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Apple Unable to Find iPhone Partner in Europe?

mst0192 said:
it's not about that at&t are compatible, it's about roaming. it means that at&t has roaming-partners (who provide access on their networks for your at&t-phone) in 190 countries.

if my phone uses the same gsm/3g/whatever standard as a network in a foreign country, doesnt mean that i can use this network with my phone. -> only if my provider/network has a roaming-agreement with this particular foreign network.
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Exactly and AT&T has particularly diverse roaming agreements and particularly large usages on those networks so it has buying power worldwide. My AT&T service let me call UK really cheaply from my cell, and roaming at least within the USA was better than most networks.

I am presuming other countries are actually more fully deployed and sophisticated since we have so many regulatory and geographic issues here.

Rocketman
 
OK, thanks for clearing that up for me, but I still fail to see how AT&T could be the international carrier for the iPhone...

Would it be a 'behind the scenes' agreement between AT&T and carriers in Europe that would make AT&T the exclusive provider of iPhones to euro carriers, or would AT&T be the actual carrier for the european market?

I.E. I lived in Germany (and this theory of yours is true), would my iPhone be branded under "AT&T" or "D1"?
 
EricNau said:
OK, thanks for clearing that up for me, but I still fail to see how AT&T could be the international carrier for the iPhone...

Would it be a 'behind the scenes' agreement between AT&T and carriers in Europe that would make AT&T the exclusive provider of iPhones to euro carriers, or would AT&T be the actual carrier for the european market?

I.E. I lived in Germany (and this theory of yours is true), would my iPhone be branded under "AT&T" or "D1"?
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Very unlikely. AT&T is not widely known outside the US so it would be hard to get the brand established. I'm sure Apple will do deals with carriers in individual countries.
 
Philsy said:
Very unlikely. AT&T is not widely known outside the US so it would be hard to get the brand established. I'm sure Apple will do deals with carriers in individual countries.
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It's a little more complicated I think : AT&T is not established in Europe (except through roaming), so any call made by AT&T customers to another caller within Europe would be roamed to the USA and back to Europe, essentially doubling the roaming fee that has to be payed... This way, being a customer of AT&T within Europe would be VERY expensive indeed.
 
I just worry that Apple can find a partner here in mexico, that is more than probable that is going to be telcel now the next question is when??
 
Using a US iPhone elsewhere

No doubt iPhones are going to be flooding eBay over the next few weeks.

Question is, can these US phones be used elsewhere in the world?

(not that I'm thinking of doing it, but others will).
 
Philsy said:
No doubt iPhones are going to be flooding eBay over the next few weeks.

Question is, can these US phones be used elsewhere in the world?

(not that I'm thinking of doing it, but others will).
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Yes and no. You will need an AT&T SIM, you'll not be able to insert a Vodafone SIM and expect it to work; but AT&T does have roaming agreements across the world, and the phone supports four of the five official GSM frequencies (only 450 MHz is lacking, there aren't many countries that use that.)

In short, if you live outside the US, then unless you have money to burn, buying one is a bad idea. But if you live in the US, occasionally go on vacation, and don't mind paying an absolute premium for roaming rather than getting a PAYG SIM at your destination and redirecting your calls to that number, then yeah, these US phones can be used elsewhere in the world.
 
peharri said:
Yes and no. You will need an AT&T SIM, you'll not be able to insert a Vodafone SIM and expect it to work; but AT&T does have roaming agreements across the world, and the phone supports four of the five official GSM frequencies (only 450 MHz is lacking, there aren't many countries that use that.)

In short, if you live outside the US, then unless you have money to burn, buying one is a bad idea. But if you live in the US, occasionally go on vacation, and don't mind paying an absolute premium for roaming rather than getting a PAYG SIM at your destination and redirecting your calls to that number, then yeah, these US phones can be used elsewhere in the world.
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I guess, though, if the phone could be unlocked, it could then be used with other SIM cards?
 
Philsy said:
I guess, though, if the phone could be unlocked, it could then be used with other SIM cards?
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Possibly, but that's a big "if". There's no evidence that Apple will make any version that's easily unlocked until they produce iPhones for the European market. And even there it's not clear that this is going to happen. It may be the sticking point that Apple wants to negotiate "exclusive" contracts and the European operators are telling them "Er, no, we are legally obliged to sell only unlocked phones and/or (depending on jurisdiction) phones that can be unlocked at a later date." Articles like this one are so vague that it's hard to know.

This is one of those times it's better to keep speculation to a minimum and wait to see what Apple does and, if necessary, what people do to work around what Apple does. The one thing that seems fairly certain at the moment is that any iPhone you get in the next six months will be hard to put on a carrier other than AT&T. It may be someone finds a way to unlock the things, but there's no reason to believe Apple will make it easy, and as such there's every reason to believe it'll be a long time before any SP locks are cracked.
 
peharri said:
Yes and no. You will need an AT&T SIM, you'll not be able to insert a Vodafone SIM and expect it to work; but AT&T does have roaming agreements across the world, and the phone supports four of the five official GSM frequencies (only 450 MHz is lacking, there aren't many countries that use that.)
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That doesn't work. People try that in the U.S. already (they move somewhere where AT&T is not present but the carrier that is there has AT&T roaming agreements with, and the customer has free roaming). AT&T will just cancel your service if you use the majority of your minutes in "roaming" areas for an extended length of time.
 
I don't think we'll see an iPhone in the UK this side of 2008, personally, regardless of what Steve said. The companies over here simply won't be pushed around.
 
After saying I was going to hold off for a while, I've got a SE K800i free on a 12-month contract. The phone's very nice and syncs with the Mac but, well, it's a bit dull in that's similar to my previous K750i.

Part of me is tempted to cancel the contract in the hope that the iPhone does cut the mustard in the UK when it arrives. IE, it must have 3G, MMS and, possibly, video calling.

But then, what if it turns out not to and is a complete duffer?

It's a dilemma.... :rolleyes:
 
Philsy said:
After saying I was going to hold off for a while, I've got a SE K800i free on a 12-month contract. The phone's very nice and syncs with the Mac but, well, it's a bit dull in that's similar to my previous K750i.

Part of me is tempted to cancel the contract in the hope that the iPhone does cut the mustard in the UK when it arrives. IE, it must have 3G, MMS and, possibly, video calling.

But then, what if it turns out not to and is a complete duffer?

It's a dilemma.... :rolleyes:
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Well if you're after video calling I can pretty safely say you're in for a disappointment, with this generation anyway - the camera faces the wrong way for video calling, and it doesn't seem to be an area that Apple are exactly jumping to get into.
 
Jarcrew said:
Well if you're after video calling I can pretty safely say you're in for a disappointment, with this generation anyway - the camera faces the wrong way for video calling, and it doesn't seem to be an area that Apple are exactly jumping to get into.
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It would need two cameras. To be honest, I can live without video chat. The 3G and MMS are musts, though, and I think it would be a big mistake for Apple to release the iPhone without.

The lack of MMS is very puzzling - is it not used in the US?
 
Jarcrew said:
I don't think we'll see an iPhone in the UK this side of 2008, personally, regardless of what Steve said. The companies over here simply won't be pushed around.
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if they pop up on ebay and i can pop in a UK sim, i'm having one

the only worry is if ebay goes crazy, the iPhone price will shoot to over £1000
 
SeaFox said:
That doesn't work. People try that in the U.S. already (they move somewhere where AT&T is not present but the carrier that is there has AT&T roaming agreements with, and the customer has free roaming). AT&T will just cancel your service if you use the majority of your minutes in "roaming" areas for an extended length of time.
Click to expand...

No, we're talking about international roaming here, not free domestic roaming. AT&T doesn't cut off people for using too much international roaming as it's not free to the customers, indeed it costs customers an absolute fortune.

Which is precisely why it's only a way for a European to get an AT&T-locked iPhone if they have really, really, deep pockets.
 
Philsy said:
It would need two cameras. To be honest, I can live without video chat. The 3G and MMS are musts, though, and I think it would be a big mistake for Apple to release the iPhone without.

The lack of MMS is very puzzling - is it not used in the US?
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MMS is extremely popular in the US, with all the major operators pushing it hard since they started selling camera phones. I'm very surprised Apple isn't supporting it, and can only assume, given it's one of the few things (like dialing voice calls - oooh, SNAP!) that with existing phones "just works", that they just haven't had the time to incorporate it into "revision 1".
 
liketom said:
if they pop up on ebay and i can pop in a UK sim, i'm having one

the only worry is if ebay goes crazy, the iPhone price will shoot to over £1000
Click to expand...

Considering that for £1000 two people can go from London to New York for a weekend, have a generally good time _and_ buy an iPhone, you would have to find someone really stupid to pay £1000 for an iPhone on eBay. Not that it won't happen :p
 
gnasher729 said:
Considering that for £1000 two people can go from London to New York for a weekend, have a generally good time _and_ buy an iPhone, you would have to find someone really stupid to pay £1000 for an iPhone on eBay. Not that it won't happen :p
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LOL! But there are lots of stupid people around, some of which will send the £1000 to Nigeria for an iPhone, or pay £5 to find out 'how to get an iPhone for free' :)
 
Philsy said:
Wonderful! iPhone rip-off AND eBay rip-off :D

Question is, does the phone support MMS and will it sync with OSX?:cool:
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The IP2000 has an impressive 60MB of flash memory. Well i'm sold :D that will almost hold 5-7 Songs ? not that it will play back iTunes Music that is
 
Yeah right

inkswamp said:
Good? Good that Apple will, just to sell more phones, cave in to demands from yet another group of businessmen who have become fat and happy with their income stream and don't want to raise a finger to improve features that they perceive as good enough? C'mon... how is that good? I don't care how you feel about Apple or Steve Jobs or the iPhone, but you have to admit that the way Apple pounces into markets and stirs things up has already yielded loads of improvements that primarily benefits consumers.
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Why do Apple fans forget that apple too is a business that is just as 'greedy' as the next company??? Apple is not the saviour of the tech world, it is a player. For one I am happy that Europe is not giving in to demands. Those demands are obviously not for the benefit of consumers but for Apple. A $600 phone plus a contract off which Apple makes money- this is not good news for you and I! Wake up people, Apple **MAY** be killing the goose that laid the golden egg!!!
 
noworrys

Apple is demanding to much.
But they'll come around, especially if the launche in the US is good.
 
Totally, dude.

Jarcrew said:
I don't think we'll see an iPhone in the UK this side of 2008, personally, regardless of what Steve said. The companies over here simply won't be pushed around.
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Jarcrew makes the main point; I see the airtime providers having a real issue with that iTunes activation process.

I watched both today's videos and whilst 40GB and 80GB look like big numbers (compared to 160mb in an N95, for example), my overall feeling is that iPhone is a stylish (and very stylish) solution to an as yet unspecified problem.

Unless that problem is "hey dude; when's the next iPod update due?"

About the closest it comes to utility is Keynote presentations (with limited format options); wherefore ar't though Pages (or Sheets....;-)

Even John Appleseed ignored the Yahoo email setup screen!

Finally, and based on the observation that everything Apple charge a Buck for in the 'States costs a Quid in the UK, where did we suddenly get off on a hundred-and-twenty pounds-a-month calling+data+unlimited SMS plan?

I think not (which could just as equally be my signature...;-))

Jules
 
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