iPhone No Longer Available in UK

[CWallace]

I imagine the EU has their own version of the FCC, so either they don't make their info public as the FCC does, or the 3G iPhone is not going to be released in the EU within the next few days or weeks.

As to O2, if they really expected to get 3G iPhones within days or weeks, then the UK would have to be the exclusive launch country for the product since we don't see Italian and German retail carriers running out of stock, to say nothing of AT&T here in the US.

Also, Apple UK is still selling iPhones, so why would they be pushing them - and at full boat retail, no less - when they are going to launch a 3G iPhone within days or weeks?

Nope, this looks to me like O2 underestimated the response to both selling the 8GB iPhone at the new price as well as how many people wanted a 16GB iPhone even at full price. It is also possible that the 16GB unit didn't sell, period, and as O2 stores sold out of 8GB models, they started offering 16GB units either as an alternate for the same price or with it's own discount to move that stock until it cleared.

 

[deputy_doofy]

I can't imagine, that a CEO thinks this is a wise decision. Four weeks of absolutely NO iPhone sale will send the stock price down. I'm currently desperately waiting on news, or I should just sell my stock!

Cool. I'll buy a 1000 shares from you @ $50/share. C'mon. That's an easy $50,000 for you almost immediately...

 

[network23]

Could be a marketing ploy. Look at how the media drooled over the iPhone at release. Now, all of a sudden, it's no longer available?!?!? I predict there will be a media frenzy and Apple gets tons of free publicity.

 

[dicklacara]

I think the problem is that none of the carriers is interested that much in the iPhone if all the other carriers have it as well. What they are really, really, really interested in is a phone that they have exclusively and that makes people switch carriers. If you buy an iPhone from O2 instead of another phone, that's peanuts for them. But if you leave another carrier and join O2 to get an iPhone, now _that_ is real money.

It is probably difficult for Apple to get this right. Basically you know 30 people who learned from O2 about the iPhone and were reasonably close to buying it. If O2 and Orange/Vodafone would both be selling it, they would probably both try much less hard to sell it, so half of these 30 people might never have known it.

At O2, everyone will tell a customer: "You should buy the iPhone, it is the best, and you can get it only here. Don't buy that other phone that Orange is also selling, it is no good to you", because they know you can't go somewhere else and get it £10 cheaper. If everyone else sells it, that advantage will be gone.

Except, what if a carrier can prevent loss of a contract because it now carries the iPhone?

What's that worth?

 

[JGowan]

I can't imagine, that a CEO thinks this is a wise decision. Four weeks of absolutely NO iPhone sale will send the stock price down. I'm currently desperately waiting on news, or I should just sell my stock!

In this situation, better to let stock and sales go because the first two weeks (of this 4 weeks of possible selling your talking about), you create very disgruntled customers who "blew it" and bought outdated stuff because they're outside the 14-day return window. The last two weeks, you create all 14-day return customers who are going to either demand a discount, refund or return for the new one which creates only more hassles because you'd be dealing with two types of frantic customers: those who wanting to have their "wrongs righted" and those who just want their new 3G iPhone. People are hearing the 3G rumors. To think that any potential 3G iPhone buyer is not going to wait it out and go somewhere else is just impossible. They'll wait and be back to stand in the proverbial line around the block.

SIDE TOPIC: What is going to happen to the iPod Touch in June? We've seen the Touch piggyback off the wave of iPhone Success and the benefits that hit the iPhone manage to get to the Touch too... obviously it'll get the Apps store and some other 2.0 features... but what about enclosure changes? If the iPhone 2 is getting cosmetic surgery, would the Touch inherit the old look...? Get a new look altogether? What's your take, people?

 

[Santa Rosa]

Let's try this another way. For the Macbook to really take off, it needs to be made out of crappier materials, fall to bits after 3 years and cost £350. That way they'll be able to take on Acer.

No-one needs an iPhone. Many people, however, WANT an iPhone. I did, and I coughed up on the second day it was available in this country. I've owned many, many mobile phones in the last 12 years and the iPhone is a genuinely game-changing device. I loved my Nokia 8110 (the "banana phone" in the Matrix); I loved my Nokia 8210 as it was the first phone which comfortably fitted a jeans pocket. I loved my Motorola Razr for the form factor & style, but the iPhone is just a huge leap forward in terms of ease of use, staggering UI, mini-apps (stock prices, weather etc), iPod functionality and all the rest. The lack of 3G or a task list mean it's not perfect (in fact the lack of a task list for an ostensibly "smart" phone is utterly inexcusable) but it has moved the game on by a margin that no other phone I've ever seen has done.

For that level of performance, therefore, Apple are entirely right to charge what the market will accommodate.

I wanted a laptop - there were many cheaper options but I bought a 12" Powerbook because I wanted the best.
My partner wanted a "home" laptop - there were many cheaper options but she bought a Macbook
I wanted the best music player in the world - I bought an iPod (three times)
I wanted the best phone in the world...you get the point.

The funny thing is, I wouldn't even describe myself as a "fanboy" - when I was looking for a laptop I looked at Vaio, IBM, Toshiba, Dell XPS and all the rest, but the Apple blew them away. Similarly, I looked at Creative and other music players, and after the user experience with the Razr I swore I'd never use anything but Nokia ever again. But in every case, the Apple product was just plain better, and by a margin I was willing to pay for.

What's concerning me more about this story is that I signed an 18 month contract with O2, so if there's a new one coming out 6 months into that period they better let me upgrade (even if it's for a fee). Will be very, very disappointed if they don't.

At last someone that understands you don't get something for nothing in this life. Right on man. Am entirely with you and Im gonna go and get the 3G iPhone when it comes out, no matter what it costs, thats the price of it and thats it.

The number of times I have read on this forum people complaining because its too expensive is ridiculous. If you cant afford it you aint getting it. End of story.

Thank you mr1970 for your refreshing post.

 

[bumfilter]

Whatever happens, I hope I can buy the next version sans contract. I don't mind paying £300 for it, just as long as I can hack it and take it elsewhere.

 

[djellison]

Im gonna go and get the 3G iPhone when it comes out, no matter what it costs

What if it's £300? £500? £1000? At what point would you say 'Sorry - that's too much'? There must be one - unless you actually have infinite money.

Doug

 

[bigmc6000]

This is a little off the point but can anyone provide a link for average, say, engineering salaries in the UK and/or the EU as a whole? I'm just wondering if the salaries are roughly 1 to 1 vs the US how awesome of a deal it is for you guys across the pond to get an iPhone for under 200...

 

[neupane00]

this **** is getting crazy. hehe.. im so excited. But again, i dont like this move at all. even if iphone comes out on june's event and start shipping end of june that 2 months gap without selling iphone. Why would 02 do that?
I think one of two:
1) iphone coming sooner than expected. And ONLY have 3g. And no other frills and thrills. So i can imagine, they can quietly update the iphone without any special events.
2) Just bad marketing from 02. maybe their inventory was going down so they just decided to take a break till new product

I am new APPLE follower. But u experts might know.. Does apple have history of releasing or announcing HARDWARE on event like WWDC? isnt that just software conf?

 

[sishaw]

I don't think it would be a good idea to sell your Apple stock just because there _might_ be a downturn temporarily. I think we all know that Apple is going a lot higher than $183. If you believe in the company and that it is a sound investment, stick with them.

My 2¢.

No, no! Start a panicky selloff and drive the price down, so people like me, who didn't actually have the foresight to invest in Apple when it was low, can buy in!!! Pulllll-eaze!!!!

 

[Santa Rosa]

unless you actually have infinite money.

Nailed it.

 

[knightlie]

At last someone that understands you don't get something for nothing in this life. Right on man. Am entirely with you and Im gonna go and get the 3G iPhone when it comes out, no matter what it costs, thats the price of it and thats it.

The number of times I have read on this forum people complaining because its too expensive is ridiculous. If you cant afford it you aint getting it. End of story.

Thank you mr1970 for your refreshing post.

It's not just a question of "can't afford it," I can plenty afford it, but I consider it too expensive, particularly with the contract. As good as the iPhone is, I can get a £50 Nokia from eBay that's equally as useful to me and a good deal cheaper to run on pay-as-you-go.

Don't pretend to know how other people think.

 

[sadsack]

What if it's £300? £500? £1000? At what point would you say 'Sorry - that's too much'? There must be one - unless you actually have infinite money.

Doug

I think £400 would be a limit, but i would go to £500. It depends how much people want something. However, right now i cant see it being that expensive, as all i can see it having is 3G. If the rest of the form factor is the same and o2 are not selling the present model due to stock restrictions, maybe they do not want to compete in the same price bracket. I think it will be about £350.

Regards the american question on our income, i think this does not make any difference. What you guys need to understand is that, unless it is a major business phone - we do not tend to pay major money phones as they are rebated via the network. Here in the UK and the EU, we are used to some major free texts and good deals, especially if we are meant to sign up to 19 months.

Can you guys really see any network giving free data plan, especially if you can use your phone as a 3g modem?

 

[gpfradgley]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/4A102 Safari/419.3)

did anyone see Vodafones original press release when the iPhone came out? They said it did not fit in with their business model mainly because it was 2.5g now they have signed upto sell it in at least 10 countries!!! Its totally coming very soon and its 3G

 

[dicklacara]

I imagine the EU has their own version of the FCC, so either they don't make their info public as the FCC does, or the 3G iPhone is not going to be released in the EU within the next few days or weeks.

A UK version of FCC delay may or may not be true. However, if the 3G is available elsewhere, say Belgium or France, O2 can take proactive steps to protect loss of contracts by offering incentives for when they have the 3g available to sell-- stick with me for another month and get your new 3G (from me) with whatever?

As to O2, if they really expected to get 3G iPhones within days or weeks, then the UK would have to be the exclusive launch country for the product since we don't see Italian and German retail carriers running out of stock, to say nothing of AT&T here in the US.

Don't understand why UK would need to be exclusive launch country-- see above.

Also, Apple UK is still selling iPhones, so why would they be pushing them - and at full boat retail, no less - when they are going to launch a 3G iPhone within days or weeks?

I have been an Apple reseller & this is normal practice:

1) Alert reseller (O2, et al) management to new product 2-4 weeks out to allow current inventory to be cleared as necessary, & minimize reseller price-protection credits & returns to Apple
3) Apple keep selling at current retail until announcement to facilitate (not compete with) resellers' inventory clearance
4) Apple controls its sales (& return eligibility) of existing product by extending delivery... days, then weeks
5) Announce New Product at old Price & Existing Product at new lower price, as available
6) Offer unshipped orders-- new product at same price or old product at lower price.
7) Provide some price-protection credits to resellers
8) 10-day return/refund/upgrade for end-users
9) Returns offered as "refurbished" (discounted) at Apple Store
10) Anything else, handled by Apple on a case by case basis-- Apple (or reseller) store manager may waive 10-day return if warranted.

This way, Apple retains control, minimizes returns, losses/costs, maximizes customer & reseller satisfaction-- everybody wins!

 

[benpatient]

I just wanted to say that I'm very annoyed with MR's trending towards the iphone. Guess what...an iPhone is not a Mac.

I don't think it is front-page news when a single supplier is out of stock on iphones in a country where almost nobody uses the iphone. And it's not a mac.

6 out of 9 stories currently on the front page of MR are about the iPhone, and one of the other three (semiconductor company) actually might be, too.

Pretty poor.

 

[macattackamac]

i am just waiting for 30 days to get an iphone v.2 with 3g, bluetooth, wi-fi and 16g+ of memory

 

[Consultant]

US Apple Store now quoting 5-7 business day shipping time on BOTH 8gb and 16gb...Is this new?

Not normal, but frequently that way for the last few months.

 

[megfilmworks]

I can't imagine, that a CEO thinks this is a wise decision. Four weeks of absolutely NO iPhone sale will send the stock price down. I'm currently desperately waiting on news, or I should just sell my stock!

I think you should reconsider. This is not bad news.
The news that Apple just set a deal for South America is a far more important driver.

Stock is up this morning by $2.01 and rising.
If you had bought 1,000 shares the first week of March ($119) You'd have a profit of aprox. $65 a share for a 2 month profit of $65,000.
Only V has been able to show those kinds of numbers in a slow and stale equities market.

 

[Santa Rosa]

I just wanted to say that I'm very annoyed with MR's trending towards the iphone. Guess what...an iPhone is not a Mac.

I don't think it is front-page news when a single supplier is out of stock on iphones in a country where almost nobody uses the iphone. And it's not a mac.

6 out of 9 stories currently on the front page of MR are about the iPhone, and one of the other three (semiconductor company) actually might be, too.

Pretty poor.

I think Arn and the crew do a great job reporting everything thats happening. iPhone as I think I have gathered is an Apple product. That firmly puts it in Mac Rumors news, its hardly like if there are any rumors and news related to the Mac that its brushed aside and not reported on.

iPhone is very prominent at the moment. Either accept that or just (dont read Mac Rumors - I in no way endorse that though, to me that would be terrible)

i am just waiting for 30 days to get an iphone v.2 with 3g, bluetooth, wi-fi and 16g+ of memory

So just 3G then lol

 

[Stig McNasty]

Well, no because you assume that people will pay £120 for them when you might actually have to reduce the price to £100 - or even £80 - to stimulate demand. You've not stopped selling them - if you have to lose £20 on each unit that's still better than losing £100 - you're just not going to compound your losses by ordering more stock.

...and we don't know O2s margins, stepped deals with Apple, or any other 'riders'. If the original price was not cut-to-the-bone then there was room to discount and still make a profit.

 

[MrMickS]

It's not just a question of "can't afford it," I can plenty afford it, but I consider it too expensive, particularly with the contract. As good as the iPhone is, I can get a £50 Nokia from eBay that's equally as useful to me and a good deal cheaper to run on pay-as-you-go.

Don't pretend to know how other people think.

If a £50 Nokia from eBay is equally useful to you then you aren't the target market for the iPhone.

 

[djellison]

I think Arn and the crew do a great job reporting everything thats happening. iPhone as I think I have gathered is an Apple product. That firmly puts it in Mac Rumors news,

I disagree - and your post explains why. This is MAC rumors. Not Apple rumors. But realistically, Apple themselves seem to have forgone any reasonable development to the computer products for the iPhone - and in the long term, I think that will be to their detriment. One need only look at the delay to 10.5 because of a damn cell phone - a cell phone which still lags behind its rivals massively in many areas.

Doug

 

[bigmc6000]

I think Arn and the crew do a great job reporting everything thats happening. iPhone as I think I have gathered is an Apple product. That firmly puts it in Mac Rumors news, its hardly like if there are any rumors and news related to the Mac that its brushed aside and not reported on.

iPhone is very prominent at the moment. Either accept that or just (dont read Mac Rumors - I in no way endorse that though, to me that would be terrible)

I think what he was suggesting is that Arn try to buy the rights to "AppleRumors.com" and then all will be fine

AI, MR and all the others focus on what Apple focuses on and right now that's the iPhone. And, if you think about it, the release of 2.0 is going to help the Mac A LOT. Not necessarily because of the "halo effect" but because it's going to bring programmers to the OS X platform and that is great news for us!