Bye Bye... iPhone....Bye Bye

[redshovel]

Well after several weeks I finally sold my UK ‘unlocked to any O2 sim card’ iPhone.
I was never going to partake of the 18 month contract. Leaving aside the pathetic call and text bundles on offer I feel 18 months is 6 months to long for any mobile phone contract.

I have got shot for a number of reasons.

1. The poor camera meant I was back to carrying a separate digital one. Very annoying.
2. Edge coverage (when you can get it) is only ok for web browsing.
3. I was feed up of people moaning that I keep on sending them two text messages with only one word in the second message. All this due to the iPhones lack of a simple character counter.
4. No Bluetooth file transfer. All your mates are swapping files around you and your sitting there with latest, greatest phone and you can’t join in. That’s just wrong.
5. That would make a great ringtone for my phone. Hold on till I set that up. Dam it. I can’t do that either.
6. Most annoying of all was not being able to set a decent SMS tone. I never once heard the thing go off in my pocket.
I know there are several ways round some of these problems but as with unlocking the phone and 3rd party appz, you’re in a consent battle with apple. It’s just not worth the hassle. Not for a phone and especially not this phone.

To some up, iPhone is brilliant in some ways. Connected to Wi-Fi and its interface makes the best portable web browser by far. But in many others resects, some key to being a usable mobile phone, it fails miserably.
Many may disagree with the above but most will agree with this....The whole affair has been one hell of a marketing disaster.
Better Luck next time apple.


PS. Using an Nokia N95 8GB now and feel right at home again after what seems like a just ok holiday with 6 day flight delays on either side.

 

[alFR]

If you are a serious photographer you'd need a separate camera whatever your phone - no phone cam can match even a fairly basic digicam, the lenses aren't good enough. I find the iphone camera fine for casual snaps and can easily put on custom ringtones without hacks with the current firmware. Edge has been fine for me and the vibrate alert works fine for SMS. Different strokes for different folks I suppose.

 

[Ninja Dom]

Please explain the "marketing disaster" part for me.

Nearly 5 million units sold in only 6 months seems far from a Marketing Disaster for Apple.

 

[redshovel]

If you are a serious photographer you'd need a separate camera whatever your phone - no phone cam can match even a fairly basic digicam, the lenses aren't good enough. I find the iphone camera fine for casual snaps and can easily put on custom ringtones without hacks with the current firmware. Edge has been fine for me and the vibrate alert works fine for SMS. Different strokes for different folks I suppose.

Before I got the iPhone I was using a K800i with 3.2 MP camera. It performed just as well as my CyberShot 3.2MP digital Camera. My new N95 8GB sports a 5.0MP Carl Zeiss lens. It produces better results my freinds samsung 5MP stand alone camera. So your argument is void. Unless your a professional photographer you should not need to carry a seperate camera in this day and age. The camera on the iphone behind the times. Apple got this so so wrong. EDGE is ok but 3G leaves it for dead. Another bad apple. Hell with the Opera Mini Browser on my N95 8GB I can surf the web (FULL SIZE PAGES) faster on GPRS connect than an iPhone on EDGE!

 

[phungy]

How do you like the N95?

 

[redshovel]

Please explain the "marketing disaster" part for me.

Nearly 5 million units sold in only 6 months seems far from a Marketing Disaster for Apple.

The marketing disaster is the ‘barrier to purchase’ apple has created. The usual barrier to purchase of any product is the price. It’s a simple matter of life in that if you don’t have the money you can’t buy the product. However apple has re written this rule and even people with the money to purchase the iphone wont, even though they may still want it. The ridiculous 18 month contract being the main put off. Many people already have a contract and would just want a ‘sim free’ version and be happy enough to pay the £269. Hell I know some willing to pay twice that for a legit sim free version. The same case applies for people on PAYG.
So they may have sold nearly 5 million units, but this should have been a hell of a lot more. The whole affair has damaged the apple brand also. People with cash ready feel they are being bullied into contracts. Others in the know purchase unlocked versions but are in a consent battle to keep their phones online. Many are just confused and don’t bother buying into any iPhone. All this combined and it’s a ‘marketing disaster’.

 

[redshovel]

How do you like the N95?

I am really likeing the N95 8GB. It’s got the functionality of any Nokia phone combined with a really really god Carl Zeiss camera. Web browsing on it is brilliant also. Ok it hasn’t got the slick touch screen of the iphone, but I have loaded Opera Mini onto my N95 8GB and with its somewhat magical compression system Opera Mini can display FULL SIZE websites to me as fast on a GPRS connect than iPhone can over EDGE.

 

[Ninja Dom]

Quite the opposite, my friend.

The Apple iPhone has been a marketing success. Look through the various magazines in the world to see the product listed in the top 5 product pages. Time magazine rated it the greatest product/gadget of 2007.

You have a lot of criticism for the buying model. But even with this buying model Apple still sold nearly 5 million units. Do you understand? FIVE MILLION IN SIX MONTHS!!! With it ONLY being available in the US, UK, France & Germany. No other mobile phone has ever sold like that regardless of the price it sells for.

O2 said that 80% of iPhone sales were to new customers. How can any of this be called a marketing disaster??

In fact, once Apple announce the amount of money they have made through the iPhone don't be surprised if you start to see other mobile phone manufacturers copying this distribution model for phones in 2008.

 

[Ish]

I am really likeing the N95 8GB. It’s got the functionality of any Nokia phone combined with a really really god Carl Zeiss camera. Web browsing on it is brilliant also. Ok it hasn’t got the slick touch screen of the iphone, but I have loaded Opera Mini onto my N95 8GB and with its somewhat magical compression system Opera Mini can display FULL SIZE websites to me as fast on a GPRS connect than iPhone can over EDGE.

'Fraid I'm going to get a bit off-topic here. Sorry.

What do you use for loading your N95? I bought an N73 recently and while it syncs fine with the Mac for calendar and address book, as far as I can tell I'd have to install the Nokia software on someone else's PC to download any software upgrades etc.

 

[redshovel]

Quite the opposite, my friend.

The Apple iPhone has been a marketing success. Look through the various magazines in the world to see the product listed in the top 5 product pages. Time magazine rated it the greatest product/gadget of 2007.

You have a lot of criticism for the buying model. But even with this buying model Apple still sold nearly 5 million units. Do you understand? FIVE MILLION IN SIX MONTHS!!! With it ONLY being available in the US, UK, France & Germany. No other mobile phone has ever sold like that regardless of the price it sells for.

O2 said that 80% of iPhone sales were to new customers. How can any of this be called a marketing disaster??

In fact, once Apple announce the amount of money they have made through the iPhone don't be surprised if you start to see other mobile phone manufacturers copying this distribution model for phones in 2008.

In response to your points:
The iphone has indeed been listed in various magazines as being one of the top 5 gadgets of 2007. ‘Gadgets’, NOT PHONE. I too enjoyed some of the groundbreaking features of the iPhone but it doesn’t make it a good all round mobile phone.

These 5 million units you keep banging on about are poor compare to what it could have been if apple had not restricted the sale of the iPhone.

You claim ‘O2 said that 80% of iPhone sales were to new customers.’ So what! What percentage of that figure are iPhones purchased with no intent on signing the 18 month contract and getting the phone unlocked?

Also I very much doubt you will ever see another mobile phone manufacture takes this marketing approach. Because when all the legal wrangling and disgruntled customers and brand damage has been assed they would be crazy too.
I think you will see the opposite and that iPhone Version 2 will be launched to ALL THE NETWORKS.

 

[redshovel]

'Fraid I'm going to get a bit off-topic here. Sorry.

What do you use for loading your N95? I bought an N73 recently and while it syncs fine with the Mac for calendar and address book, as far as I can tell I'd have to install the Nokia software on someone else's PC to download any software upgrades etc.

The opera mini browser I mentioned can be downloaded and installed directly off the opera website through the current browser on the n95. Any other loading/upgrades I have used the bundled nokia software on my PC. However I am told there are other 3rd Party programs you can use to load software etc and some that work on mac also. Guess wot ...Nokia wont launch a firmware update attack and remove them on you either. unlike apple
Check out one of the various N95 forums.

 

[synth3tik]

I have never had the SMS texting problems you had. 1 text no matter how long it is is just one message.

As far as the ring tones go. Apple updated garage band to be able to create ring tones. No sneaking around there at all.

Saying bye bye to the iPhone is also saying bye bye to some major cool points j/k

 

[thepandamancan]

I have never had the SMS texting problems you had. 1 text no matter how long it is is just one message.

As far as the ring tones go. Apple updated garage band to be able to create ring tones. No sneaking around there at all.

Saying bye bye to the iPhone is also saying bye bye to some major cool points j/k

Actually...texts can only be a certain length so the original poster has a valid argument there. I believe its only like 150 characters or maybe up to 300. If it goes over that, the iPhone will split it up into two or even three messages if you send an essay for a text message. We may see it as one bubble in the text app but to whoever you sent it to will see it as seperate texts.

 

[miniConvert]

The N95 8GB is fantastic. I have no doubt that it'll keep you very happy for quite some time. Symbian and S60 aren't done for yet

The first gen iPhone is flawed in many ways. For many people, however, what it offers is fantastic - even revolutionary. For those of us who have managed to browse the net, send emails and, heaven forbid, send picture messages with Nokia smartphones for years now there's really very little appeal.

Still, there's nothing in your experiences that you couldn't have known before owning the thing. It's just not ready for technophiles, yet.

I hope an iPhone arrives in the future that suites me (and, I'd imagine, you). Until then, it's not an option. You did the right thing to get rid.

Edit: A standard SMS, btw, is 160 characters. All phones worth a dime will, when a texter goes over 160 characters, use concatenated messaging. This uses up some characters to put coded headers in the SMS that allows the recipient handset to reform multiple messages into a single one for reading. For example, the maximum number of characters that can be sent in a 3-part concatenated message is 459. I recently confirmed with a friend that concatenated messaging was working on his UK iPhone, but perhaps it's buggy, or perhaps it can only join two or three SMS together before rolling over to a completely new message. Oh well, I wouldn't have expected Apple to have done SMS properly the first time around... it's much, much bigger outside of the US.

 

[Passante]

It is interesting to hear redshovel's criticisms of the iPhone and think to my self that none of them are of any concern to me. It just demonstrates that we are all different and while the iPhone is a great phone for many some will not like it.

Don't be too harsh on the OP.

 

[redshovel]

It is interesting to hear redshovel's criticisms of the iPhone and think to my self that none of them are of any concern to me. It just demonstrates that we are all different and while the iPhone is a great phone for many some will not like it.

Don't be too harsh on the OP.

I do aggree that for some iPhone is great and for other like me, it just not suitable.

However I wont fold on the point that the marketing for iPhone was been the work of someone with play-doh for a brain.

 

[OW22]

The iPhone is perfect for what I need. I don't need and never used MMS, I don't need bluetooth and I get all the apps I need from the developers.

I just love the interface and the web and mail apps and the iPod.

But thats just me, i know there are bound to be people who need a lot more functions and the iPhone is not right for them.

But I totally agree with redshovel on the "barriers to purchase" Apple have erected. It's a very poor strategy and yes they gain revenue from the operators but they are excluding a lot more sales with this direction and it's actually very anti-consumer and is not going down well here in Europe and has been legally challenged and successfully in some countries. And the continued threats of "bricking" with each new update is pathetic from Apple.

I expected better from them.

 

[MRU]

I have an N95 at the moment but would trade it in - in an instant should Apple finally release the bloody iPhone in Ireland.

It has lots of +points , but for also a lot of bad ones.

Yes the N95 can open a word doc ? so?
Yes the N95 has GPS ? I never use it as I have a tomtom so? Oh and to get it to route plan after demoing the voice support you HAVE to buy the voices for $70 otherwise the phone just wont route plan properly.
Yes it has a Carl Zeis lens, but it is utterly crap in low light conditions, and it takes way too long between shots, especially with flash, and its slow to initialize/start up.
The phone will often crash... Nothing worse middle of call your cut off, you look at the phone screen and see the nokia logo.
It's very expensive (but hey they all are)
It has really CRAP software support for Apple users.

So the N95 is far from perfect.


It's looking like it will be the REV2 iPhone that will launch in Ireland, one with 3G, so at least it may be worth the wait.

 

[Indydenny]

I don't understand the need to tell everyone you are saying goodbye to the iphone.

Best of luck in whatever you choose.

 

[philipz]

I do agree that for some iPhone is great and for other like me, it just not suitable.

However I wont fold on the point that the marketing for iPhone was been the work of someone with play-doh for a brain.

I do agree with all of Redshovel's points, except the marketing Put it the way you want, from a marketing point of view the launch was a success, no matter how much everybody dislikes the strategy.

I had one as well, but didn't like it too much. Sending an SMS to multiple people? Didn't work... I guess many iPhone owners got frustrated typing over the same 'best wishes' again and again on new years eve...
Re-use an SMS you just wrote? Forget it... Finding names/contacts easily? Forget it... (I know there's a 3rd party app now, but come on...)
Sometimes - for me - there's the need to send an SMS or type in a number blindly - no chance to do that on the iPhone because it has no buttons (this is no criticism; this is just a fact). For instance while driving, try to dial a number; you really need to focus on the screen...

All in all, the iPhone has many extras that are nice to have and eye-catching, but the basic functionality I expect from a phone (which it is in the first place anyway) is just not implemented properly.

I do guess that next generation iPhones will perform better on the basic stuff.

In the end, my iPhone got confiscated by my girlfriend, who likes it a lot, so it was no waste of money anyway.

 

[Fuchal]

The iPhone camera is much worse than most European camera phones, but it is also much better than 99% of all U.S. camera phones. We need European phones.

 

[fr33 loader]

Misnomer

I think calling it smartphone is a misnomer, iPhone should have been called multi-media phone. I think iPhone has the best delivery of music, photos, movies and the internet on any phone to date. It'll just get better with every update. When N95 adds a new usable button(s) on its next software upgrade and syncs with iTunes let me know.

 

[gkarris]

But in many others resects, some key to being a usable mobile phone, it fails miserably.
Many may disagree with the above but most will agree with this....The whole affair has been one hell of a marketing disaster.
Better Luck next time apple.

Apple is looking towards the future.

Just a few years ago, I use to rack up over 500 voice minutes a month, and no text messaging.

Now, with all these smartphones, blackberries, and the fact people don't really want to "talk" anymore, my voice usage went to only about 50 minutes per month and my text usage to over 300 (I had to get the text plan added).

So yes, as a "phone" it fails, but it seems like no one is really using the "phone" anymore. Heck, I think I use the iPod watching music videos more than the talking on the phone....

 

[Cleverboy]

These 5 million units you keep banging on about are poor compare to what it could have been if apple had not restricted the sale of the iPhone.

So... the 5 million units are poor compared to the imaginary projections in your head? Ok.

Well, I really wish you luck with your Nokia N95. Hopefully the situation changes with Apple a few years from now. More than likely however, Nokia will come out with a phone that will more than suit your needs and be very similar to the iPhone later this year, or early 2009. Nothing will change about Apple's overall carrier strategy in the next 2 years or so, so complaining about it is pretty pointless. Contracts have been signed. The die has been cast. That ship has sailed, and I can understand why you won't be on the boat.

~ CB

 

[nickspohn]

I do aggree that for some iPhone is great and for other like me, it just not suitable.

However I wont fold on the point that the marketing for iPhone was been the work of someone with play-doh for a brain.

If the phone sells, it sells. Apple has the best marketing strategys IMO. iPhone users sell their phones to people that don't have them, and it's a chain effect. Because of their iPod passed, the media covers Apple, which is another huge boost.

If i go out in public, and i'm using an iPhone, people will be like "Hey, that's an iPhone!". Now, if i go out in public with a Nokia N95, no one is basically going to say "Hey man, is that the new Nokia N95!?".

You're forgetting Apple doesn't sell phones like Nokia does. Nokia makes cell phones. Apple is a industry that sells a lot more stuff than just phones, and afterall, this is their first REAL phone. (The ROKR or whatever it was called was nothing special).