o2 Ireland; it's getting more ridiculous, seek recommendations for iPhone alternative

[ajbrehm]

I am checking every week but no o2 store in Dublin appears to have the new iPhone (or any iPhones).

How the heck am I supposed to buy the new iPhone if nobody wants to sell it? Does the rest of the world have this problem or is it Ireland-only?

I am considering switching to another phone platform, maybe the Pre or some Linux phone. Apple's restrictions on what can be done with the phone and the stupid lock to one phone company (which is just annoying in Europe where a national network covers a few million people and an area the size of Virginia) just make me hate Apple and the iPhone.

I am paying every month for an insurance that is supposed to replace my phone if I break or lose it. I wonder how that would work, given that o2 don't have any phones???

Anyway, which iPhone alternatives can you recommend? Must play music and videos, have 16 GB of storage, and be programmable in something other than C++; also must work with Macs.

 

[mcdj]

Wirelessly posted (iPhone: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_0_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7A400 Safari/528.16)

Why would you come to an iPhone forum to get advice on a non-iPhone? Would you go to a Honda forum and ask which Volkswagen to buy?

 

[SFStateStudent]

*Placing flame retardant allover OP and taking a step back*

 

[Unspoken Demise]

You could just, you know, wait.

 

[alFR]

You could just, you know, wait.

Post Of The Day.

 

[colmaclean]

Anyway, which iPhone alternatives can you recommend? Must play music and videos, have 16 GB of storage, and be programmable in something other than C++; also must work with Macs.

You just described the iPhone. It uses Objective C as its primary programming language, not c++. They're pretty different, I can tell you!

 

[dejo]

I am considering switching to another phone platform, maybe the Pre...

Anyway, which iPhone alternatives can you recommend? Must play music and videos, have 16 GB of storage, and be programmable in something other than C++; also must work with Macs.

FYI: The Pre is only available as an 8GB unit.

 

[daveperso]

Hi Andrew,

I sympathise and agree with you. Having a monopoly is no good for anyone and it is a shame Apple chose this route. Fortunately, here in France, one of the other phone operators (Bouygues Telecom) took Orange to court and won and so we now have three phone operators offering the iPhone, no shortage and Apple can only be happy since they are selling more (they certainly didn't prevent the opening up of the market). Maybe Irish law prohibits monopolistic commercial practices too and someone can do something in Ireland?

Many US readers seem to think it is normal to lock a phone to an operator. Maybe we in Europe value our freedom to choose who we do business with more than those from across the pond? (cf with Internet Explorer in Windows).

Dave

 

[ajbrehm]

Hi Andrew,

I sympathise and agree with you. Having a monopoly is no good for anyone and it is a shame Apple chose this route. Fortunately, here in France, one of the other phone operators (Bouygues Telecom) took Orange to court and won and so we now have three phone operators offering the iPhone, no shortage and Apple can only be happy since they are selling more (they certainly didn't prevent the opening up of the market). Maybe Irish law prohibits monopolistic commercial practices too and someone can do something in Ireland?

Many US readers seem to think it is normal to lock a phone to an operator. Maybe we in Europe value our freedom to choose who we do business with more than those from across the pond? (cf with Internet Explorer in Windows).

Dave

That's what I was thinking.

And the other commentators apparently though I came here to be told that everything is fine and things shouldn't be changed.

I found Mobistar in Belgium. They apparently sell the iPhone unlocked. I don't want to wait. What if my current iPhone breaks? How long should I wait for a replacement? Whoever suggests to "wait" doesn't seem to live in a society where mobile phones can simply be bought at a minute's notice.

I think I'll fly to Brussels and buy an iPhone there. Unfortunately Mobistar have no easily found phone number for non-customers to call them.

It's worse in Germany. Apple went with Deutsche Telekom, the former monopolist and the most ridiculously expensive phone company in the western world. I couldn't even afford an iPhone in Germany...

Anyway, I'd like to have an unlocked iPhone so I can avoid those ridiculous roaming charges. What's the matter with the EU? They get paid so much and so far haven't managed to unify the European mobile phone market. I drive two hours and I am in a different country and suddenly Internet access costs more than a long distance call to China.