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i think putting it free on contract is very unlikely.... there will be other imitaters from companies by the time the iphone is released. THEY might be free but heres hoping the iphone will at least cost something to put it out of reach of the chavs:)

How exactly do you think any "imitators" would be ready in time? The iPhone is an almost finished product, mostly in need for an FCC license. Any competitor would have to have an almost finished product _right now_.
 
If you don't like it then leave. The taxes that you are talking about are an effort to promote more environmentally friendly behaviour - it seems that people can't manage to do this without being forced to. Don't blame the government for your own indolence.

As it stands the UK isn't such a bad place to live - if it were would we have such a high immigration rate? So as I said you've really only got two options: leave or put up and shut up. Harsh, but fair.

Oh no please don't tempt me. :p

DemiGods take note of how I am ignoring this. I deserve a frickin medal (or a nice place in the Cayman Islands). ;)
 
reason why a chav wudnt have one?
- chavs cant read. lol, its a well known fact, its why they like shuffles
- although the benefits they live off are hefty, the price tag is like 5 vans they would have to rob
- as if the speaker is guna be loud enough to walk around in public blasting poor quality undistinguishable d'n'b on, knowing apple it will be subtle but pitch perfect
- didnt you know to be a chav u have to own a sony walkman ripoff phone, its like unwritten code
- they wudnt understand how to use it! theyve only just mastered dressing themselves in pajamas, never mind a multi touch screen


im sure apple will release a chav-friendly iPhone in due time, like they did with the shuffle 1st gen, get rid of flashy features, back to basic and sell it for peanuts, the devalued iPhone would be a new icon for the chav masses that swarm around council estates in our great country. (for any americans chav essentially means w*nker lol)

p.s. if your a chav i do NOT apologise for what i sed and i did mean offence.....scum:D

Learn how to spell, you come across as a chav yourself. :rolleyes:
 
Wading in...

The reporters are stating what we expect them to - surely every time Apple comes out with something, people will try to say "..But i was there firrsst?!?.."

Bottom line is the device employs some unique, some popular, some regular technologies, like most gadgets do. The key isn't how many things it can do, it's how well it can do what they say it can do. And Apple twirls the crown like a basketball when it comes to that sort of business.. :D

With regards to the price of the iPhone, i'm sure that Apple will not price it out of the reach of too many - again for them the key is the business generated by the product. Jobs&Co know that the network operators are all trying and in most cases failing to promote devices that make higher use of their data services.

**I heard not too long ago that some (if not all) Orange sales staff had had the goalposts moved in terms of how they earn sales commission, from how many units they sell, to how much data usage their sales generate! That's whip-cracking by the provider, because they can't deliver the results they expected simply by getting the media-capable phones out there...

The iPhone will change/sidestep a lot of this.

1) It's got the iPod feature which takes care of the music (the best way). The syncing is via Mac/PC-based iTunes, which is selling the content at a rate better than any of the network operators or their partners could ever hope. So i don't think the networks would take it on in the hope that it'll help their music sales efforts. They'll still be marketing other phones for that purpose (until iTunes 'pushes music' to the iPhone via GPRS/HSPDA/3G (still way too expensive). For example, Three is operating its mobile music store, and i wonder if they'd think about offering a phone that swings people away from something they're trying to market at the moment....:confused:

2) The operators know that the only money they'll make off iPhone owners is from data services trickling through mainly via Email and Internet-Based usage, and normal calling and texting. Enter Google and Yahoo! as content delivery partners. The features & services on offer from these big net brands aren't so bandwidth heavy as to cost the earth for the average user, but they'll increase the bottom-line ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) in the long run, as they're pre-installed, well-integrated and usually popular and fun things to use. Any of the network providers can provide the GPRS/HSPDA or 3G services to cater for 'on-the-move' data usage, so i reckon the provider able to demostrate best data bandwidth and coverage will win (I'm thinking either Vodafone or O2???)

3) Apple will look to make money off the hardware regardless, so they'll price it within reach of what people are paying now. There is a premium ofcourse, but people are paying it more and more these days for the product they want, and Jobs&Co know this..

My crude mathematics estimate a price of around £299 sim-free or £199 on contract(8GB version) and maybe £269 simfree or £169 on contract(4GB version). How? Well...

You've got the iPod part (currently £129 & £169 as packaged)
The phone/internet/email part (taking an O2 xda Mini S going for £160 on contract)

Minus costs of combining the two, and i reckon i'm spot on. Remember, Apple tends to keep a very sharp eye on what it's products retail for, and in this case, they'll either
  1. Have a say in the cost of the final retail price, which is rare & difficult to secure a deal like this in the mobile market, unless you sell like Apple sells ;)
  2. Let all the operators do a free-for-all with various deals and packages, but collect a set price per iPhone (likely, as it'd get them serious volume sales of the units)
  3. Or, as they've struck in the US, single-operator exclusive deal, meaning further subsidy for the user, and single point-of-contact for collecting their cash :D (most likely)

Either way, i'm saving for a sim-free, full-whack whatever version they come out with, coz them thangs are waaaaay cool hehehe

CaPo
 
My crude mathematics estimate a price of around £299 sim-free or £199 on contract(8GB version) and maybe £269 simfree or £169 on contract(4GB version). How? Well...

You've got the iPod part (currently £129 & £169 as packaged)
The phone/internet/email part (taking an O2 xda Mini S going for £160 on contract)

Based on the US prices, it would suggest about £300 plus the contract in the UK. I also get the impression Apple won't want the phone to be discounted too heavily, to maintain their pricing and image and so on.

If this is the case, Apple are going to have a nasty shock in the UK. I can currently get a Sony P990 for free on a £40 a month tariff. Why would I pay £200 or more for an Apple phone instead?

They might get away with stopping discounting on their computers and iPods, but they ain't get a chance in hell of stopping the same happening with their phones. If they try, they will just end up not selling any.
 
Based on the US prices, it would suggest about £300 plus the contract in the UK. I also get the impression Apple won't want the phone to be discounted too heavily, to maintain their pricing and image and so on.

If this is the case, Apple are going to have a nasty shock in the UK. I can currently get a Sony P990 for free on a £40 a month tariff. Why would I pay £200 or more for an Apple phone instead?

They might get away with stopping discounting on their computers and iPods, but they ain't get a chance in hell of stopping the same happening with their phones. If they try, they will just end up not selling any.

I think the deal they've struck in the US shouldn't be compared too closely in pricing terms for the UK, but rather for it's structure. Remember, in the US people still pay to make and receive calls, although the prices are so low it levels out at the end of the day vs uk prices (if anything we pay more overall)..

The pricing i've guessed at would allow a lot of people to get an iPhone sim-free, as people currently pay around that much for a top-of-the-range sim-free phone. Also, the contract-price guesses seem fair - it is the iPhone after all :D

SJ did however put emphasis on the "1% market share by 2008" statement, so maybe he expects the price to hinder much greater uptake? The comparison was mainly with smart phones, and they are increasingly taking share from traditional sets (although based on features alone the lines are blurred), so i don't know if this is a targeted sales pitch at the smart phone sector, or simply Jobs&Co making sure comparison with standard handsets isn't made in unit sales terms..?
 
Based on the US prices, it would suggest about £300 plus the contract in the UK. I also get the impression Apple won't want the phone to be discounted too heavily, to maintain their pricing and image and so on.

If this is the case, Apple are going to have a nasty shock in the UK. I can currently get a Sony P990 for free on a £40 a month tariff. Why would I pay £200 or more for an Apple phone instead?

They might get away with stopping discounting on their computers and iPods, but they ain't get a chance in hell of stopping the same happening with their phones. If they try, they will just end up not selling any.

What do you think the Sim-free price would be if the contract price is £300?

CaPo
 
i personally think the whole pricing structure will be different in the uk...

a lot of top high end mobiles go for low cost or free on fixed term contract.. so i can't see why the iphone would be much different as there is fierce competition here..

i also hope the operators do not basterdise (!?) the phone to their own free will.. and put their crappy branding/software tweaks onto it to spoil the uniqueness of the iphone.

remember, we are still quite a long time away from at least an oct 07 launch, and a lot can happen between now and then.

flash memory prices contunie to drop, so putting in 4gb and 8gb should lower the price in market terms..

just have to wait.. or speculate
 
If you don't like it then leave. The taxes that you are talking about are an effort to promote more environmentally friendly behaviour - it seems that people can't manage to do this without being forced to. Don't blame the government for your own indolence.

As it stands the UK isn't such a bad place to live - if it were would we have such a high immigration rate? So as I said you've really only got two options: leave or put up and shut up. Harsh, but fair.

Don't even go there. We have a high imigration due to the fact the UK government really resides in Brussels and is powerless to eject those who shouldn't be here ( when it knows where they are, that is ) and for all the freebies they get given, hence we are having more taxes passed on to us. Green has nothing to do with it. Harsh, yes. Fair? Hmmm.

However, back on topic. I think the iPhone will be difficult to price in the UK. It seems to be more of a PDA that will make calls than a phone that can do all these other things. I can see it being subsidised to a certain extent by the networks ( as are all handsets ), but this will be recouped by all the extras ( internet access, for example ) that will be needed just to make use of it. I do hope it doesn't end up being locked to a singular network.
 
How many major brand high profile phones/phone hybrids have ever launched in the UK under an exclusive network deal longer than 6 months?

CaPo
 
T-Mobile have very very poor 3G reception, Virgin also use T-Mobile to provide their service so these two are out.


Shame as T-Mobile are the only network that appears to offer a flat rate data plan (£7.50 and £12.50).

My guess is that the 8GB phone will be around 200 quid on a 35/40 quid dataplan included tariff.
 
What do you think the Sim-free price would be if the contract price is £300?

CaPo

I don't think there will be, it will be with a contract or you ain't getting one.

Steve Jobs seems to of made it clear that they want a partner network in every country, maybe so they have more control, maybe so they can price it how they want. He won't want you to use it on any other network.

But the UK is very competitive and this could cause problems for Apple. They just won't get away with a £200 plus contract price tag - there is too many alternatives you can get for next to nothing. Sure its cool, sure it does a few nice things but not enough to justify a higher price tag.
 
Shut up Vickey. "Little Britian" The best program ever:D

So anyway this whole ovver thing happened or sumfan or nuthan cos we wos all at the ice rink and they wos playin this really old song that was like "Informer, you no say daddy me Snow me I'll go blame, a licky boom boom down", and this bloke came up to me 'n' he wos like you are well fit, and I wos like shu' up, he's like you well are, I wos like no I'm not, ge' a life, he's like you well are, I was like yeh you're right actually I'm like the fittest girl in Bris'ol, well tha' is true actually, apart from Denise Cocanhan, but then everyone knows Denise Cocanhan had a back street boob job for a hundred quid, now her tats look like the Mitchell bruvvers!
 
I vote this THREAD OF THE WEEK!!
Brilliant stuff - topical (iPhones), socially aware (chav culture), consumer-related (discussion of supermarkets), typical British restraint (well done MacBoobsPro, and you're right - it's not worth it) along with high-brow humour (Little Britain of course).
Isn't MacRumors just amazing?
(ps when the iPhone is launched in the UK you can bet your boots we'll pay over the odds for it. Which reminds me that I left 'having a good moan' out of the above list).
 
Vodafone and Three are the two likely candidates for selling the iPhone in the UK. Both have good 3G reception. As well as Orange as they have EDGE

I think it'll be Vodafone which get it...they nearly always get the newest phones first.
 
reason why a chav wudnt have one?
- chavs cant read. lol, its a well known fact, its why they like shuffles
- although the benefits they live off are hefty, the price tag is like 5 vans they would have to rob
- as if the speaker is guna be loud enough to walk around in public blasting poor quality undistinguishable d'n'b on, knowing apple it will be subtle but pitch perfect
- didnt you know to be a chav u have to own a sony walkman ripoff phone, its like unwritten code
- they wudnt understand how to use it! theyve only just mastered dressing themselves in pajamas, never mind a multi touch screen


im sure apple will release a chav-friendly iPhone in due time, like they did with the shuffle 1st gen, get rid of flashy features, back to basic and sell it for peanuts, the devalued iPhone would be a new icon for the chav masses that swarm around council estates in our great country. (for any americans chav essentially means w*nker lol)

p.s. if your a chav i do NOT apologise for what i sed and i did mean offence.....scum:D

You should run for prime minister....
 
there is no way you are going to stop our lovely chavs from getting an iphone.

i mean, how long does it take for one of britains most popular residents to aquire a few sat navs? lol. and whats £30 a month out of there giro, for their monthly contract?



actually scrap that.............they will just mug you for your iphone :D and chuck a sim in it!
 
I've tried to read up on any article i could find with iPhone on it, and it now already seems to be a closed deal that there won't be a SIM-Free iPhone for sale, at least not for a while. This is a deal-breaker for me - i can't pay £200 and get locked onto a contract at the same time. All the phones i've owned are sim-free, even when the Sim has been a contract one... :(
 
It's getting hard to find a 12 month deal which doesn't suck at the moment, the networks really want you to go on a 18 month deal now. Sod them though, after 7 years of contracts, I'm goin back to Pay as you Go. £10/month with Orange for 600 mins of evening calls to other Orange Phones and 300 texts and you still have the £10 to spend on other stuff.

Vote with your feet and refuse these 18 month deals until they start taking notice.

In November I got the Samsung d900 for free on a 12 month contract - its £30 a month, 200 x network anytime, 50 orange to orange, and 75 texts a month. Now I go way over on my texts, and over on my minutes too.. but if I claim all my cashback correctly (which I will do), the phone will cost me £1.99 for the first 10 months, then the £30 for the remaining 2 on the contract. And I got £36.50 for buying it through QuidCo.com, so the total contract cost, for my included minutes and free d900... £43.40! :D
 
So anyway this whole ovver thing happened or sumfan or nuthan cos we wos all at the ice rink and they wos playin this really old song that was like "Informer, you no say daddy me Snow me I'll go blame, a licky boom boom down", and this bloke came up to me 'n' he wos like you are well fit, and I wos like shu' up, he's like you well are, I wos like no I'm not, ge' a life, he's like you well are, I was like yeh you're right actually I'm like the fittest girl in Bris'ol, well tha' is true actually, apart from Denise Cocanhan, but then everyone knows Denise Cocanhan had a back street boob job for a hundred quid, now her tats look like the Mitchell bruvvers!

Haha I love these 'English Only' threads!
 
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