 deadline. Are those tests public, i.e. would they have to tell us that they are conducting tests on the iPhone?

They dont want the market to change

[pablo_max]

Why would they? They want to share in the revenue from month to month..not just a one time hardware purchase. Think of it more like a pay-for-play model. Apple gets to make 50% off each iphone, then get a certain % of the monthly service fee that the iphones will bring the operators. Normally these phones are heavily subsidized by the operators in america, this is not true at all in EU which is why you can get an unlocked phone. This phone is not subsidized by US carriers, which is why they can afford to give apple a piece of the monthly on top of the cost of the phone. Win Win for apple.

Re:Seconding this.

[tsa]

You just voiced the opinion of the vast mayority of European mobile phone customers I think. Apple is showing their complete ignorance of the European mobile phone market here. They will learn, don't worry.

Oh no, not O2!!!

[DrogMan]

I'm with O2, fortunately out of my mandatory lock-in period. I'm not interested in an iPhone, but as soon as I can get my grubby paws on a Nokia E90, I'm jumping ship - probably to T-Mobile. Why? O2's GPRS data charges are extortionate.

You get 100KB for free a month. Last month I had to use my phone for data and I managed to suck down 14441KB. They charged me £27.97 for the privilege. That sucks. ~30 quid for 15MB. I pay less than that for my broadband connection a month and that's capped at 40GB a month.

Mobile data in the UK is rubbish.

/DM