T-Mobile to Sell iPhone in Germany: November 1st?

[Manic Mouse]

Apple gets a share of the monthly fee the end user pays to AT&T.

Why? I'm sorry but this seems pretty damn greedy to me. They're already making 50% profit on the hardware itself (fair enough, they make it), but they also want a cut of your contract fee because... what?

Are they going to ask for a cut of your internet service provider's fee next if you use a Mac on the internet?

No wonder other carriers turned them down, no other hardware manufacturer would have the balls to ask for that. More fool to AT&T for agreeing to such ridiculous terms.

Have you really seen usage statistics of the first four days, broken down to voicemail use, and customer satisfaction with the new system?
I guess not.

Like I said, it's hardly worth locking out 80% of your market for this feature. It's a minimal impact convenience feature at best. People can still use voicemail without it, you know.

They've cut out the vast majority of their potential market by locking the iPhone down to one carrier.

 

[Mada]

What I think we have to remember is that Apple demanded a percentage of the revenue because it's money. if you see a way to make money you go after it and with the iPhone apple had one hell of a bargaining chip

Also Engadget are saying iPhone files point to T-Mobile and Vodafone - Engadget

 

[ik@]

I agree. I remember the time when it seemed everybody in the USA had an iPod, and Germans were still going i-What? It seems Germans usually put off anything new, that they don't know, especially when it's pricey. It took ages until iPods became common here as well.

On the other hand, critical customers might improve the product. In countries with even more electronic gizmos, like Japan or Korea, the iPhone might not surprise people as much as in the States. I hope Apple can show innovation in these countries too, by updating the iPhone appropriately.

********.
Germans have invented the computer.

 

[kallisti]

Why? I'm sorry but this seems pretty damn greedy to me. They're already making 50% profit on the hardware itself (fair enough, they make it), but they also want a cut of your contract fee because... what?

Are they going to ask for a cut of your internet service provider's fee next if you use a Mac on the internet?

No wonder other carriers turned them down, no other hardware manufacturer would have the balls to ask for that. More fool to AT&T for agreeing to such ridiculous terms.

Like I said, it's hardly worth locking out 80% of your market for this feature. It's a minimal impact convenience feature at best. People can still use voicemail without it, you know.

They've cut out the vast majority of their potential market by locking the iPhone down to one carrier.

(1) I personally find the voicemail feature to be fantastic. Absolutely amazing. Would I have still bought the iPhone without it? Yes. Don't knock it til you've tried it though.

(2) AT&T clearly doesn't share your view that giving some of their monthly revenues to Apple is foolish. Or rather, they feel it will be offset by increased total revenues. We will have to wait to see final sales figures. But if the 600k activations over the weekend is accurate and if a significant number of those are customers new to AT&T, then AT&T may have just gained roughly 300k customers over a 3 day period. I doubt any heads will be rolling at AT&T over proceeding with this "foolish" deal.

 

[cheekyspanky]

"No one want's to watch video on a tiny screen" or words to that effect shortly before a iPod that plays video was announced.

Jobs says what suits the market at the time. The carriers in Europe will insist on a 3G iPhone because currently they struggle to find something to use the bandwidth available over 3G. The iPhone is the perfect product to get people to realise the power of 3G.

If the iPhone is due in Q4 then the killer feature would be HSDPA, or Turbo 3G as I've heard it called - it would suit the timescales as the various networks are all in the process of rolling it out.

 

[ik@]

Here's the German
My opinion: Germans generally don't tend to look for really innovative nice software concepts and will rather content themselves with cheap ugly solutions that no Apple fan could deem appropriate for usage. I'm a German myself, and I strongly detest and don't understand about everything anybody buys over here. The something similar that I underlined is important, because most people here will say that an ugly plastic lump of cheap Windows based sh|te is just the SAME as the iPhone. They don't see why you should pay a bit more for something that is comfortable in usage, when you can have something that appears to be premium for much less money, albeit not less hassle.

Kacke man,

your absolutely wrong.

 

[Digitaljim]

It IS available here, but, hey, guess what I pick up at my supermarket, where Bud sits right in between Duvel and Stella on the shelf....

Duvel is a nice beer. A little strong & sickly for more than 1/2 pint at a time, but still good.

Not a fan of Stella; however i'd pick it every time over Bud.

 

[Ugg]

If the iPhone is due in Q4 then the killer feature would be HSDPA, or Turbo 3G as I've heard it called - it would suit the timescales as the various networks are all in the process of rolling it out.

What does HSPDA run on? Does it suck power like 3G?

 

[lwongveros]

whew, just finished reading the 14 pages!

Some comments:

- 3G is technically feasible inside a small package as has been mentioned by others already, here in Europe we have many phones SMALLER than the iPhone with decent battery life so that wouldn't be a problem...however it's difficult to believe that Apple has already got a 3G capable version ready for Q4...

- it's not unrealistic to think that Apple would release a non-3G iPhone (ie. the same version as the U.S.) here in Europe as there are other non-3G phones on sale doing quite well due to their "sexiness" factor... the Samsung U600 comes to mind. That said, a non-3G phone would definitely not be as appealing to the European market - after all, it's very handy to use my 3G phone as a bluetooth modem for my laptop when I'm waiting around in airports!

- Apple has no option but to negotiate with several mobile operators as there does not exist a single operator to cover most of Europe, as already mentioned, even going with Vodafone, T-Mobile and others would still leave big "coverage" holes for Apple's distribution goals

- as already mentioned, the current lack of MMS and video recording could definitely be taken care of via firmware upgrades... however it bothers me somewhat that there is no removable memory slot, would have been nice to have the option of storing video on an external 4GB stick - but I understand Apple, they want to make it as simple and sleek as possible.

- the activation process in Europe could very well be different than in the U.S. It's one thing to have a single operator like AT&T in the USA integrated between the iTunes application and the operator's backoffice - but integrate several European operators by the same means I would be no small undertaking. Then again... Apple could publish the integration requirements/guidelines to the operators and simply tell them to certify that it works before they can even think of selling the iPhone...

Sorry, thinking out-loud... amazing how a "mobile phone" has had such a significant impact around the world!

 

[cheekyspanky]

What does HSPDA run on? Does it suck power like 3G?

Basically an upgraded version of 3G.. the phones I've used have had battery life comparable with any other 3G handset really.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HSDPA

Most phones coming out are hitting the 3.6 Mbit point at the moment, so a lot quicker than EDGE!

 

[Compile 'em all]

whew, just finished reading the 14 pages!

Some comments:

- 3G is technically feasible inside a small package as has been mentioned by others already, here in Europe we have many phones SMALLER than the iPhone with decent battery life so that wouldn't be a problem...however it's difficult to believe that Apple has already got a 3G capable version ready for Q4...

Why do you think so?. May be Apple already had a 3G revision ready at the same time as the current one but didn't release it in the US because of the lack of UMTS coverage.

 

[DonSqueak]

********.
Germans have invented the computer.

Oh! Well then, that definitely proves.... errrrr...... IT! Er, like...

Kacke man,

your absolutely wrong.

Your argument being...? That Germans invented the computer? Or... what?

 

[Jim Campbell]

They're already making 50% profit on the hardware itself.

No, they're not. Someone has pulled an iPhone apart and taken an educated guess at a ballpark figure for the total cost of the components, which works out to about half the retail price of the iPhone.

This rather disingenuously assumes that there are no R&D budgets to recoup, no packaging or shipping costs, no factory labour costs, and that retail outlets are staffed by volunteers in premises that have no overheads.

Cheers!

Jim

 

[DonSqueak]

No, they're not. Someone has pulled an iPhone apart and taken an educated guess at a ballpark figure for the total cost of the components, which works out to about half the retail price of the iPhone.

This rather disingenuously assumes that there are no R&D budgets to recoup, no packaging or shipping costs, no factory labour costs, and that retail outlets are staffed by volunteers in premises that have no overheads.

Cheers!

Jim

Finally someone says it.

 

[ik@]

Oh! Well then, that definitely proves.... errrrr...... IT! Er, like...



Your argument being...? That Germans invented the computer? Or... what?

Prove first your arguments, please.

 

[Mitch1984]

We are you all so fussed about 3G?? I really don't understand. I have a Vodagroan 3G mobile (SonyEricsson V600i), and don't use 3G AT ALL! I don't do video calls, I don't use MMS. The iPhone is right up my street as is! I don't know anyone that does use the 3G functionality of their phone, even though they might have it.

Because 3G is faster and I use MMS.

 

[DonSqueak]

Prove first your arguments, please.

That's funny, cuz I forgot to mention how Germans usually seem to behave like kindergarten kids in Internet forums. Anyway, I just stated my opinion after living here in Germany for the last 20 odd years after posting and summarizing an article from a German newspaper. You just came in, said "sh|te" in German and after writing a rather useless sentence claiming Germans invented the first computer you just state "not true". Would it hurt you to elaborate a little further upon your opinion, or are you just trolling around? [sorry for OT to everyone else, but the thread seems pretty much done anyway]

 

[ik@]

That's funny, cuz I forgot to mention how Germans usually seem to behave like kindergarten kids in Internet forums. Anyway, I just stated my opinion after living here in Germany for the last 20 odd years after posting and summarizing an article from a German newspaper. You just came in, said "sh|te" in German and after writing a rather useless sentence claiming Germans invented the first computer you just state "not true". Would it hurt you to elaborate a little further upon your opinion, or are you just trolling around? [sorry for OT to everyone else, but the thread seems pretty much done anyway]

Sounds a little bit like racism.

 

[DonSqueak]

Sounds a little bit like racism.

Whatever. Troll (don't feed btw).

 

[ik@]

Whatever. Troll (don't feed btw).

You are the shepard.

 

[cliffjumper68]

No, they're not. Someone has pulled an iPhone apart and taken an educated guess at a ballpark figure for the total cost of the components, which works out to about half the retail price of the iPhone.

This rather disingenuously assumes that there are no R&D budgets to recoup, no packaging or shipping costs, no factory labour costs, and that retail outlets are staffed by volunteers in premises that have no overheads.

Cheers!

Jim

Still a great margin, hopefully this will expedite future dev

 

[ABM]

There are new rumors about partnership between german T-Mobile and Apple!

Focus Online found out that there was a special site/category on the T-Mobile Homepage for iPhone. After their request at T-Mobile it was deleted within no time. Although the search-option shows Apple like orthography when it is telling you that there are no results for "iPhone".

source: http://macnews.de/news/101308.html

 

[Compile 'em all]

There are new rumors about partnership between german T-Mobile and Apple!

Focus Online found out that there was a special site/category on the T-Mobile Homepage for iPhone. After their request at T-Mobile it was deleted within no time. Although the search-option shows Apple like orthography when it is telling you that there are no results for "iPhone".

source: http://macnews.de/news/101308.html

That is pretty interesting. It looks like T-Mobile getting the iPhone is becoming a reality. Which sucks cause I am currently with o2

 

[ABM]

That is pretty interesting. It looks like T-Mobile getting the iPhone is becoming a reality. Which sucks cause I am currently with o2

Yeah... I know! I am with E-Plus Business at the moment.

 

[davidmyers]

This is really good news.

I would imagine that if this relationship solidifies, T-Mo will be be
one of the first companies in the US to get the iphone when it
inevitably expands past ATT.

T-Mobile Gets Exclusive Rights For iPhone In Germany -Report

Jul 3, 2007 13:19:00 (ET)

BERLIN (Dow Jones)--T-Mobile International AG has obtained the exclusive rights to distribute the iPhone in Germany, beating out rival Vodafone Group PLC's (VOD) German unit D2, according to an advance report of Wednesday's edition of daily Rheinische Post.

T-Mobile is the wireless telephone operator of German telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom AG (DT). The iPhone cellphone was recently launched in the U.S. from Apple Inc. (AAPL), which will later this year also be introduced in Europe.

The phone will go on sale in November, and will retail for EUR450 a piece, according to the newspaper, citing sources within the company. T-Mobile declined to comment.

Newspaper Web site: http://www.rp-online.de

-Berlin Bureau, Dow Jones Newswires; 49-30-2888-410

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 03, 2007 13:19 ET (17:19 GMT)

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Anybody know if T-Mobile is a 3G network in Germany?