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iPhone Likely Set to Launch in the UK Next Week
An anonymous reader writes "According to CNet, the iPhone is likely to be launched in the UK next Tuesday. 'Yesterday we were invited to an Apple press conference to take place next Tuesday — and we think it's most likely going to be the UK iPhone launch. Apple, as always, is keeping tight-lipped but there are several clues that point in the iPhone's direction'. No word yet on a UK operator, pricing or whether or not it will have 3G."
You can get a 3G plan (with data card) for your laptop for 10gbp/month here which is a bit more convenient than hooking up a cell phone.
I use my N95 as a modem (it's faster than my home DSL! 10gb/mo transfer for $25) as well as streaming BBC radio (the on demand service) over the internet direct to the phone. However most people are not geeks and don't use the software toys that come with the handset.
However they will have problems if they think they can charge for ring tones here (especially 2gbp/4usd each, which would be 2* the iTunes price as per the US). Unlike the US devices are *much less* locked down in the UK - USB mass storage mode is enabled by default and a cable comes in the box etc. This is true even of many sub $100 cheap phones. While people aren't geeks this doesn't extend to copying on/off ring tones where suddenly the most undereducated yob seems to acquire the technical skills of an IT expert. It must be something to do with motivation.
Beep beep.
In the middle of the night, in the middle of the night iPhone your name...
Anyway, Mac OS X is going completely closed source - 10.4.9 was the last open sourced release of the base kernel/BSD toolset. InputManager plugins - i.e. the technology underlying just about every Safari plugin - have been disabled as a "security risk" in Leopard, even though any application installed as a regular executable is able to cause as much mischief. Apple's iPhone has no official SDK support, the iPods have disabled video out unless you're using an official Apple dock, and a hash in the music library on the player means 3rd party clients can't sync properly with the new iPods.
As such, although the iPhone appeals to my desire for Apple's approach toward usability, its increasingly Microsoft-like lockin puts me off investing in any new Apple hardware or software. Come on, Apple, compete on merit, not on artificial restrictions!
For a good first estimate, simply take the US price, and change the $ to a £ symbol.
In the U.K., we're well accustomed to paying an awful lot more for tech goodies than do Americans. We'll complain a lot, but only to each other (or like me, on Slashdot), and nothing will get done about it.
Congratulations to the UK. What about us poor Canadians? I haven't even heard a rumor about when we might get our hands on one of these little gadgets.
Isn't it O2?
Follow me
According to this article on The Register o2 are busy upgrading their network to EDGE. The Register's suggestion that this is linked to the iPhone is a compelling one.
Apple announces 200 GBP price drop!
The iPhone being a bit more expensive than its rivals may not be a major handicap in itself- after all, the iPod shows that people are willing to pay a bit extra for Apple's UI design and fashionability. However, the difference in price between an unsubsidised iPhone and a subsidised rival (which was probably already cheaper to begin with) probably *would* be a major problem.
Here's my original comment with more detail (please note that when I posted it I was unaware that Apple *did* intend to eventually launch a 3G iPhone, but the point I make is still relevant in this context).
(*) Using "2.75G" EDGE as they do in the US. I don't know if EDGE is used in Europe, but we certainly have "2.5G" (GPRS) here.
"Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
This is something that always bugs me. People quote US prices without realising that they *don't include sales tax*; so they're never as cheap as they appear. Even if an American in a given state had to pay bugger all sales tax, you still can't use that as a reason to attack the company selling in Britain- they're not the ones who get the money, after all!
Another justification for goods being *slightly* more expensive in the EU is that we have stronger consumer guarantee laws. In the US, Playstations and the like regularly come with 90 day guarantees, and I've heard of *brand new* laptops coming with only 30 days. Whilst I'm not 100% sure what EU laws guarantee (*), it's almost certain that anything under a year would be thrown out of court. This means more money on returns and such (or alternately on higher build and quality control, again increasing cost).
Whether this accounts for the remainder of the price difference is questionable, but it should certainly be taken into account.
(*) It's not a flat 3 or 5 years as some people assume- that's the upper limit on most claims AFAIK.
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I have the nagging feeling that Apple will try to clone what they did in the US in the UK ignoring the differences in the market. The UK is big on all the things the iphone can't do or does in a restrictive manner. People want to download ringtones, wallpaper and games. Picture and video messaging is something people expect from expensive phones as well, the UK is big on messaging in general. As far as I know the iphone doesn't support this kind of messaging and doesn't even notify if you've received one you can't view. Other major point is the price plan. People simply won't pay £399 and have a £30+ 18 month contract. You could get a prada phone AND an N95 for that price.
I'm just guessing, but unless 3G penetration is even *close* to 2G there, it sounds like most people would have a better experience with 2G anyway.
"Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
I fear Apple's going to piss off European customers by charging the same amount of euros as dollars. 399 = $554. For that extra $155 I expect 3G to be part of the deal.
hurray , i can now buy a phone that has less features (no SMS, no MMS, no video calls) than my old Nokia did in 2001
the OpenDarwin project has been shut down
... both because of the iPhone and because of the problems exposed in developer releases. Just like the last time this happened. Frankly, I was honestly surprised to see them put up ANY Intel releases at all, I had expected them to quietly drop the open source effort then given the obvious advantage it gave to people porting OS X to non-apple platforms.
That was not Apple's decision, and they have continued releasing Darwin updates since then.
macosforge has seen no posts since November 2006
I know, and it's annoying that this seems to have been a PR response to the last time this came up... but on the other hand it may have been a matter of testing the waters. Remember, that means nothing from Apple *and* nothing from the rest of the open source community either. If they were testing to see if the FOSS community would respond in kind, well, I think that's failed.
requests on the darwin mailing list have been responded with "it's ready when it's ready"
If this continues long after Leopard is out I'll be complaining too, but Leopard is a big push-up for them
A delay, as around the time of the initial Tiger Intel release, is not the same as a complete dismantling of support structure.
The only part of the support structure that was both under Apple's control and was around back then that you've indicated is missing are the build instructions. Opendarwin was not Apple's, and macosforge came out after the LAST brouhaha.
By all means yell at Apple if things don't improve after the Leopard release. But while they're not keeping up with your expectations they're still doing about as much as they've ever done.
The point is that it's nicer as far as developer productivity and uniform user experience goes to be able to use published APIs than to have to write your own custom hack.
I'm not talking about a new API. I'm talking about maintaining an API that Apple has removed, like Unsanity did with Menu Extra Enabler. Unsanity could release an Input Manager Enabler that maintained the same API the same way. I wold be surprised if they didn't.
iPods play MP3, which while not open is almost as-good-as
MP3 is an open format, with patent encumbrances, yes. But then AAC is an open format as well - it's just MP4 audio. The only non-open music format on the iPod is Fairplay. But that's not what I'm talking about.
The iPod plays open format music, but you can't put that music on it using an open systems interface, and it doesn't have an open API. THAT is why it's not an open device. For a Linux user, it's not open in any way that matters if you actually want to use it as a music player. Even if you can get in through a backdoor that backdoor depends on undocumented features so it can be closed anytime without warning.
I never implied I was "buying an iPhone";
This is a general question, though. I didn't ask "why are you buying...", I asked why ANY Linux user would buy any iPod or the iPhone. For the Linux user they're clearly a really bad choice of device, and yet many have obviously done so despite Apple repeatedly demonstrating that they consider these devices to be appliances and that they have no intention of supporting any third party music software in any way.
I'm illustrating what Apple would have to do in order to gain this geek's appreciation and custom.
Apple has many geek's appreciation and custom. Apple even has many Linux Geek's custom! My question is why they've got Linux geeks appreciation and custom. It's like people buying Mac desktops and notebooks to run Linux on. Apple's hardware isn't anything to get excited about. It's got lousy ergonomics and its design is all about style... not functionality. If you want a Linux notebook the Thinkpad is a far better choice.
I like what Apple create
Why? The only thing that Apple has created that I particularly like is O
In Belgium locking phones is illegal. That would mean that there won't be a single operator who can get an exclusive deal. That would mean everybody would be able to buy it and use it anywhere in the world.
Also it means that the price will be the price for the phone and only for the phone.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.