iPhone Buyer Statistics, O2 Confirmed for UK?

[rob@robburns.co]

This might just be a misprint there on the website. Its very likely that an ajax / javascript application that works on Opera could also work on iPhone Safari. Perhaps they're waiting to test it, or some other confusion led to the misstatement about Opera mobile and iPhone (in the same sentence)

Actually, now that I click through and look at the website:

http://www.soonr.com/web/front/talk.jsp

I see that the errors are just some misunderstandings on the blog page. This is software that you install on your mac or PC. The outbound calls that are conference-called together are between your cell phone and your landline phone (and also a call to the other 2nd party). Its a bit convoluted, but if:

- the other person was a skype user, and
- you were on your night and weekend minutes or had free incoming minutes (like in Europe),

Then the call would basically be free or the cost of calling your cell phone from your landline. to anywhere in the world. Otherwise it would be the cost of your landline charges.

So at most it would cost you skype out minutes; your own landline charges to call your cell phone number and whatever your rate was for incoming call minutes. Is that any clearer?

 

[peters438]

To do this over pure data connection, would probably require third-party software installed to get the input from the iPhone microphone transfered over the network. You're probably to going to accomplish that with javascript, DOM calls and other ajax stuff.

Agreed. There's just no way to get access to the iPhone (or any other computer) microphone through pure javascript. Javascript is the only client-side iPhone programming environment exposed to developers right now.

A Java app might be able to do it (assuming the OS exposes the microphone hardware to the Java Virtual Machine). I don't know about Flash.

I can see the benefit of using the Skype conference bridge thingy if you are a big international caller, but other than that, it seems like a convoluted process just to make a call -- something the iPhone is already good at.

 

[peters438]

There has also been talk that AT&T will soon implement voice-calls over WiFi (I forget what this feature is called). Someone also mentioned that those minutes are free with other carriers. So it seems likely, AT&T might add this feature and bundle it alongside free nights and weekend as "free calls from your private network". Its not quite skype, but it would still be pretty nice.

Amen to that. We have fine coverage on AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon here in the Norfolk area. Everywhere except inside my house.

 

[desimus]

This might just be a misprint there on the website. Its very likely that an ajax / javascript application that works on Opera could also work on iPhone Safari. Perhaps they're waiting to test it, or some other confusion led to the misstatement about Opera mobile and iPhone (in the same sentence)



There has also been talk that AT&T will soon implement voice-calls over WiFi (I forget what this feature is called). Someone also mentioned that those minutes are free with other carriers. So it seems likely, AT&T might add this feature and bundle it alongside free nights and weekend as "free calls from your private network". Its not quite skype, but it would still be pretty nice.

[edit: combine the free calls from your private network and with the 3rd party service and you've got unlimited world wide calls bundled as long as you're not on Edge]

Now using our wifi home networks to make calls would be awesome... but won't AT&T be losing out on money that way? It seems that with the more and more wifi spots available including our own homes that most people could go down to the absolute minimum plan for minutes knowing that most of their time is in a wifi zone. I'm all about it if it's true. I would be able to go to the 450 minutes vs the 900 minutes and save myself $20 a month...but I'm not seeing this happen anytime soon.

BTW I still love my iphone and as a regular consumer not a business phone user this is by far the best phone I've ever used. I had to go through my old razr the other day to clean out all the numbers, pictures, etc. to sell to my roomate and all I could think was... "man this user interface sucks beyond measure!!! I'm so glad I have an iPhone"

 

[SeaFox]

• New iPhone owners expected to pay about $35 more a month than their previous cellphone.

I think that's crazy. My cellphone bill is $35 TOTAL.

 

[Plutonius]

Only 1 UK network has EDGE (Orange), and at last press release this covered 1/8 of their network... They plan to add EDGE capacity in areas that will not have 3G coverage for a long time.

All other UK networks are GPRS + 3G with no EDGE support at all.

My network 3-UK has the best 3G coverage, and has a roaming GSM agreement for their non-3G areas which are getting less and less.

A thread earlier this month quoted O2 as saying they could easily enable EDGE on their networks. I somewhat believe it since I can't see the iPhone relying on GPRS or a new 3G iPhone coming out before the middle of next year.

 

[bilbo--baggins]

A thread earlier this month quoted O2 as saying they could easily enable EDGE on their networks. I somewhat believe it since I can't see the iPhone relying on GPRS or a new 3G iPhone coming out before the middle of next year.

Interesting. That would be a huge positive factor if O2 get an iPhone exlcusive. Mind you, if Orange only have limited EDGE coverage, surely O2 would have their work cut out to achieve widespread EDGE. More likely it would be patchy. Mind you, on my M600i I find that my phone uses GPRS more often than 3G (but the browsing experience is so tedious I rarely bother).

I do wonder whether it would be financially viable for O2 to upgrade to EDGE (I have no idea what cost would be involved). In the UK people think of 3G or not 3G, I doubt that having EDGE would have a big influence over many peoples decision of whether to buy an iPhone.

 

[manu chao]

I think that's crazy. My cellphone bill is $35 TOTAL.

Mine is only about $16 per month. Top that! (or rather bottom that).

 

[Plutonius]

Interesting. That would be a huge positive factor if O2 get an iPhone exlcusive. Mind you, if Orange only have limited EDGE coverage, surely O2 would have their work cut out to achieve widespread EDGE. More likely it would be patchy. Mind you, on my M600i I find that my phone uses GPRS more often than 3G (but the browsing experience is so tedious I rarely bother).

I do wonder whether it would be financially viable for O2 to upgrade to EDGE (I have no idea what cost would be involved). In the UK people think of 3G or not 3G, I doubt that having EDGE would have a big influence over many peoples decision of whether to buy an iPhone.

The post stated that O2 could enable EDGE on their network through a software change. I'm not sure if it's true but we will find out if/when they make the O2 announcement.

 

[SeaFox]

Mine is only about $16 per month. Top that! (or rather bottom that).

Including taxes? Did I mention I'm not a prepaid phone user.

 

[Timo_Existencia]

Exactly my experience. Edge has been a non issue for me.

Me too. Based on the expectations created in these forums, I was a bit unsure how Edge would perform. It has certainly beaten my expectations of it; I now largely view the "At&t sucks" posts as "sky is falling" hysteria that isn't supported by my experience.

I was on Sprint with a Treo before, and their network was terribly slow. It was essentially unusable. Edge has been performing fantastically; now I surf web site as a matter of general productivity and usage, not as a novelty.

This phone is remarkable; it just works for me in a way that nothing I've ever owned previously (my Newton came very close) has measured up to.

 

[manu chao]

Including taxes? Did I mention I'm not a prepaid phone user.

Including taxes. I am not a pre-paid user either. $10 general monthly fee (includes nothing, no minutes, no SMS). Average charges for phone calls and SMS I send per month: $6. I live in Europe, so incoming calls are paid by the person calling me.

 

[EagerDragon]

I think they'll regret it, yes.

The bottom line is that people switched almost entirely due to the iPhone, not anything that AT&T did.

Now all AT&T has to do is not totally suck and they have a huge user base til 2012 simply due to loyalty to Apple, not AT&T.

Or they may learn a thing or two from Apple and suck a little less.

 

[SayCheese]

I called my service provider (Vodaphone) to cancel my contract with them , it seems I am not the only one. They tried to put me off the iphone by saying ipods were crap & that I would miss out on an upgrade . Who cares when u want an I phone .

Why would you ring up and cancel now?
Surely if you cancel and go to O2 now then you are tied into at least a 12 month contract and then you are going to be in a poorer position when it comes to upgrading to the iPhone in 3 or so months time?

Also the deal with O2 has not been officially announced yet. Unless I am missing something??? If you have gone to O2 now and taken out a 12 month contract and then you find the iPhone has gone to Vodafone/Orange/T-Mobile surely you would be gutted at your decision??

Personally my Vodafone contract was up for renewal on 28th June this year and I am sticking with Vodafone for the moment until we know exactly (via an Apple speech/press release) who the contract has gone to. I am NOT going to be making any rash decisions such as cancelling my contract on the strength of rumours. Remember people this is still just a rumour, and one that I hope is wrong. As far as I am concerned O2 are useless.

 

[EagerDragon]

I called my service provider (Vodaphone) to cancel my contract with them , it seems I am not the only one. They tried to put me off the iphone by saying ipods were crap & that I would miss out on an upgrade . Who cares when u want an I phone .

You should have told them that you do not recall asking them their opinion.

 

[ajhill]

Europe seems to be coming along nicely...

Sure they all want to partner with Apple now that the iPhone is a huge success. I hope that Apple makes just as good a deal as they got with ATT here in the States.

I love mine. Count me in the 90% that is extremely satisfied!

 

[SeaFox]

Including taxes. I am not a pre-paid user either. $10 general monthly fee (includes nothing, no minutes, no SMS). Average charges for phone calls and SMS I send per month: $6. I live in Europe, so incoming calls are paid by the person calling me.

Ah, of course. It didn't occur to me you were someplace with a sane mobile provider market.

 

[rob@robburns.co]

Actually, now that I click through and look at the website:

http://www.soonr.com/web/front/talk.jsp

I see that the errors are just some misunderstandings on the blog page. This is software that you install on your mac or PC. The outbound calls that are conference-called together are between your cell phone and your landline phone (and also a call to the other 2nd party). Its a bit convoluted, but if:

- the other person was a skype user, and
- you were on your night and weekend minutes or had free incoming minutes (like in Europe),

Then the call would basically be free or the cost of calling your cell phone from your landline. to anywhere in the world. Otherwise it would be the cost of your landline charges.

So at most it would cost you skype out minutes; your own landline charges to call your cell phone number and whatever your rate was for incoming call minutes. Is that any clearer?

Here's a similar VOIP service that doesn't involve your own landline connected computer: strictly a web server/provider solution

http://beta.talkety.com/

and here are there rates:

http://beta.talkety.com/rates

Definitely looks like it would help for frequent international callers and in Europe (where you have free incoming calls).

And for $50 per month you can get unlimited calls to 20 countries from anywhere in the world (though I guess roaming rates would apply if you're outside your home country.).

http://beta.talkety.com/news/

 

[neven]

I think that's crazy. My cellphone bill is $35 TOTAL.

Aaaand what's your data plan like on that $35/mo?

It would be really silly to get an iPhone and not use data services.

 

[imacdaddy]

Verizon screwed up ROYALLY!

Verizon has totally screwed themselves over this. If apple has sold 1million iPhones, which Im sure they have by now, that means roughly 250,000 have left Verizon assuming that 25% of the users have switched to AT&T for the iPhone from Verizon.

Let's just say of those 250K people that were on Verizon's $79.99 monthly plan, that would be $20M monthly cash flow GONE! No matter what Verizon has up their sleeves, it will be extremely hard to churn back or get new subscribers. Getting back that $20M monthly cash flow that they lost is next to impossible. What I can see is from now on forward all Verizon can do is slash the prices off their plans and start a price war and AT&T will just sit it out with their trump card. Cheaper price plans may not be attractive enough to churn iphone owners away from AT&T, however Apple & AT&T will start pumping out next generation Value Added Services with a monthly subscription to maintain customer "stickiness" for as long as possible to prevent customer churn.

It looks as though AT&T was able to "Think Different" and bought into Apple's idea to have a great device that will be the interface for pure mobile multimedia and communicator device. All AT&T had to do was to support it on the telco side while Apple will make the rest happen. What were Strigl & Seidenberg smoking?!?

 

[Donnacha]

At the moment, in the UK, I'm paying £10 per month (including taxes) for 300 rollover minutes to any country, including foreign mobiles, and 300 texts.

As is customary in Europe, I do not lose minutes for incoming calls (caller pays, always), so, I find that 300 rollover minutes are enough for my needs.

Many people in the UK pay more than that to cover the cost of "subsidized" handsets but £10 is about the right base price for the voice/text segment of any package.

I would value the addition of unlimited 3G data at around £20, possibly five or ten pounds more if I can pass connectivity through to my MBP via Bluetooth.

I think that, whoever they go with, Apple need to recognize that the European market tends to be less price sensitive than the American market but we won't tolerate crippled services as much: we love 3G and using our phones as modems for our laptops, missing features that didn't really bother the American market.

 

[Donnacha]

... Getting back that $20M monthly cash flow that they lost is next to impossible. What I can see is from now on forward all Verizon can do is slash the prices off their plans and start a price war and AT&T will just sit it out with their trump card. Cheaper price plans may not be attractive enough to churn iphone owners away from AT&T, however Apple & AT&T will start pumping out next generation Value Added Services with a monthly subscription to maintain customer "stickiness" for as long as possible to prevent customer churn.

When you think about it, the market is wide open for one of the other manufacturers to come up with something to fill the iphone-sized gap at all the other telcos.

The idea of an ipod-killer has been a running joke for years because, when you got down to it, the ipod pretty much nailed what was needed in a music player. This situation, however, is different because there are huge segments of the population who either won't or can't go with AT&T, leaving space for an alternative device that the ipod never allowed.

I wonder if any of them, with the gun now to their heads, can get their game together and grab this opportunity. Samsung? Nokia perhaps? I doubt it will be Motorola.

 

[drivera]

Aus

This may be a little off topic....kind of. Has anyone heard about an Australian version? The rumors seemed to have disappeared.. Now its the UK?

 

[koobcamuk]

Glad its going to be o2, i was hoping o2 or orange. Vodaphone have a horible logo, are english and put up they adverts with that idiot football player. 3 dosnt work anyware and t-mobile are expenicve.

What are you trying to say about being English, when in England? I don't get your point at all on that one. You're telling me you like listening to foreign people on customer support? That is why I cancelled with 3. Everytime I called them, I spoke to someone that couldn't understand basic things. I speak very clearly. If they aren't familiar with English towns/names then they're not supportive enough really...

I was on Sprint with a Treo before, and their network was terribly slow. It was essentially unusable. Edge has been performing fantastically; now I surf web site as a matter of general productivity and usage, not as a novelty.

Wait until you get 3G over there...

Ah, of course. It didn't occur to me you were someplace with a sane mobile provider market.

the network '3' even give you credit/minutes when someone else calls you - an insentive to have lots of calls!

 

[Cabbit]

What are you trying to say about being English, when in England? I don't get your point at all on that one. You're telling me you like listening to foreign people on customer support? That is why I cancelled with 3. Everytime I called them, I spoke to someone that couldn't understand basic things. I speak very clearly. If they aren't familiar with English towns/names then they're not supportive enough really...

I am refering to the English adverts for vodaphone with the English football player, it kinda killed Scotish support for vodaphone. Why advertish a English nobody to sell phones in Scotland. It really put me of them as did there logo. O2 is fine there nice and simple never needed any support form them because they work. And Orange im used to because i used it in Thailand, France, and Scotland.