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UK iPhone, Has it failed?

SilentLoner

SilentLoner

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Dec 29, 2007
1,065
6
Has it failed in the UK? What is it's sales numbers? I got one and I am really happy with it, however I do not want apple to pull out the market because of poor sales. Also while onto a operator of O2 today he said the 3g one would be out in march.

depending on the resale value of my iphone I would consider purchasing a 3g one :D
 
O2 staff wont know anything about when a 3G iPhone is arriving. Neither will Apple staff.

I don't think the iPhone has failed here in the UK, I know a few people with them, but it hasn't taken off like it has in the US. That's not really surprising, we're ahead of the mobile technology curve here - a lot of us send MMS, text an awful lot, take pictures and use things that benefit from 3G (we've got 7.2mbps service now, ffs).

Future models will sell much better, I'm sure. If Apple work as hard as they did on the iPod I'm sure that they'll come up with a global mass market product within a few revisions.
 
It wouldn't suprise me in the slightest if iPhone sales in the uK were slow...we already have more mobile phones than people in the UK. Its simply too expensive against the sort of phone deals that are currently in the marketplace. My curent contract was for 200mins/250 texts term cost £360 less £360 cashback, included a free phone (sold on Ebay for £100) and £40 referral cashback from Quidco = £140 profit.
If you ask in store about how well the iPhone is selling, the response is never enthusiatic...more like dammed by faint praise.
Still I'll be buying one in a couple of weeks so that should up the sales figures!
 
iPhone

Bear in mind the type of people the iPhone is targetting would be on a contract. I would say wait a year to see how it's selling then.
 
The iphone hasn't sold very well at all in the UK - i can remember reading somewhere that after the first month, activated iphones totaled only 26,500 in the UK.
There's no way they'll pull out of the UK though - we're too important a market to them, especially in terms of their other products... the main restriction of the iphone here was the fact that it was on contract and still cost a hell of a lot. Imagine if they offered it on PAYG.... I think that they might introduce a new iphone that is more affordable but has fewer features... probably still on contract though...:mad:
 
The UK is a tricky market. I expect that sales (which are very protected by Apple) are lower than expectations but I doubt it will mean any withdrawal from the market.
 
It was never likely to sell as well as it did in the US. We're used to getting free handsets (decent ones) on 12-18 month contracts so most people tend to balk at the price tag, even with that magic little Apple logo on it.

I'll still be highly tempted if they bump it to 16GB...
 
miniConvert said:
I don't think the iPhone has failed here in the UK, I know a few people with them, but it hasn't taken off like it has in the US. That's not really surprising, we're ahead of the mobile technology curve here - a lot of us send MMS, text an awful lot, take pictures and use things that benefit from 3G (we've got 7.2mbps service now, ffs).
Click to expand...

I think you've hit the nail on the head here - the UK market needs a 3G iPhone.

I've never been particularly bothered by 3G before. My current phone is 3G and I don't video call and only browse BBC mobile (sports results) which is fine with GPRS.

Howver, the iPhone is such a competent internet device with Safari and Email that I think 3G would help unlock its capabilities. I used a friends iPhone in central london and it was sooooo slow - essentially unusable for browsing.
 
yeah its the price here that keeps it from selling. I wonder what apple's next move will be?
 
Hi

I own an iPhone here in the UK and personally I think Apple have made a rod for their own backs with this phone. There are reasons why this phone hasn't taken off well and primarily (I think) this is because the people who bought iPhones have shown them to their friends.

People think that my phone looks amazing and all say that they want one until they hear that they won't be able to send picture messages, they won't be able to forward joke text messages people send them, they wont be able bluetooth music and videos to each other. and they wont be able to have their own ringtones unless they buy software (which is crippled by apple updates) or mess around with renaming files in itunes.

This is ultimately what people want from their phones and why the iPhone is rubbish.

The problem is that I read these forums and they all talk about price and networks but I personally think it comes down to a lack of functionality in the phone.

Everyone talks of this new wonderful up and coming iphone v2 that will be all doing, but this phone will probably still have these fundamental flaws. since they are problems they could have easily rectified by now with a software update like 1.1.3, but apple saw fit to provide us with the ability to know where we are within 200 meters or more. Personally I always know where I am becuase I went there.

This phone could have been amazing, it still could if Apple would get off their arses and release an update that put
a bit of fun into the user experience of this product.
 
The FT are saying that their sources state 190,000 iPhones sold in 2 months.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/cab711ce-c603-11dc-8378-0000779fd2ac.html

"O2 declined to comment on the sales figures but said it was “delighted with the response to the iPhone, which has seen unprecedented levels of customer satisfaction”. The mobile operator also confirmed the iPhone was its fastest-selling handset “by a significant margin”


So no, not a failure.

but apple saw fit to provide us with the ability to know where we are within 200 meters or more. Personally I always know where I am becuase I went there.
Click to expand...

Have you tried to "drop pin"? I have tried it in about 8 different places in Manchester and every single one was within about 20 metres. Its 100% accurate for both mine and my girls home.

This phone could have been amazing, it still could if Apple would get off their arses and release an update that put
a bit of fun into the user experience of this product.
Click to expand...

Well, this baffles me. Swiping through your photos isn't a fun UX? Pinching? Wobbly icons? Built in YouTube? Your friends face showing up full screen when they call? Threaded SMS? Coverflow?

The iPhone has hands down the coolest and most fun user experience on a phone I have ever seen.
 
I've said this in another thread before, but its worth repeating. My mate High Up in TelefonicaO2 tells me that sales are meeting expectations, but that sales expectations are low. The point of getting iPhone, for O2, was never about sales. It was about all sorts of other stuff, media profile, brand association, the new marketing model, expected longetivity of contracts, and MAKING SURE VODAPHONE DIDN'T GET IT.

On two of those obectives, results have exceeded expectations. The media coverage was brilliant, and the brand association seems to working well, O2 is becoming a "cooler" brand than any old Public Telecoms Operator deserves (this bloke has been with O2 since it was the GPO).

But the most interesting thing is that O2 WANT the revenue sharing model. And he says all the other telcos want it too (obviously, preferably not at the 30%-40% rate that this deal is). The theory is that it will make the manufacturers responible for selling the phones to customers, rather than the telcos, who have to buy in bulk and then sell them off at whatever they can get (usually£0). It should also reduce churn, as pepolevwill be less inclined at the end of contracts to switch telcos, just to get the latest phone.

Anyhow, O2 are very happy with iPhone, even if it is the N95 that's exceeding expectations.
 
Project said:
Have you tried to "drop pin"? I have tried it in about 8 different places in Manchester and every single one was within about 20 metres. Its 100% accurate for both mine and my girls home.
Click to expand...

Mate, you can put the pin wherever you want, so of course it can be 100% accurate!

This has got NOTHING to do with the faux-gps feature!
 
It really is just the price. I'd have one now if it was a free phone on an 18 month contract - like the phones it is competing with.

I don't know much about 3G though. Coverage and resulting battery life is very weak. We still need Apple and o2 to fix these problems.
 
raggedjimmi said:
It really is just the price. I'd have one now if it was a free phone on an 18 month contract - like the phones it is competing with.

I don't know much about 3G though. Coverage and resulting battery life is very weak. We still need Apple and o2 to fix these problems.
Click to expand...

It is the price. If it was free it would be really popular.
 
SilentLoner said:
It is the price. If it was free it would be really popular.
Click to expand...

You know, I think Apple's actually been very clever with iPhone pricing and features in the UK.

The current model is, let's be polite here, not cheap. However there will always be a core market for this sort of device, the people who have to have the latest and greatest first. For those people Apple have delivered a phone which, and I say this as a user of smartphones since the original Orange SPV, is lightyears ahead of the competition in terms of interface and applications (quality not quantity obviously).

Not only does Apple get a ton of cash from these early adopters, it can use them to gauge reaction to what it's done (remember this is their first attempt at a phone after all) and see what works (interface), what doesn't (sms) and what needs a hardware upgrade (camera). They also get to see how a single hardware spec is received in various markets across the world. At the same time these relatively small numbers of users (compared to the overall market) are showing off their devices in public and it's very rare indeed that someone isn't at least impressed by the looks of the thing.

Next up Apple introduces a 3G version at some point in 2008 with revised hardware specs and other tweaks. At the same time the SDK will have been available for a while and some decent third party applications will be available. At that point Apple reduce the price on the original unit and it takes the place of the mass market phone (£100 plus a 12 month, £25 contract for example) while the 3G phone comes in at the same price point as the current model.

So no, iPhone is definitely not a failure in the UK market. Heck, if you want proof of that have a look at all the other phone manufacturers scrambling to produce their own versions (and all missing the point about what makes the iPhone special, the interface, but never mind). It's selling well enough to build the brand image and that will play into Apple's hands when they launch the next version. Besides, if it was free then they could never keep up with demand.

This is a long game Apple are playing and, as we've seen with the iPod (and for that matter the Macbook, Macbook Pro and iMac) they are very, very good at this. Most importantly, this one phone that's sold somewhere around 200,000 units has shifted the goalposts so far that they're currently out of sight and I have to say that for that alone Apple deserve to succeed. Mobile manufacturers had become far too complacent and now they've been given a damn good kick in the unmentionables to get their attention we as consumers should see the benefits pretty damn soon.

Think of it as the Nokia 7110, the phone Nokia introduced with the spring loaded sliding bit at the bottom after the Matrix made the discontinued 8110 such a hit. It never sold in huge numbers but its influence on handsets was felt for years afterwards (first WAP phone, interface experimentation with the interface elements) and is still around in some of the really high end stuff today.
 
Hey all
I live in the uk , i have a mbp and a ipod touch which i love to bits but i don't own a Iphone. The reason why I haven't brought one is the price! first of all £35 a month and getting so little minutes and plus paying for the phone it is, it just day light robbery!. I'm on vodafone and I got sony ericsson w910i on a £25.00 contract and only paying £25 for the phone it self, if i had gone with the £30 contract I would of got the phone free. So simple if I'm playing £30 a month I would expect to get the phone free! and not be forced to pay for the phone. PLus the Minutes you get is not enough for what your paying for , what 200 mins ! not a enough for a £30 contract!
 
I'm hoping the iPhone doesn't do too great, o2 or Apple steps in with a price cut or offers more minutes/texts for the same cost. That will be my iPhone day. Although I could justify the cost with the unlimited data.
 
domness said:
Mate, you can put the pin wherever you want, so of course it can be 100% accurate!

This has got NOTHING to do with the faux-gps feature!
Click to expand...

Thats not what I am saying. You do locate me then drop pin (don't move the pin). It drops the pin on where it thinks you are, generally around the middle. You don't just go by the blue circle. The blue circle is an approximation. A margin or error if you like. "you are definitely within this circle". The pin says "this is where we think you are". For me, the blue circle gives about a 50metre radius. The pin lands on this house! I have tried this in around 8 locations around town and get the same result every time. If the blue circle is particularly huge, give it a try.


My mate High Up in TelefonicaO2 tells me that sales are meeting expectations, but that sales expectations are low.
Click to expand...

See, I can't be the only person who thinks 200,000 units in two months for a £269 phone in a market that is used to free handsets is anything but low. Even more so for a phone that is locked to one carrier, doesn't offer a PAYG option and isn't flexible in the type of contract it offers (people can't customise the minutes/texts to suit their needs).
 
smiddlehurst said:
You know, I think Apple's actually been very clever with iPhone pricing and features in the UK.

The current model is, let's be polite here, not cheap. However there will always be a core market for this sort of device, the people who have to have the latest and greatest first. For those people Apple have delivered a phone which, and I say this as a user of smartphones since the original Orange SPV, is lightyears ahead of the competition in terms of interface and applications (quality not quantity obviously).

Not only does Apple get a ton of cash from these early adopters, it can use them to gauge reaction to what it's done (remember this is their first attempt at a phone after all) and see what works (interface), what doesn't (sms) and what needs a hardware upgrade (camera). They also get to see how a single hardware spec is received in various markets across the world. At the same time these relatively small numbers of users (compared to the overall market) are showing off their devices in public and it's very rare indeed that someone isn't at least impressed by the looks of the thing.

Next up Apple introduces a 3G version at some point in 2008 with revised hardware specs and other tweaks. At the same time the SDK will have been available for a while and some decent third party applications will be available. At that point Apple reduce the price on the original unit and it takes the place of the mass market phone (£100 plus a 12 month, £25 contract for example) while the 3G phone comes in at the same price point as the current model.

So no, iPhone is definitely not a failure in the UK market. Heck, if you want proof of that have a look at all the other phone manufacturers scrambling to produce their own versions (and all missing the point about what makes the iPhone special, the interface, but never mind). It's selling well enough to build the brand image and that will play into Apple's hands when they launch the next version. Besides, if it was free then they could never keep up with demand.

This is a long game Apple are playing and, as we've seen with the iPod (and for that matter the Macbook, Macbook Pro and iMac) they are very, very good at this. Most importantly, this one phone that's sold somewhere around 200,000 units has shifted the goalposts so far that they're currently out of sight and I have to say that for that alone Apple deserve to succeed. Mobile manufacturers had become far too complacent and now they've been given a damn good kick in the unmentionables to get their attention we as consumers should see the benefits pretty damn soon.

Think of it as the Nokia 7110, the phone Nokia introduced with the spring loaded sliding bit at the bottom after the Matrix made the discontinued 8110 such a hit. It never sold in huge numbers but its influence on handsets was felt for years afterwards (first WAP phone, interface experimentation with the interface elements) and is still around in some of the really high end stuff today.
Click to expand...


You make some really valid points :D roll on the future of the iPhone.
 
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