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Fans Cheer as Apple's iPhone Finally Hits Europe
An anonymous reader sent in this article which opens, "Apple fans lined up through Yesterday night in Germany and Britain to be among the first in Europe to buy an iPhone, the must-have gadget that is set to shake up the mobile industry." Over 10,000 phones were sold in Germany by Friday afternoon. In France, however, the iPhone doesn't arrive until the end of month.
I'm sure the fact that Apple will finally have to reveal how much the iPhone will cost unlocked / sans contract has nothing to do with the fact that France is getting it last...
Jerm
Oh, you're not a real doctor, are you?
Glad to see that there are people everywhere who get taken in by glitzy, superficial, overpriced, under-featured gizmos - just because the tech media says they're wonderful.
Is there no hope?
politicians are like babies' nappies: they should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons
That so many are so excited to get an iPhone...
And so few are outraged that that traffic (or at least the connections) will more than likely be logged by the government against the will of the people.
There's no outrage though - we get an iPhone!
Sad.
... who clearly has never had a girlfriend ;)
--I thought I was wrong once, but I was mistaken.
Actually, I understood that the launch wasn't so great.
It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
I heard other things about this:
Bus charters to bring buyers to stores were cancelled.
It costs over Eur 1,600 in contract fees.
From DE press:
"The big run like the startup in the United States, however, didn't show"
"US hysteric, DE deep-relaxed"
"People using software to break the SIM-lock and use cheaper services"
Have they changed the price to reflect the plummeting US dollar? In Canada, the (recently updated) Macbooks are still priced as they were when the Canadian dollar was a fraction of the American. I don't mind Apple making a profit on superior hardware, but a $350 markup just because one is forced to order within a certain locale rings too reminiscent of DVD region codes and all things loathsome.
All fine and dandy, but when does the iPhone goodness come to Canada? Impatient Canadian minds want to know.
- The phone will only work as long as Apple wants it to work
- The Phone will cost a fortune to use outside of the local area
- The phone is programmed to check mail and deliver revenue to your service provider even when it is "off"
- The phone is a closed environment, and will probably require several days with a loaner phone, at additional cost, to repair.
- this phone does not have the advanced features that everyone seems to find so critical in other phones, such as user generated custom ringtones.
I am sure there are others, but that is a good start. If you buy Apple products, like I do, it is better to go in with eyes wide open, rather than whine later. Most of these things are beyond the Apple SOP, which is why the iPhone, to me, is not nearly such a great product, but those who do buy it surely can no longer be surprised."She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
It looks like a great product, but the lack of 3G is a show-stopper for me. Hopefully this will be included in the next generation.
In the UK, we're used to getting our phones for free. Now, nobody is expecting to get an iPhone for free, however, this contract does show a marked change... Here, when we take out a phone contract, we get a phone for free ( higher the rate of contract, the more expensive phone you can have ). The carrier will lock you into the contract for usually 12 months ( sometimes now 18 months ), in order to recoup the cost of the phone. That's fair enough, good value, everyone happy. If you *buy* a phone here, you aren't locked into a contract, and can switch provider or have Pay-As-You-Go etc. With the iPhone, you have to *pay* for the phone, *and* you get locked into a min 18 month contract. So what cost is the carrier recouping? The fees it's paying to Apple, that's what. In the first instance, the benefit and the cost-penalty go to the consumer. Fair play. In the second instance, the cost-penalty stays with the consumer, but the benefit moves to Apple. Someone somewhere is rubbing their hands with glee, but it's not the little guy on the street. Sorry, it's a nice shiny device, with a very cool interface, but it's lacking in some important features, and I know a bad deal when I see one.
It leads to irrational actions and purchases.
I try to be a fan of as few things as possible, and instead buy on the technical merit.
link(in danish): http://politiken.dk/tjek/digitalt/telefoni/article424644.ece
Basically it says that the phone is now available, unlocked. thanks to parallel imports and indirect use of the french directive.
The price is 5900 DKK, approx ~1150 USD.
Thats the price without a calling plan - look mum, no hands!
You are free to do what the fuck you want.
but then again..
Where's the 3G, and why would I have to criminalize myself
should I like to add my own little helper applications not
provided by apple. This system is way to closed.
So they can have their phone and marketing,
I'll see if they fix the issues with it being
so controlled, and I'll stay with the Nokia N95,
until something better will appear in the market,
still N95 beats Iphone.
http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=iphone
An objective comparison:
sig?
I live in Germany and have been using my unlocked 4GB iPhone since September with my Work provided E-Plus sim card.
I am amazed at prices the expect people in Germany to pay, i mean i payed $299 + tax (i think it was like an additional $17)
when i bought my iPhone in the US (ok so the 8GB was $399) but now they expect people to pay $585!!!
And somehow i know they are not going to reduce the price in two weeks!
Now i know why they call it Rip-Off-Europe, next to a PS3 thats crippled and costs twice as much as in the US/Japan,
this would simply go into my 'like hell i'm paying extra for THAT' list.
But, I'm just glad i bought mine over there, for (at current rates) just 203 Euros.
i would like to give you some info on what i have seen in Nürnberg on the day of the launch/day after. First of all, the "T-Punkte", the T-mobile shops as they are called were no more busier than ever.At any given time, 2-4 people were playing with the demo phones asking stupid questions like: "can i use a local prepaid card when i am in Italy, where i go 2-3 times a year?" you should have seen their faces. Because europeans tend to travel inside the EU a lot more often and they do tend to buy local prepaid cards in order to benefit from the local charges.
And on another note, in Köln on the day of the launch, they had 800Iphones on stock. After the big lines at midnight went away, they have sold 200 iphones. So there was not the craze as in the usa.
I take my children to see Madonna(..), but I never for once ever thought I was in the same business.Chris Rea.
I was walking around London's West End last night - up til about 4PM there were only about 50-70 people in the Apple Store Queue, almost outnumbered by staff,stewards and press. A few other phone shops had barriers and door staff from around 5PM but no sign of anyone interested in queuing. By 7PM many of the phone shops were not exactly crowded, with half the staff outside leafletting and trying to persuade people in to have a look. Considering there are currently >600 unlocked ones on Ebay UK, it isn't exactly surprising the 'official' launch was a bit of a flop, as anyone really interested would already have an imported one.
Firstly: I admit, I bought one last night. I'm an Apple fan; but NOT a fanatical one.
:-D
I bought mine in Southampton, where there's an Apple store. I did go there with the intention of buying one there, but the queue was longer than outside O2 or Carphone Warehouse (the only other two sellers) and the staff had obviously been hyped up to whoop and holler and run along high-fiving the queue, which might herald excitement in the US, but in the conservative UK is distinctly embarrassing and probably put a lot of people off queueing.
I bought mine at an O2 shop and there were more staff (at least 15) than people queueing, even at quarter past six when I turned up (the launch was at 6pm). The staff looked a little embarrassed.
What was most irritating was that I simply wanted to hand over my £270 and take away the damn phone, but while I was waiting I was besieged by O2 staff asking if I was OK, offering me muffins, trying to demo the iPhone, trying to get me to sign up to some expensive insurance deal, trying to sell me accessories, trying to lick my ass... if they had put all these staff behind sales terminals, they would have sold them a damn sight faster and probably sold more of them, as several people got bored and wandered off!
When the Apple shop in Southampton opened for the first time, and when the Nintendo Wii was launched in a variety of local shops, I saw excitement and queueing that deserved this kind of reception. However, it was patently obvious that Apple have vastly overestimated the demand for the iPhone in the UK; I haven't seen the local papers today but I suspect Apple won't be delighted with the coverage (I saw some photographers having a field day making the queue look as small as possible).
As to why, I'm sure everyone knows, but here's a recap as to why it's not the saviour of the UK's mobile industry;
1. We're used to either paying for the phone, or the contract, but not both;
2. We're used to accessing mobile internet on 3G, which was rolled out wider and earlier here than across the USA;
3. There have been several competing devices launched recently, which appeal to a range of demographics; for example, techies will like the N95 while fashion victims will like the Prada wotsit;
4. It's quite chunky as phones go - which might sound pernickerty but the market here is very much geared towards fashionable, neat phones (for example, no manufacturer would dare launch a phone with an aerial here within the last few years as they look so dated, while I hear they're still available in the US).
A final thought on a different note though; I have no doubt that the iPhone will be a success here, it's just Apple misjudged the launch a little. Apple have the marketing power that other manufacturers only dream of, and at the end of the day, the public have little regard for technical features or even cost, it's what they perceive to be fashionable and/or popular that will be a success. And I hope it is; despite it not being perfect, it does a few simple things well, and is a pleasure to use.
And me? I say, roll on the open API
The iPhone does several things that no other phone in the world does. But that's not the point. Those "super-advanced" European cellphones don't do anything that 5-year-old phones do. Perhaps locate themselves a bit more accurately. Perhaps have a higher-rez camera. Perhaps have a faster Internet connection with a half-baked "web browser".
The point is that the iPhone does mostly what other phones do in a new way. The phone works like a cellphone would if it had just been invented, unlike other cellphones which are essentially a lot of bling and tech-spec thrown onto foundation/philosophy from 10 years ago. And that's why the iPhone is all that. And that's why you'll read reviews on European sites that say things like "my head says no, but my heart says yes." The iPhone makes sense, and has a unique feel, even if it falls short in certain individual categories.
In terms of actual new things, the iPhone has visual voicemail. All of those other "advanced" phones have voicemail that works like a 1970's cassette-tape answering machine.
The iPhone has a proximity sensor to turn off its light and touch surface when it's next to your face on a call. (Perhaps other phones do this. I have not seen or read that any do.) It has accelerometers so it knows what way it's facing (landscape or portrait), which may actually exist in other phones, but is certainly not widespread. The iPhone has a consistent, fingers-only interface with things like pinch and stretch (which are unique).
Just look at how you move through photos or through tabbed web pages: they made it work the same. Other phones don't even have real web browsers, much less tabbed web browsers, much less one where they've rethought how you move between tabs so it's clean and consistent with the rest of the phone.
In the end, I'm glad to hear the naysayers. The more the better -- up to a point -- for my stock investment. Apple stock does so well because so many people underestimate Apple. "Death spiral", "iPod-killer", "iTunes-killer", "nothing new iPhone", "market share too small and can't grow", "no halo effect", etc, etc.
(Not to mention this is iPhone 1.0 and it's competing against Nokia 15.0 (or whatever) and Windows mobile 6.0 (?). Not that much different from the initial iPods, which did not exceed then-current MP3 players in many aspects, but did do it in a more stylish and polished way.)
The iPhone isn't about features. Of course, other phones have camera's and music players and whatnot. The iPhone is about getting it right. I have a simple Samsung phone. I picked it because I wanted a phone with a music player and a decent amount of storage. When I got it, I realized that feature listings aren't everything. The interface is impossibly complicated, the music player is enormously whimsical, it's impossible to get it to play a specific playlist, once it's playing you can't turn it off, file transfer between phone and computer works only if you're lucky and, well, the list goes on and on.
That's why the iPhone is different. It not only has the features, but they're designed to be used. They got it right. The iPhone really is beautiful and exceptional, not because of all its features, but because of how they work and how well they work. Most phones are designed to be bought, the iPhone is designed to be used.
Here in Denmark they tell us NOT TO UPDATE FIRMWARE! Because it might lock the phone to AT&T, and the local phone company has to reset the phone back to 1.0.x firmware... So basically, you buy a half-finished product, stuck at launch firmware... SUCKS!
Treo 3G Blazer and Windows Mobile 3G? I haven't even heard of them, or heard of anybody else use them. Actually I haven't seen anybody use any Treo nor any Windows Mobile device. If you want a true 3G phone then you take one phone from Nokia or Sony-Ericsson.
When talking about how iPhone with EDGE beats down 3G, I won't buy that. When you have good 3G networks that are not congested, as they usually aren't, 3G and especially with HSDPA there is no question which network connection blasts the other. It should also be noted that EDGE and 3G are not competing technologies, usually all 3G phones, and all Nokias 3G phones, have also GPRS and EDGE capabilities that they fall back when they fall from 3G network.
All the talk about EGDE beating 3G is just a symptom on the poor condition of US 3G networks. Outside the US the 3G networks really work as they are intended. Actually they are currently starting to phase out older networks, just in this week in example it was notified here in Finland that parts on 900mzh that has been used only with GSM can no be used with 3G.
Also about the bluetooth connection and syncing... really... ca'moon... it works. Just once try with a real phone.
Survey research tool for commercial and scientific use
I'm getting a bit sick of seeing that tag on every "Apple" story.
Look, up there at the top -- see the Slashdot logo? Look immediately below that. The leftmost link should be your name (or you need to get an account, you Coward). And just right of that, "Preferences".
Inside Preferences, click on "Homepage", and scroll to "Customize stories on the homepage".
And in there, click the leftmost radio button next to "Apple". Scroll down again, and save your changes.
You can now shut the fuck up and stop trolling the Apple stories, because you won't even see them.
Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
Of all the phones I've use - and I've used most of them - the iPhone has the best UI. No doubt about it. It, as they say, just works.
But, sadly, the UI is a trade off against everything else. I won't list all the ways in which the iPhone is deficient in the current mobile market - but trading them all off against the UI *and* and £230 price tag is lunacy.
Would you use Vista if it cost £230 more than Ubuntu? It's prettier and easier to use?
No? Didn't think so.
I've no doubt Apple will sell a fair few of the things, and I've no doubt that the promised 3G version will be a spectacular improvement. Similarly, by 2009 I expect all smart phones to be colloquially known as "iPhones" just as all MP3 players are "iPods". But right here, right now, the N95 and any other high cost phone blows the iPhone away in terms of functionality and price.
If a square is really a rhombus, why aren't all triangles purple?
The iPhone does several things that no other phone in the world does.
Yes, in the etch-a-sketch app, you can shake it to erase the screen. That's pretty cool... if you're three.
In terms of actual new things, the iPhone has visual voicemail.
VV was around before the iphone (CallWave, Simulscribe) and Google/GrandCentral's implementation works on any phone currently, for free. It's just not that hard to do.
Other phones don't even have real web browsers, much less tabbed web browsers
Opera *invented* tabbed browsing - it's been around a lot longer than you think. And the neat Mobile Safari zooming effect? That was on ThunderHawk.
Da Blog
Agreed, [Visual Voicemail is] a great feature. Unfortunately, for that to be accomodated, you needed the telco to modify the way their voice-mail system works.
VV was around before the iphone (CallWave, Simulscribe) and Google/GrandCentral's implementation works on any phone currently, for free, and it's good. VV is just not that hard to do. It's easy if you have a real 3G connection, so that you can download the audio on-the-fly in response to user clicks. What's impressive about the Apple/AT&T implementation is that they managed to pull it off using super-slow EDGE. That's what required "epic" phone-carrier cooperation, clever caching, and why the companies involved feel it's a big deal. On that network, it is. On any modern network, trivial.
Da Blog
You managed the first sentence, now read the rest of the post to understand what he was actually complaining about. Basically:
Regular phone: You pay up fornt OR you get a locked contract.
iPhone: You pay up front AND you get a locked contract.
Now, if the up-front price of the iPhone was lower than other phones, then you could argue that they just use a different payment plan. However, the iPhone is more expensive AND binds you to a less favourable contract. I.e, its already horrific price tag is even worse than it appears.
Heck, I could listen to the answering machine as it was recorded, just like in the movies. And afterwards, I got each message listed with caller and length of message, and I could tap the screen to play/delete the messages I wanted. I honestly could not believe what I heard when I read comments on slashdot about voicemail being a "new" thing.
I'm curious about the iPhone because it's slick. Not because of any "new" features, but because the implementation is nice.
I lost my sig.
How would it not be legal?
What would be illegal about using your iphone with your european phone contract?
Nothing, that's what. Apple might like to make it illegal, but that's a different matter.
Well, there is the N95 8GB