European iPhone Launches (Germany + UK)

[rjdeathe]

Bought an o2 UK iPhone today, friday 09 Nov, and taking it back tomorrow morning.

After much in-depth conversation with 3 or 4 'knowledgeable o2 advisors' in a variety of o2 stores regarding tariff policies and transferring existing tariffs on to the iPhone it was assured to me that I could transfer my existing £25/mnth 1000 texts, 500 off-peak minute 12 month contract o2 tariff on to the iPhone.

Accepting this iPhone purchased returned home to 'activate' to be confronted with the 3 tariffing options, the 'cheapest' being £35/mnth 200 texts and 200 minutes, 18 month contract- no thanks. After much lengthy unproductive/repetitive conversation with a very rude o2 phone centre advisor and after a loss of patients the decision to return the iPhone for I'm promised 'full money back', I hold my breathe.

R J Deathe

 

[Steve Jobs=God]

Bought an o2 UK iPhone today, friday 09 Nov, and taking it back tomorrow morning.

After much in-depth conversation with 3 or 4 'knowledgeable o2 advisors' in a variety of o2 stores regarding tariff policies and transferring existing tariffs on to the iPhone it was assured to me that I could transfer my existing £25/mnth 1000 texts, 500 off-peak minute 12 month contract o2 tariff on to the iPhone.

Accepting this iPhone purchased returned home to 'activate' to be confronted with the 3 tariffing options, the 'cheapest' being £35/mnth 200 texts and 200 minutes, 18 month contract- no thanks. After much lengthy unproductive/repetitive conversation with a very rude o2 phone centre advisor and after a loss of patients the decision to return the iPhone for I'm promised 'full money back', I hold my breathe.

R J Deathe

So you've been waiting for the iPhone for a good few months and have not once checked out the tariff options? it does make it quite clear that you can't do that on practically every site that has the tariff options

 

[rjdeathe]

Yes I had been waiting and even held off purchasing a 'sim-free' iPhone when I was in the US earlier this year and was aware of the existence of iPhone tariffs but the assurance by as I say 3 or 4 different 'o2 advisors' in a variety of stores that I could transfer my existing tariff directly on to the iPhone to me , perhaps foolishly, implied that there was no need to be concerned with changing tariff being an existing o2 contract holder.

 

[minik]

Even though I'm living in the state, it's still a good news.

 

[FocusAndEarnIt]

Isn't 10,000 phones really low?

for the first day?
i'd say no.

 

[Plumbstone]

I was meant to a getting a few for friends and family, Got to CW about 5.45, managed to get them but only after waiting over an our while the Chip and pin system was overloaded and ended up buying 2 with CASH. I think they were getting desperate as all their customers were heading to the O2 store down the road.

The craziest thing was that there was a guy at the front of the queue who had been there a while who was shopping for a Sony Erricson K850i! Weird. Anyway, then headed to the O2 store and got another 2 in under 3 minutes..

In fact I am pretty impressed with o2.

And more impressed with the iphone.

 

[Willis]

Got an iPhone

well, my sister has anyway, its soooo slick... oooo

 

[weckart]

So Germany has about 1/3 of the US population. Apple sold 200k on the first 2 1/2 days in the US. That would translate to 67k units in Germany until close of business Sunday. With only 10k sold it is very doubtfull they will reach that number.

Some of those 200k were sales bound for outside of the US. Even my local second hand computer shop had a handful of sets for sale more than a month before the official launch. The novelty has long worn off, methinks.

Unless people are holding back for Christmas, looks like the iPhone is only an also-ran in Germany, and from the lack of crowds in the UK photos pretty much a flop here, too.

 

[mattydodgy]

iPhone UK

I was the first person in Lancaster to buy an iPhone. I also queued up for 3 hours and other people only just turned up at about half past five... Gutted for me then, waiting in the freezing cold... I'm on my iPhone now watching family guy... Loves it... Smile Canada yours will come soon...

 

[TheNightPhoenix]

I was meant to a getting a few for friends and family, Got to CW about 5.45, managed to get them but only after waiting over an our while the Chip and pin system was overloaded and ended up buying 2 with CASH. .

Yer I had a problem with there system... but I still managed to leave the store with two before 6pm! God bless em, they might now be able to work tills but they can't tell the time either!

I'm making a complaint about the wait, its not as if they couldn't have prepared for it and it was about 5:40 so they can't blame it on heavy use when they aren't even supposed to be open yet. Plus i got the hard sell on the insurance and accessories. blag!

 

[chr1s60]

Isn't 10,000 phones really low?

I think that is a decent number. I don't think Apple or anyone else expected them to sell in Germany at the same rate they did in the US on the first weekend. In fact I am pretty sure Apple doesn't expect those same kind of numbers again. I am guessing they will sell 35k-40k or so this weekend. Not great, but not bad. I think it just shows a reasonable size demand for iPhone in Germany and not the extreme hype there was in the US.

 

[monkeyson]

iPhone in Leeds

God, that was awful.

By chance I was in Leeds city centre this evening around 6pm, and the O2 and Carphone Warehouse shops were open, selling the iPhone. The local Apple dealer (we don't have an Apple Store) was shut (at least by the time I got to it).

The staff in the O2 shop didn't seem to know anything about EDGE or O2's coverage in the area, and seemed to be under the impression that anybody actually cared about O2 and their exclusive contracts. They don't. O2 is just a necessary annoyance in getting an otherwise lovely phone.

But that was nothing compared to the people in Carphone Warehouse, who were just complete tossers. It was like being offered a phone contract by Bernard Manning. They were loitering around in the street, pestering passers by, slagging off the O2 shop (whilst showing off how they themselves offered 'better customer service'), and going on about how great it was that people who had imported iPhones would be locked out now that the UK launch had happened. I think I'll put those people in 5th, 6th, and 7th position in the list of people I'd genuinely like to slap in the face (after President George Bush, snooker player Stephen Hendry, smug UK standup Jimmy Carr, and some sporty athletic guy I knew and hated from school). Do they receive special training on how to annoy potential customers?

Apple need to sort this out - it was just plain bad.


(Hello, by the way. Long time lurker, but my first post on the forums.)

 

[maehara]

Hmmm. No "back door" route to getting it PAYG, then? If that's the case, I'll pass - can't justify £35/mth...

 

[felixkunze]

Regent Street

Our Launch attendance at Regent street was decidedly more exciting than some of the posts on this thread.

We met Phil Shiller, chatted for about 5 mins, got interviewed on CNN, got some inside skinny on paying with cash (possible!) and were generally well entertained and obviously now have our wonderful iPhones in hand.

Have a look on my YouTube Channel and my Flickr Page.

Altogether very impressed with the experience. Particularly because Phil was very genuinely interested in what our experience was with activation as we were probably one of the only people activating right on the spot. Nice chap, I have to say.

 

[Poncho]

i'm glad someone else wants to smack Jimmy Carr.

 

[CrackedButter]

i'm glad someone else wants to smack Jimmy Carr.

I want to give him a slap as well. Maybe we should form another queue for doing this?

 

[rjwill246]

Says the bloke who was first in the line for the Technicolour Dreamcoats(!)
Its not venom .. more frothing .. at the mouth ... in disbelief that style really does rule over substance.
I admire your knowing acceptance of your `frivolous' purchase.About a year ago I bought a TMobile MDA II PDA Phone meself for £150.. its great .. well .. was great .. mmmm .. not bad .. oh alright then .. its free now .. but 18month contract?. Never again. ITs too long to be tied in and too long to wait to upgrade.

We'd make a great team by the way.
You the eternal optimist .. me.. the complete opposite.
You work for Jobs .. I'll be PR Man for Gates!.

This is a very odd attitude, mate. First off, no one is being forced into buying the iPhone and when they do, it is with full knowledge of the plusses and minuses of dealing with O2. To describe this as a frivolous purchase and accepting style over substance shows that you are frothing with venom/envy or are clueless about the iPhone itself.

As a user since June 29th, I can tell you I now have zero interest in any other communication device, even though it has limitations-- which will be removed in the next few months, after which, there is simply no competition. Windows Mobile is still windows and the menus etc are remnants of Noah's ark. OS X mobile on the other hand is quite another animal, thankfully.

Not sure where you are coming from, but if you are trying to enlighten anyone, you have failed since your message is flawed from begining to end. Lots of heat, no light!!!

Users of the iPhone know you are dead wrong and that is what makes your rant so spectacularly suicidal in its dead-end course. For those people who might be swayed by your remarks, I direct you to the surveys showing that user satisfaction for this product is almost unheard of. What rock have you been living under? Stonehenge???

 

[quigleybc]

frickin Canada sucks.

 

[Stella]

frickin Canada sucks.

Well, Vancouver sucks, it never stops raining, just like the UK!

 

[elgruga]

Says the bloke who was first in the line for the Technicolour Dreamcoats(!)
Its not venom .. more frothing .. at the mouth ... in disbelief that style really does rule over substance.

Yes, style DOES rule over substance - it always has. Style is a way of advertising what a cool person you are - it helps you get women, employment, money, friends, etc.

Substance is what happens after the 'Style period' is over, or in this case, when the iPhone has to be used every day, making - gasp! - phone calls and using all its GREAT features.

And you know what? I wouldnt trade you 100 crappy Nokias or what-have-you's for one beautiful, useful, easy to use, brilliant iPhone.

If you are tired of the iPhone, you are tired of advertising yourself - that is to say, tired of the essential and constant posing and posturing and sheer visceral fun we call......life. Or iLife if you will.

Lighten up Bruce, its not the end of the world.

Dont worry about the cost - money should be spent as fast as possible before it all goes.....

And one more thing...the iPhone does NOT have a manual! Isn't that fact alone enough of a reason to buy one?

 

[elgruga]

Well, Vancouver sucks, it never stops raining, just like the UK!

As opposed to Toronto where its like an unpleasant trip back to the fifties, with stiff people and stiff hair and stiff 'business suits' and limp everything else.
Horrible place.

And every Vancouverite knows - you do NOT have to shovel rain......

 

[3282872]

As opposed to Toronto where its like an unpleasant trip back to the fifties, with stiff people and stiff hair and stiff 'business suits' and limp everything else.
Horrible place.

And every Vancouverite knows - you do NOT have to shovel rain......

LMAO Best post on Macrumors... and I've been to TO (as they call it). It's a WASTELAND, with the coughcoughmafiacoughcough building acres of "condos" (and that means stone houses piled on top of each other in the same exact style over, and over, and over) creating the WORST traffic I have ever seen (and that's after having lived in southern california). I once read that "real estate developers" (you know, the kind that bury their enemies in concrete) wanted to raze "Canada's Wonderland" for the land to build more stone boxes. I laughed when I thought of that prospect. Sadly, downtown TO looks like a desert once 5 o'clock hits on the weekdays and everyone drives back in two hours traffic to their over priced cookie cutter condo.

Vancouver and MTL ROCK!

 

[DaveClarkOne]

i cant believe people are still going crazy over the iphone. its so yesterday

Oh, get real. Your dismissive comment offers no information. Compared to what? The iPhone has been eclipsed by some better phone? Provide some evidence of your intelligence on the subject matter...we're waiting....

 

[DaveClarkOne]

don't you guys have access to WAY better phones than the iphone?

Hey happydude...do you have some proprietary definition of "WAY Better?"

Like what? Or is it your business to insult the Germans that they don't know any better. Please advise us what they SHOULD BE buying, since you seem to possess "inside information."

There s/be a bozo filter on this forum...

 

[sananda]

Have a look on my YouTube Channel and my Flickr Page.

great pics!