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Apple Unable to Find iPhone Partner in Europe?

MrSmith said:
I need it spelled out. Is this problem because Apple are acting differently in Europe than America, or becasue the Europeans are acting tougher?
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Europeans are being tougher. If Apple doesn't find a company that wants to directly support the iphone, they will release it as an unlocked cellphone, sold in any apple store, just like ipods. Then, when the iPhone starts getting marketshare, cellphone carriers will be interested in making some kind of deal, implementing visual voicemail, etc.

For me this is good, since I don't live in the US, and the only way I can get an iPhone is wating until it is released unlocked.
 
maxp1 said:
I bet one of the companies will cave in eventually. Especially if the phone is a hit here there will be demand for it elsewhere. As long as Apple's demands don't make the iPhone unprofitable someone will sell it.
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In some circumstances, it's not a case of them caving in - the law limits what they are allowed to do or not. Norwegian operators, for example, cannot cave in and offer 2 year contracts. The law prevents them doing this. Belgian operators can't offer a provider/phone package at all. It's not them being stubborn, consumer law prevents them doing this.
 
wackattack said:
I'm sorry but I think your geography is lacking somewhere. Brussels IS the capital city of Europe. I can't do anything about that, that's just how they made europe, with Brussels as it's capital city.

What's the next thing you gonna say? that washington aint the capital of the USA?
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What about Strasbourg??

/derail
 
If they can't get the European market then the iPhone will be a flop. If this happens then it will serve Apple right for there arrogant behaviour. The mobile phone business is huge in Europe. It doesn't matter that they are Apple, they need to work with giants like Vodafone in Europe and compete against the dominant manufacturers like Nokia and Sony Ericsson if they are going to get anywhere with this phone.

At least if it flops at least this site will stop its obsession with the iPhone. It's called 'Mac' Rumors for goodness sake!
 
wackattack said:
I'm sorry but I think your geography is lacking somewhere. Brussels IS the capital city of Europe. I can't do anything about that, that's just how they made europe, with Brussels as it's capital city.

What's the next thing you gonna say? that washington aint the capital of the USA?
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Washington is a state, not a city.

Brussels is the capital of the European Union, not Europe.

Europe is a continent, not a super-state.

Fact, fact, fact.
 
verniesgarden said:
we have 50 states and 1 district and several territories, each having an independent government that is also under a federal government, thats one of the things that makes the US unique is that we don't really have a ruler or even a leader, yes we have a president, but the president doesn't make decisions like you think. that is what the break down of the government is for the house and senate, which actually do a lot of the decision making, the president is really more like a spokesperson or like a front man to a band, he really doesn't make the calls that people think he does. so saying bush did this and bush did that... well kinda placing blame unfoundly. place it on the house and senate.
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The US is 46 states, 6 commonwealths (4 with statuses equivalent to states), 1 district (DC) and numerous unincorporated and incorporated territories and compacts some of whose status is a bit grey as to whether they're countries, protectorates, territories, commonwealths, etc. Also, in theory, the executive branch has the same amount of power as the legislative and the judicial. In practice, of course, things are very different, and the president does have the power to influence things, if not by de jure power. This is not unlike purely figurehead kings and queens being able to exert influence although they might not necessarily have any legal power.

As to the article, Apple is just going to have to conform to the European system and realise that they'll either have to do one or two countries at a time, or else perhaps form their own MVNO so that they can "make" a European-wide network. I don't think it would be illegal by any EU directive or country-specific law to make it such that there are features on the iPhone that would only work with Apple's network. They could say, sure, you can use our phone on another network, but no virtual voicemail, or whatever other features they might have.

Speaking of Euro phone buy/contracting, I'm moving to Spain and still can't mentally stop viewing things as looking nearly twice as expensive as here per minute, even though having lived there the past two summers I know incoming calls are free thus effectively halving the price per minute in more American terms.
 
rjwill246 said:
Thus DO NOT buy an iPhone... it certainly would not suit you from what you describe. It is odd how you guys keep weighing in on Apple, with NO info on how the company proposes to work, you assume that the European operators are the ones who want you to get a fair plan (that flies in the face of their preposterous gouging) and then conclude that you won't get one anyway. Why bother to comment?

and in addition---- so, blow the iPhone off for all you will but the real wind is going in quite another direction....
see this quote, just published:
iPhone demand in UK 7M strong
British demand for the iPhone is very high despite its limitations, new research published by M:Metrics shows. The company's study points to about 56 percent of the over 5,200 respondents being aware of the device; approximately 28 percent of those have "strong" interest in buying the handset as is, the analysts say. An extrapolation by the firm estimates that the figure would amount to almost 7 million of all cellphone users in the country, or almost 16 percent of the entire field.
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I was weighing in on this forum a couple of years ago about how the oft rumoured iPhone was a great idea in the face of resistance from others. I think the phone is good, but is missing some features that I want. Personally I think it's about a year behind where our market is at.

And I'm under no illusion that phone rates ain't cheap. Ireland has the highest per capita spend in Europe. Why should we welcome another company taking a further cut and forcing our rates even higher? Why does the phone manufacturer even feel entitled to a cut of the revenue?

Really, what's good for Apple is not necessarily good for the consumer. I'm an advocate of Apple, but I'm willing to criticise when I think they're making a mistake. If Apple is having problems getting the service providers to have decent data plans, good for them, but if they're just out for more revenue (which is ultimately reflected in the price we pay) that's not good, and you can count me out.

And btw the survey is good, but bear in mind that I have a "strong interest" in buying one of these
2007_MV1000R.jpg
Unfortunately my strong interest will probably never translate into actually buying one. Lots of people have strong interest - until it comes time to part with the cash.
I'm sure the iPhone will at least be reasonably successful in Europe, but if Apple get it right it could be a huge success. It would be a shame to see them screw it up for the sake of short term greed.
 
tutubibi said:
Well, I still have to meet a person in Europe with a locked phone and a region-locked DVD player. Even some of my colleagues working in Switzerland and using Swisscom (I think that's the name) have Swiss purchased unlocked phones (mostly post-paid as it's for business, but without contract).
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I am European, from Portugal. I have a htc tytn unlocked :D and a kiss player without region-locked.

In Portugal most people use prepaid SIM not contracts (contracts normally are made for companies). We have 99% 3G coverage in Portugal so EDGE is quite frustrating to a phone that may cost 500€ (as usually the price number is the same in US and Europe changing only $ to € :mad: )
 
sananda said:
the european union does not have a capital.
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I think he was saying in another meaning like is described in wikipedia:

"Brussels is often considered the de facto capital as it hosts most of the primary institutions, including the Commission and the Council. The Parliament also has its second seat in the city. Strasbourg is the official seat of the European Parliament, meeting there for twelve week-long plenary sessions each year. Luxembourg City plays host to the Secretariat of the European Parliament as well as the European Court of Justice, the Court of First Instance and the European Court of Auditors."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union
 
jole said:
One interesting note is that, operator contracts are illegal in Finland for other than 3G phones. So either Apple will not sell iPhone in Finland at all :mad: , or they will sell it unlocked :) , or include 3G.
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So, why did you let that happen? (Operator lock-in suddenly becoming legal?)
 
emotion said:
Does it really lack MMS? (Edit: Apparently so, I'd missed that. May as well not have that camera then).

What use is a plastic lensed 2MP camera if you can't send MMS? It's certainly not on there to replace a real camera.
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You can email the pics. I guess Apple wants its mail program to replace MMS. I only hope there's a way to email a pic to a friend's regular run-of-the-mill phone.
 
VaDor said:
I think he was saying in another meaning like is described in wikipedia:

"Brussels is often considered the de facto capital as it hosts most of the primary institutions, including the Commission and the Council. The Parliament also has its second seat in the city. Strasbourg is the official seat of the European Parliament, meeting there for twelve week-long plenary sessions each year. Luxembourg City plays host to the Secretariat of the European Parliament as well as the European Court of Justice, the Court of First Instance and the European Court of Auditors."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union
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Yes, as opposed to the capital of the continent of Europe and all the countries in it.
 
Why is everyone just ignoring facts and rather seems to enjoy nose picking? When we read iPhone comes to europe, do you actually read the european continent? It's the entire EU or no EU at all. Those are european laws.
 
emotion said:
Does it really lack MMS? (Edit: Apparently so, I'd missed that. May as well not have that camera then).

What use is a plastic lensed 2MP camera if you can't send MMS? It's certainly not on there to replace a real camera.
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It has a 3.5" screen to view photo's and you can email them. I never use my cheap phone's MMS service. It is a waste of money to pay for the MMS service fee's. Why would you use MMS if they requre a Data Plan?
 
dakis said:
What are you talking about? Locked phones are all over the place here and I've never heard that simlock is illegal anywhere outside the USA.
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It's not cause you haven't heard from it that it not excists.

Belgium is one example, all phones must be sold unlocked. Locked phones are against the law. And it's a good thing for sure. As a customer you need free choice.
 
darwen said:
Why would you use MMS if they requre a Data Plan?
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Most monthly phone contracts in the UK include a monthly allowance for text and picture messaging and most Pay As You Go credits give you some sort of messaging deal.

If not, it's about £0.30 for a picture message and £0.10 for a text message. You do not need a data plan for either. It also doesn't cost anything to receive phone calls or messages. In Europe, messaging is very popular, I should know because my daughter gets through 300 a month!

The UK and other European markets do things differently to the US. The contracts in the UK are 12 months or 18 months maximum and free phones are expected to be included. If Apple has tried to bully the phone operators over here into accepting the same deal as their US one, I'm not surprised our operators are stalling.
 
darwen said:
It has a 3.5" screen to view photo's and you can email them. I never use my cheap phone's MMS service. It is a waste of money to pay for the MMS service fee's. Why would you use MMS if they requre a Data Plan?
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Yeah, it's for email. However most of the people I'd want to send these things too would like them sendng to the phone.

Now, I'm willing to work around the limitations but MMS is pretty popular here and many won't view things in the same way as me.

There's more to undertanding the "European" market than just who Apple teams up with. In the UK at least Apple might face an uphill battle. It as to be said this is very interesting to watch. It's not like every Apple product succeeds, there are signs that the AppleTV isn't doing that well, for example.
 
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