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European iPhone Launches (Germany + UK)

Drinahn said:
On a general note, I'm not sure what people are fussing about. It's not that expensive really.
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You are kidding, right?

Drinahn said:
Either you want it or you don't, and you can afford it or you can't. Apple isn't entering into the budget phone market. If you can't afford it, don't buy it. If you don't like it, don't buy it. It is remarkably simple when it comes down to it.
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Yeah, life can be so simple... :rolleyes: We are still talking about a phone. Not more and not less. And of course it is a nice gadget, but totally overprized for what it actually is and can do.

So I would want one, but I fail to see why I should spend that much money for a communication device that is actually just a phone on steroids and with a lot of make-up. I could afford one easily, but I tend to spend my money on more useful things instead of wasting it.

We talk again when the iPhone has UMTS, can be used as a modem for a computer and for 50.-€ you can talk and surf unlimited. With the numbers Apple projected for the iPhone sales in the coming months, they actually want to enter the mass market... but for that you need attractive pricing.

I remember the times when mac users had the reputation of being arrogant... Can' really imagine why... :rolleyes:

groovebuster
 
Drinahn said:
Either you want it or you don't, and you can afford it or you can't. Apple isn't entering into the budget phone market. If you can't afford it, don't buy it. If you don't like it, don't buy it. It is remarkably simple when it comes down to it.
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I can't believe it's taken 7 pages of this thread to come to this conclusion lol

True though.
 
Drinahn said:
I doubt we'll be left in the lurch. I think you'll find they'll have no problems restarting my contract and giving me a new phone when I give them the cash for it in six months or whenever 2.0 emerges.

On a general note, I'm not sure what people are fussing about. It's not that expensive really. Either you want it or you don't, and you can afford it or you can't. Apple isn't entering into the budget phone market. If you can't afford it, don't buy it. If you don't like it, don't buy it. It is remarkably simple when it comes down to it.
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Agreed. I bought two on Friday, it has already changed the way I can run my personal and business life. If you cant afford it go and buy a Nokia, most of the people whining on here have not even seen one yet. Having shown it to four people on Saturday, three will be getting one today. Apple entering this market, will finally push other manufacturers into making a decent product.
 
congrats to the buyers and enjoy. It's an enjoyable phone and now a worldwide phone...
 
Bonte said:
Not that good i think, the stock tanked to 170 today. We don't have that many free wifi, the touch is already for sale and we always had top tech cellphones to begin with.

And i won't be getting one because off the ridiculous monthly rates, i'l probably just settle with the Touch.
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the stock tanking has nothing to do with iphone sales. The entire nasdaq tanked. vmware has tanked 40 dollars in a week and it's not because of anything the company has done. Tech is just going through major profit taking right now because the hedge funds have to account for recent losses and tech has been doing so well. Apple will be at 200 in a couple weeks i am sure and again probably won't have anything to do with the iphone selling 10000 on the first day.
 
I had a play on Friday evening - no-one in the Carphone Warehouse shop as it opened at 6.02pm - after a few minutes there was about 4 people in the shop playing with them (plus about 6 staff).

I have to say I really liked it - felt good, interface was really cool it had me sold. I was about to buy (£35 tariff pm) but my girlfriend stopped me and pointed out that to get the same amount of calls and texts I have now I'd need the £55 a month tariff...

Conclusion - Iphone is great, I want one. There's no way I can afford it. £1259 (£55 x 18 plus £269) over 18 months versus the current £540 (£30 pm and a free phone) over 18 months I pay now. Sure there's no internet on my current phone (well free wap for the footy scores) - but is the internet and a cool interface worth £719 more?

My heart says yes - my head says no. I haven't paid for a phone in years, I'm not going to start now :( . Mainly on principal - its a slippery slope - we start paying now for phones and the day of the free subsidised phone (which practically all are now bar the iphone) could once again disappear.

I do feel that Apple missed the boat here - they could have flooded the market with a free subsidised phone and more conservative tariffs (i.e. gone non-exclusive with the network) - if they had, almost everyone I know would have bought one (well, got one free) - I'm sure they'll make more money the way they are doing it, but sell less phones and get less market penetration.

Perhaps the 5 month wait from its US release made it less interesting to me, I'd have bought one in June here damn the money! But now - I realise it'd be silly to throw money at it - yes it's cool, but I have bills to pay.

I actually agree with a previous poster (who was slated for no good reason I believe) that I'd be better using my ipod and current phone and buying a macbook for the same money - certainly a better deal.
 
I know Apple have surprised people before with big sellers that people said would flop but I really can't see the first iPhone being big in Europe. Yes, it will sell a fair few thousand but it's not going to topple the best phones or capture much market share.

After trying one out today it's a case of 'Wow, the intereface is nice and it looks great' but after that it really isn't even close to an N95. The N95 is 3G, it has more features, a decent camera, it's easier to just make a call, much easier for messaging, the extra buttons are actually useful not superfluous (negating the interface of the iPhone) and it's FREE with a modest t-mobile Web'n'Walk package.

I'd go so far to say the iPhone doesn't even seem like a phone. It's more of an next-gen iPod that happens to make basic phonecalls.
 
groovebuster said:
Can you please elaborate? I saw one already and I still try to figure out what is so special about them (except the Apple'esque user interface) that it would justify the premium I would have to pay...

Thanks in advance...

groovebuster
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Hi groovebuster,

I run my own company and have issued most of my staff with assorted Blackberrys etc, which they hardly ever use, because it is too much like hard work to get anything done on them.

I have used my Iphone more in the last 36 hours or so, than I would normally use my Blackberry in a month. Everything is so easy, whether it is typing this to you now, or sending an email text etc. Part of this is the way it syncs to my mac for contacts, safari bookmarks etc. But mostly, because it is an enjoyable experience, not to sound to corny but it does just work! I was spending £1,500 per month with Orange for our mobile costs at work, on Monday I will be moving everyone over to an Iphone, thats how much I rate it, even after this short period of time.

Tell me another phone where 5 mins after taking it out of the box, it was activated with all 6 of my email accounts up and running accepting mail. Along with 400 plus contacts, email addresses etc. 10 mins after that 6 gig of selected music was on there ready to go, it is in a different league for ease of use than any other mobile I have seen. I am sure some sides of the British press are lined up to slag it off, but unfortunately it is because they are running their own agenda.

It is a little more expensive to buy and run, but in my opinion it is worth every penny. And when I see the grin on my employees faces when they get one next week, the fell good factor in my company will go through the roof!

Hope this helps, sorry to ramble on, but I do like typing on this virtual keyboard. Cheers.

[Edit] For all the whiners out there, please do no call me a fan boy. I work in a very competitive sector, I would only use and recommend something that I feel works.
 
Pierremaison said:
Hi groovebuster,

I run my own company and have issued most of my staff with assorted Blackberrys etc, which they hardly ever use, because it is too much like hard work to get anything done on them.

I have used my Iphone more in the last 36 hours or so, than I would normally use my Blackberry in a month. Everything is so easy, whether it is typing this to you now, or sending an email text etc. Part of this is the way it syncs to my mac for contacts, safari bookmarks etc. But mostly, because it is an enjoyable experience, not to sound to corny but it does just work! I was spending £1,500 per month with Orange for our mobile costs at work, on Monday I will be moving everyone over to an Iphone, thats how much I rate it, even after this short period of time.

Tell me another phone where 5 mins after taking it out of the box, it was activated with all 6 of my email accounts up and running accepting mail. Along with 400 plus contacts, email addresses etc. 10 mins after that 6 gig of selected music was on there ready to go, it is in a different league for ease of use than any other mobile I have seen. I am sure some sides of the British press are lined up to slag it off, but unfortunately it is because they are running their own agenda.

It is a little more expensive to buy and run, but in my opinion it is worth every penny. And when I see the grin on my employees faces when they get one next week, the fell good factor in my company will go through the roof!

Hope this helps, sorry to ramble on, but I do like typing on this virtual keyboard. Cheers.

[Edit] For all the whiners out there, please do no call me a fan boy. I work in a very competitive sector, I would only use and recommend something that I feel works.
Click to expand...

I wish you could upmod or vote up posts, I'd give this a +1 or thumbs up, it wraps up why the iPhone is good for businesses. Like perhaps all electronics, it's not for everybody, but in terms of on-the-go quick and easy in-your-pocket business machine, it rocks! Now if only they'd finally add to-do lists and have the email tilt 90 degrees to type in (grrr).
 
ImageWrangler said:
I wish you could upmod or vote up posts, I'd give this a +1 or thumbs up, it wraps up why the iPhone is good for businesses. Like perhaps all electronics, it's not for everybody, but in terms of on-the-go quick and easy in-your-pocket business machine, it rocks! Now if only they'd finally add to-do lists and have the email tilt 90 degrees to type in (grrr).
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Many thanks ImageWrangler, I am sure we will see lots of new additions to the basic package in the coming months.:D
 
Daeve said:
I do feel that Apple missed the boat here - they could have flooded the market with a free subsidised phone and more conservative tariffs (i.e. gone non-exclusive with the network) - if they had, almost everyone I know would have bought one (well, got one free) - I'm sure they'll make more money the way they are doing it, but sell less phones and get less market penetration.
Click to expand...

I reckon Apple went for exclusivity - making people pay for the phone AND contract stops it from falling into the hands of "the plebs" and only the successful/wealthy will be seen with them. Ergo, this adds a luxury appeal (as if more were needed!) to the iPhone - it makes the iPhone almost like a status symbol for people I guess.

I reckon it's intentional "marketing" to make iPhone so exclusive and expensive, rather than simply naivety, arrogance or greed.
 
groovebuster said:
Can you please elaborate? I saw one already and I still try to figure out what is so special about them (except the Apple'esque user interface) that it would justify the premium I would have to pay...

Thanks in advance...

groovebuster
Click to expand...

The UI is the main argument I'm using to persuade my parents to get me one lol.

They're saying Nokia N95 would be better - how is the internet "experience" on that though, in terms of how the pages look in comparison to the real internet?

And before someone says "Off topic, NUH!", iFind (chortle) it relevant as if the 'net is poor on the N95 I will get an iPhone instead.
 
Wow, how super-smug!

BruceEBonus said:
So - the big question:
Would it've been smarter to have queued at 1802hrs tonight in the UK- forking out £269 quid plus 18 x £35 (minimum) monthly talk tariff
Or .. smarter to wait til tomorrow morning to do ... exactly the same thing?.
Hmmm .. lets think.
I reckon the sane option would be: to do neither.:eek:
No. Actually, the smartest option is to put the combined total of what it will cost to run this overpriced, overhyped, overpriced novelty-gadget (IE:£900) towards a brand new MacBook. And impress the same gullible mates with that instead. Not only will the resale value get you a good £600 back if you flog it in 18 months hence and you can smirk furiously right now when you realise the second hand value of a 1st Generation iPhone come mid 2009 will be about £150 if that.
So lets do the maths here:
iPhone + Astronomical O2 Contract = £900 with a total loss of £750 at least.
MacBook for the same money and a loss of £300 or less ...
Bit of a no brainer as our Transatlantic cousins might say, Mildred.:p
Still - logic and common sense never comes into it when the heart take over from the head decisionwise.
However, may I suggest to other potential UK buyers to buy a packet of Airwaves gum and chew on a coupla sticks to help clear your head before purchasing what will be last years `must have product of 2007' come January 2008.
Mmmmm Macbook. Funny, you always said it was too much of a luxury to afford. Now - all this time - maybe it wasnt . Ah'll sithee at the (ahem) ironically-named `Genius' counter then shall I?:apple:.
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Whilst you're revelling in your overwhelming ego, remember that one item is a phone, and the other is a computer. If you're really so smart, you may have worked that out. I think this is why people hate 'Apple fans'.
 
mutantteenager said:
Whilst you're revelling in your overwhelming ego, remember that one item is a phone, and the other is a computer. If you're really so smart, you may have worked that out. I think this is why people hate 'Apple fans'.
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You just happened to catch an extremist, not all apple fans are like that ;)

I myself have seen a pretty decent increase in traffic these past few days to my iPhone wallpaper site, so I'm sure a lot more people have iPhones now :)
 
megfilmworks said:
Personally I like being on the leading edge instead of the trailing edge, but there is a price for being there and its not for the weak and whiny.
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Actually, this is what's stopping me from getting an iPhone! I can certainly afford one, and I think the iPhone's interface is absolutely first-rate (I own an iPod Touch and love it to bits), but...

  1. No 3G. 2 megapixel camera. No flash. No MMS. I know this has already been done to death, but on a purely technical level the iPhone is lacking. Far from being "leading edge", it's mediocre, especially from a UK / European perspective.
  2. 18 month contract. I don't want a phone that's only "leading edge" for a fraction of it's lifespan, I want to always have the best gadgets, thanks very much! Of course, the reality is that all gadgets get old pretty quickly, and waiting 12 months for a new phone is already bad enough for me. But 18 months? No way. Come 2009 you're gonna be stuck with "trailing edge" technology, while everyone else has moved on...
Anyway, I really am a huge fan of Apple technology, but the iPhone contracts (coupled with a few technical shortcomings) are a real dealbreaker -- because I want to have "leading edge" stuff!
 
RichTF said:
Actually, this is what's stopping me from getting an iPhone! I can certainly afford one, and I think the iPhone's interface is absolutely first-rate (I own an iPod Touch and love it to bits), but...

  1. No 3G. 2 megapixel camera. No flash. No MMS. I know this has already been done to death, but on a purely technical level the iPhone is lacking. Far from being "leading edge", it's mediocre, especially from a UK / European perspective.
  2. 18 month contract. I don't want a phone that's only "leading edge" for a fraction of it's lifespan, I want to always have the best gadgets, thanks very much! Of course, the reality is that all gadgets get old pretty quickly, and waiting 12 months for a new phone is already bad enough for me. But 18 months? No way. Come 2009 you're gonna be stuck with "trailing edge" technology, while everyone else has moved on...
Anyway, I really am a huge fan of Apple technology, but the iPhone contracts (coupled with a few technical shortcomings) are a real dealbreaker -- because I want to have "leading edge" stuff!
Click to expand...

100% agree with everything you say. Only bought a touch myself a fortnight ago and like you, think it's fantastic. As a phone the iPhone is a failure, and until it can match the feature set of my nokia, i'll have to keep on carrying two devices with me.
 
Padraig said:
As a phone the iPhone is a failure, and until it can match the feature set of my nokia, i'll have to keep on carrying two devices with me.
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Nokia fan here too. Seems to be a common theme actually, I think a lot of Nokia fans are in the "power user" category of mobile phones, which is why we're not so impressed with the iPhone. It's a shame, because the iPhone interface is so much better (i.e.: intuitive and easier to use) than Nokia's!

I guess it's now a race to see whether the iPhone 2 can bring new features before Nokia improves their user interface... :rolleyes: I'll be interested to see what Nokia's rumoured touch-screen phone will be like, but I'd be surprised if they can match the 'feel' of the iPhone.

Well this month my contract is up and I'll be upgrading my N73 to an N95-8GB. I'll admit that I was tempted by the iPhone, but in the end I've decided against it. Ironically, this means I'll now be switching from O2 to Vodafone -- So much for O2 using the iPhone as an incentive to keep customers! :p
 
You said it perfectly

Piermaison, perfect observation. Shame some bypassed your input. What you do sounds very interesting. How does the iPhone enhance what you do aside from what you have already stated.
 
Whatever is being said about the iPhone, it is a very clever piece of engineering and Apple was first to market it in this configuration. It, again, is ‘le Must de Apple’. It would complement my iMac and 3rd gen Nano perfectly. But I fear the Dutch pricing and tariffs very much. We are used to receive a GSM (cell phone) for ‘free’ with our contract. In fact, with my one year Orange contract I pick up a new phone upon renewal every year. I pay a modest 12 cents a minute in my 40 Euro bundle. That’s all I need. I don’t use text messages, ever. I’ve been eying the German T-Mobile tariffs and they are horrible. And you have to sign a two-year contract. And two years in GSM land is like 2 centuries in the real world. Apple aficionados will explain everything away and will say that I cry too much. I am very sorry to say this but this whole deal has something of an air of arrogance about it that I don’t like at all. The whole ‘take it or leave it’ approach maybe very clever marketing but I still don’t like it. What bothers me most is the ‘exclusive provider’. It rules out any kind of competition. Free market? Not in this setting. There is no competition if you want an iPhone. If you want an iPhone you have to swallow that oh so bitter pill of a two year contract and highly elevated tariffs. It kinda reminds me of that other raw deal. Being forced to pay for Windows on your PC even if you don’t want it and will never use it. What irony. Apple, you disappoint me.
 
rish said:
Piermaison, perfect observation. Shame some bypassed your input. What you do sounds very interesting. How does the iPhone enhance what you do aside from what you have already stated.
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It helps me stay in touch with what is going on seamlessly, other devices seem to get in the way of this, with endless menus and ridiculous options that no right minded person would ever need. As I said earlier it just works, which is exactly how it should be.
 
RichTF said:
Actually, this is what's stopping me from getting an iPhone! I can certainly afford one, and I think the iPhone's interface is absolutely first-rate (I own an iPod Touch and love it to bits), but...

  1. No 3G. 2 megapixel camera. No flash. No MMS. I know this has already been done to death, but on a purely technical level the iPhone is lacking. Far from being "leading edge", it's mediocre, especially from a UK / European perspective.
  2. 18 month contract. I don't want a phone that's only "leading edge" for a fraction of it's lifespan, I want to always have the best gadgets, thanks very much! Of course, the reality is that all gadgets get old pretty quickly, and waiting 12 months for a new phone is already bad enough for me. But 18 months? No way. Come 2009 you're gonna be stuck with "trailing edge" technology, while everyone else has moved on...
Anyway, I really am a huge fan of Apple technology, but the iPhone contracts (coupled with a few technical shortcomings) are a real dealbreaker -- because I want to have "leading edge" stuff!
Click to expand...
Good points, but you are still wrong. ;)
I have owned both and sorry to say there is no comparison. Years from now this time will be seen as the paradigm shift. BIP and AIP (Before iPhone and after iPhone).
No one will remember the also rans from Nokia and BB.
The times they are a changing. And you are going to be left at the station.
 
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