True they might put the price up but BT's record on Broadband is that it is just slow to put the price down - they tend to just increase speed and/or features instead. I've always found that they highlight intro offer prices and duration much more clearly than most!
I think this is a industry leading move and I just hope that Apple follow by making iDisk of a useful size for use as a Time Machine backup option.
Equally I hope BT see the opportunity and make this Mac OS X supported. They say: "The automatic backup service available with Backup Manager is not currently Mac compatible".
Thats not strictly true. You have to remember that BT don't just have higherish prices for no reason. They are governed by offcom, and most of the time they're broadband prices cannot be lowered. They are still for all intents and purposes a monopoly in the UK. I"m sure last time I checked their prices were pretty much the same as other premium broadband providers. They do make a few frustrating assumptions though, such as assuming that users dont need higher upload speeds.
There is also the fact that BT's revenues are eroding, so they have to be careful to control that process as much as possible. They cant keep laying off staff. But dont doubt for a second that BT wouldnt try and kill off the competition completely if they could by capturing as much market share as possible through lower prices, but again offcom wont allow it.
There are other commercial constraints affecting their pricing, such as recouping their cap ex costs. Other ISP's merely use BT's wholesale service, and therefore don't have to recoup the cost associated with developing the network etc. Sure there are ISPs who unbundled exchanges, but the unbundling is selective and is only in certain demographics.
Where there is competition in the market, the leased line market for example, BT can be extremely aggressive with pricing. There were a number of times where I struggled to get close on a like for like offering when I worked for Ntl business, for example.
Back on topic though, I'm surprised Bt are offering such an attractive offering. Sadly I can't see Apple following suit, nothing seems to exist for Apple outside of the US.
Jason
