16GB iPhone to be released this afternoon

[davidec]

I just bought an iPhone last Wednesday from an Apple Retail Store and activated it on Friday 1st February... can i return the 8GB iPhone and pay the difference for the 16GB model instead?

How about the contract with O2? will the my 18-month contract be extended another 18 months (36 months / 3 years!) ?

Under Apple and O2 policy you should be able to return your phone within fourteen days for a full refund. At worst your contract should remain the same and you will be able to purchase the 16giger while refunding your 8giger. Otherwise claim it as faulty for a full refund...

 

[Zoowatch]

Under Apple and O2 policy you should be able to return your phone within fourteen days for a full refund. At worst your contract should remain the same and you will be able to purchase the 16giger while refunding your 8giger. Otherwise claim it as faulty for a full refund...

thanks for your help... actually I dont mind paying the 10% re-stocking fees to Apple (if they have it here in the UK)... afterall, it was open and used for about 72 hours now... knowing that I could continue with the current iphone contract is a pleasure indeed

 

[rayward]

That would be my theory as well. I'm just hoping they're using this to ditch all the 8GB models and then will come out with 16 and 32 models of the iPhone 2.0 when it gets 3G later this year.

I think the lesson to this is the flash-based big iPods are going to get memory additions a bunch until they get up toward where the Classic is in storage. I also would bet on this being the last generation of iPods that uses HDDs.

...and then more notebooks go to flash and so on until the HDD goes the way of the FDD*.

* Floppy Disk Drive.

 

[RUFiO795]

The timing of this release is a little frustrating for me...I held off on buying an iPhone for a couple of months to make sure that I didn't get screwed over by an update at Macworld, and then bought one on January 16th. And now it has been just a little over that 14 day return period and they release a 16 gig model? What??? Did they do this on purpose? Why didn't they announce this at the SHOW WHERE THEY ANNOUNCE NEW PRODUCTS?

Ugh.

 

[iwood]

The timing of this release is a little frustrating for me...I held off on buying an iPhone for a couple of months to make sure that I didn't get screwed over by an update at Macworld, and then bought one on January 16th. And now it has been just a little over that 14 day return period and they release a 16 gig model? What??? Did they do this on purpose? Why didn't they announce this at the SHOW WHERE THEY ANNOUNCE NEW PRODUCTS?

Ugh.

same here. boughtmine online and then it took fedex over 10 days to deliver it. now I logon today and read this? geez. so whats the main difference in the phone besides capacity? anything?

 

[sr5878]

apple continues to aggrivate me. your business model sucks.


i bought 8gb almost 2 weeks ago. could i return it? yeah. am i gonna? no. if anything, i'm holding out now for a 3g/4g 32gb phone. apple, get your ****ing act together. if this had come at macworld i would have bought it, but its not worth the trip now.

 

[davidec]

thanks for your help... actually I dont mind paying the 10% re-stocking fees to Apple (if they have it here in the UK)... afterall, it was open and used for about 72 hours now... knowing that I could continue with the current iphone contract is a pleasure indeed

No restocking fee in the UK fortunately. Just to clarify. The only difference between the 8 and 16 gig models is the capacity itself. Definitely not worth an upgrade, particularly with a 3G model rumored to be released some time this year.

 

[knoxtown]

Something to think about....

Apple releases the 4 and 8 gig phones.
Apple discontinues the 4 gig.
Apple announces SDk.
Apple releases the 16 gig.

Supposedly, Apple is going to release the 3G iPhone2 sometime this summer. Based on cost effectiveness, would it really be smart or Apple to begin production on "new" 16 gig phones with the impending release of the 2nd gen. What happened with the left over 4 gigs? Is there any chance that Apple simply recycled 4 gig leftovers into the 16 gig. The framework is identical; all that is needed is a switch in memory.

Not that it really matters, but its just kind of irritating.

 

[Sannekita]

how cool they knew!
That's pretty impressive

 

[rhett7660]

I like others waited to see if anything new was going to be annouced at Macworld. Other then the update and sdk. No mention of the NEW 16gig version. So I purchased the 8gig. I am sorry but this leaves a very bad taste in my mouth. This just freaking blows.

 

[Bootsie]

I was hoping for a price drop on the 8GB version.

Now I have another decision to make, do I want to spend another $100 on 16GB?

 

[rayward]

I was hoping for a price drop on the 8GB version.

Now I have another decision to make, do I want to spend another $100 on 16GB?

If you don't need the $100 for food, then I say go for it. There's no such thing as too much storage space.

 

[Zoowatch]

No restocking fee in the UK fortunately. Just to clarify. The only difference between the 8 and 16 gig models is the capacity itself. Definitely not worth an upgrade, particularly with a 3G model rumored to be released some time this year.

well, i am thinking hard about the worthliness of upgrading my phone to the 16GB model... maybe i should hold off the purchase and wait till the 3G model arrives as you said

 

[Michael CM1]

The timing of this release is a little frustrating for me...I held off on buying an iPhone for a couple of months to make sure that I didn't get screwed over by an update at Macworld, and then bought one on January 16th. And now it has been just a little over that 14 day return period and they release a 16 gig model? What??? Did they do this on purpose? Why didn't they announce this at the SHOW WHERE THEY ANNOUNCE NEW PRODUCTS?

Ugh.

You didn't get screwed. You got an 8GB iPhone for $399, same as it is today.

As for the "Why didn't Steve Jobs e-mail me about this coming out???", there would've been another group of people whining had a 16GB iPhone been announced at MacWorld SF. "WHY DID THEY RELEASE THIS JUST A MONTH AFTER CHRISTMAS??????

In technology, something newer and better is always just around the corner. Both Macs I bought were followed 5 weeks later by major upgrades (Mac Mini to Intel, MBP to LED screen, more memory).

When it's been more than 6 months since any sort of product refreshing or upgrading, buy at your own risk. Just be glad you didn't get an HD DVD player for Christmas.

 

[Michael CM1]

well, i am thinking hard about the worthliness of upgrading my phone to the 16GB model... maybe i should hold off the purchase and wait till the 3G

Considering the massive rumors about 3G in May or June, I would. There's also the benefit of not buying a 1.0 product. I just hope they offer a 32GB model when it gets 3G.

 

[rayward]

Considering the massive rumors about 3G in May or June, I would. There's also the benefit of not buying a 1.0 product. I just hope they offer a 32GB model when it gets 3G.

Even when the 3G comes out, I'm still going to wait unless the WiFi chip is still there too (current 3G chips are big, use a lot juice and run hot - which is why they aren't in the iPhone already). I don't trust AT&T to have 3G running properly everywhere, so coverage is going to be patchy. Also, I travel a lot so I don't want to be out of the country and not be able to use WiFi when there's no decent 3G coverage.

 

[JMD123]

I have always said... Do you know why apples products are so great? They have to be because their pricing policies and release policies are so poor. The way apple treats its customers is absured, the only way a company can get away with that is by having an amazing product.

 

[davidec]

well, i am thinking hard about the worthliness of upgrading my phone to the 16GB model... maybe i should hold off the purchase and wait till the 3G model arrives as you said

I meant not worth upgrading from an older 8gig model to the 16 , but in your case, as you just recently purchased, you could refund your 8gig for a 16giger and £60. Considering you double your storage space for an extra 1/5th of the price then I think it's defo worth your while. If the 3G model comes out it would be easier and cheaper to upgrade from a 16gig model (depends on how an upgrade to 3g may work of course). A 16 gig model is much more future proof than an 8 gig...

 

[rayward]

I have always said... Do you know why apples products are so great? They have to be because their pricing policies and release policies are so poor. The way apple treats its customers is absured, the only way a company can get away with that is by having an amazing product.

I think that Apple's tendency to update products when they can, rather than when they should, is one of their strengths. They typically (not always) don't hold back upgrades in order to milk the market cycle of the current product, and they (typically, not always) don't rush buggy crap to market because they're falling behind.

This is why, for example, that the small step to Leopard is smooth as silk while the giant leap to Vista is a brand name killer.

 

[erandall38]

Give me a better battery, HSDPA support, still more space (16gb is like 1/7th of my library :|) and localisation to this big ****off island of a continent, and then I will buy one

A better battery, are you serious?
Is there any phone out there with a better battery?

 

[redgaz26]

http://www.apple.com/uk/iphone/features/index.html#phone

confirmed £329 on the uk site but still not on the store

 

[ozziegn]

Okay, so I'm mildly annoyed. Price that I paid for the 8GB 3 weeks ago is still the same. I doubt I would have paid an extra $100 for 8GB more, but I probably would have thought about it.

I still think it's bogus they didn't announce this at Mac World.

Oh Jesus, here we go again.

"I bought my 8Gb iPhone xxxxxx days ago and now there's a newer and better model. I want my money back without any restocking fees so I can upgrade. whaaaaaah! whaaaaaah! whaaaaaah!"

Oh please people..... Everyone knows that technology is always changing. the fact remains that when something new hits the store shelves it's already outdated. this is called comsumer electronics which changes day to day just like the wind blows.

Next thing we'll see is millions of whiners crying how Apple ripped them off and that they demand to get some sort of compensation for buying an 8GB model when the 16GB version was just around the corner. heck, we just may even see one or two multi-million dollar law suits get started over this as well.

The sad part is that I wouldn't put it past Apple to some how give these whiners some sort of compensation for this just like they did when they dropped the price by $200. what a crock.

it's just like the old saying goes, you play, you pay.

 

[JMD123]

I think that Apple's tendency to update products when they can, rather than when they should, is one of their strengths. They typically (not always) don't hold back upgrades in order to milk the market cycle of the current product, and they (typically, not always) don't rush buggy crap to market because they're falling behind.

This is why, for example, that the small step to Leopard is smooth as silk while the giant leap to Vista is a brand name killer.

They hold back up dates... Case in point they held back the 16g iphone the exact right amount for people that bought 8 gig iphones after mac world... its not like the 16 gig capability was just figured out a week ago...

Apple makes great products... And they know it... And they abuse their customers loyality...

 

[rayward]

They hold back up dates... Case in point they held back the 16g iphone the exact right amount for people that bought 8 gig iphones after mac world... its not like the 16 gig capability was just figured out a week ago...

You do realise that it takes more than just thinking about it, right? They have to order and receive the higher capacity chips, then those have to be put into iPhones, and those iPhones have to be distributed to the retail stores that sell iPhones. And all this has to be done in volumes that allow for every store to have more than one each.

Apple makes great products... And they know it... And they abuse their customers loyality...

Do you go back to the grocery store every day and complain that they're selling, today, milk that has a longer expiry date than the milk they were selling yesterday?

 

[theNEOone]

I think that Apple's tendency to update products when they can, rather than when they should, is one of their strengths. They typically (not always) don't hold back upgrades in order to milk the market cycle of the current product, and they (typically, not always) don't rush buggy crap to market because they're falling behind.

This is why, for example, that the small step to Leopard is smooth as silk while the giant leap to Vista is a brand name killer.

i love my iphone (i'll be handing my 8gb down to my g/f and picking up the 16gb version), but i strongly disagree with your post. i couldn't be more happy with the vista upgrade, while the only two friends i know that have leopard have complained nonstop about it.

also, i think that when people say "holding back" a product, they don't mean "holding back so they can do more testing and release a better product." they're implying that it's for purely business and profit reasons, not technical/quality control reason. doing this is not a strength - it's annoying to consumers, and a practice that will come back and bite you in the ass.