What secret do you Europeans have?

[Michael CM1]

How is it that T-Mobile in Germany can offer an iPhone with a contract for ONE EURO and O2 in England can offer them free (did I mishear that one?)? What is it that they do that AT&T can't? AT&T is frickin eleventy billion years old, used to be the only game in town, is at the top in the U.S. in subscribers until the Verizon/Alltell deal goes through...what gives?

My ONLY idea is it doesn't cost as much to cover smaller countries like England and Germany. Still, how in the heck are they doing this and can I get an O2 contract over here????

 

[aristobrat]

How is it that T-Mobile in Germany can offer an iPhone with a contract for ONE EURO and O2 in England can offer them free (did I mishear that one?)? What is it that they do that AT&T can't?

IIRC, that deal is only valid on their more expensive monthly plans.

 

[Archie-]

How is it that T-Mobile in Germany can offer an iPhone with a contract for ONE EURO and O2 in England can offer them free (did I mishear that one?)? What is it that they do that AT&T can't? AT&T is frickin eleventy billion years old, used to be the only game in town, is at the top in the U.S. in subscribers until the Verizon/Alltell deal goes through...what gives?

My ONLY idea is it doesn't cost as much to cover smaller countries like England and Germany. Still, how in the heck are they doing this and can I get an O2 contract over here????

Its because the iPhone failed in Europe. Apple is trying harder this time.

 

[JBaker122586]

Its because the iPhone failed in Europe. Apple is trying harder this time.

Has nothing to do with Apple.

 

[robbieduncan]

You can only get an 8Gb iPhone free, and only if you are willing to commit to an 18 month contract at £45 a month or more ($90 more or less). They more than get their money back be the end of the deal!

 

[The Phazer]

My ONLY idea is it doesn't cost as much to cover smaller countries like England and Germany. Still, how in the heck are they doing this and can I get an O2 contract over here????

It costs more to cover countries when they're smaller. The UK has a tighter population density but would never put up with the lack of signal in the country that the US has.

It's free market competition - to all intents and purposes 100% of the population has a mobile phone in the UK. So to grow as businesses operators in the UK have to lower prices to compete.

Phazer

 

[cube]

My ONLY idea is it doesn't cost as much to cover smaller countries like England and Germany.

Do you know that some companies nearly went broke buying extremely expensive 3G licenses in some countries, only to see 3G flop?

 

[frosse]

Exactly, has zero to do with Apple.

Higher plans equals cheaper phone.
Lower plans equals higher phone.

Though Id rather go with the latter. I prefer paying more for the phone itself than having high plans.

 

[ACDeag]

How is it that T-Mobile in Germany can offer an iPhone with a contract for ONE EURO and O2 in England can offer them free (did I mishear that one?)? What is it that they do that AT&T can't? AT&T is frickin eleventy billion years old, used to be the only game in town, is at the top in the U.S. in subscribers until the Verizon/Alltell deal goes through...what gives?

My ONLY idea is it doesn't cost as much to cover smaller countries like England and Germany. Still, how in the heck are they doing this and can I get an O2 contract over here????

It is only free on their £45 ($90) and £75 ($150) tariffs, but this does include unlimited data and free wifi at BTOpenzone and Cloud hotspots.

The advantages over AT&T would appear to be the minutes (1200 - 3000), contract length (18 months not 24) and the fact you get texts (500) and unlimited data included.

 

[drpellypo]

We get a good deal on phones, you get a good deal on fuel! I filled up today and Diesel was equivalent to $3 a litre!

 

[razorianfly]

Its because the iPhone failed in Europe. Apple is trying harder this time.

Exactly, has zero to do with Apple.

This has *everything* to do with Apple.

Apple chose to enter the European market with a handset which wasn't 3G capable.
When they did, nearly 70% of the entire mobile phone industry consist of 3G-capable handsets.

Apple made a mistake, one which it has rectified, thankfully.
On July 11th, the iPhone will sink again, or swim.

Europe will decide for itself if ithe iPhone 3G cuts it as a 3G phone,
we're well used to them by now.

R-Fly

 

[samab]

It is only free on their £45 ($90) and £75 ($150) tariffs, but this does include unlimited data and free wifi at BTOpenzone and Cloud hotspots.

The advantages over AT&T would appear to be the minutes (1200 - 3000), contract length (18 months not 24) and the fact you get texts (500) and unlimited data included.

AT&T's plan includes unlimited mobile to mobile minutes, 5000 nights/weekends minutes and rollover of leftover daytime minutes to future months.

 

[cube]

Europe will decide for itself if ithe iPhone 3G cuts it as a 3G phone,
we're well used to them by now.

It's not a real 3G phone. It doesn't have video call, which is one of the main features of 3G.

 

[BongoBanger]

Has nothing to do with Apple.

Eh... not strictly true because of the revenue sharing agreement.

It's not a real 3G phone. It doesn't have video call, which is one of the main features of 3G.

LOLno.

 

[Phil A.]

Eh... not strictly true because of the revenue sharing agreement.

I don't think there is any revenue sharing with the 3G (At least not with AT&T)

 

[netdog]

They don't call AT&T The Death Star for nuthin'.

 

[samab]

Nearly 70% of the entire mobile phone industry in Europe had and still have 3G-capable handsets.

Another mis-understanding of the 3G phone world.

Verizon Wireless in the US has 58% of their subscribers using a 3G cell phone --- that's 39 million subscribers out of 67.2 million total subscribers.

http://telephonyonline.com/wireless/news/verizon-data-revenues-0428/

Vodafone's entire European operation --- which includes UK (the center of the mobile universe in Europe), Germany (the biggest country in Europe), Italy (the "highest" 3G handset penetration rate in the world) and Spain --- only 22% of the subscribers have a 3G phone (24.2 million out of 110 million subscribers). See page 10.

http://www.vodafone.com/etc/mediali...s.Par.50962.File.dat/Prelim_ Mar_08_FINAL.pdf

The first gen iphone didn't sell well in Europe because of the handset price and high monthly plans --- nothing to do with whether it lack 3G or not.

It's not a real 3G phone. It doesn't have video call, which is one of the main features of 3G.

A 3G feature that nobody uses.

 

[Michael CM1]

We get a good deal on phones, you get a good deal on fuel! I filled up today and Diesel was equivalent to $3 a litre!

But considering we're much more skilled at wasting fuel, that whole thing is a wash.

$3/litre is about $5-6/gallon, right? If so, we're catching up. Just paid $3.95/gallon.

 

[cube]

You catch up because oil goes up when the dollar goes down.

 

[drpellypo]

But considering we're much more skilled at wasting fuel, that whole thing is a wash.

$3/litre is about $5-6/gallon, right? If so, we're catching up. Just paid $3.95/gallon.

lol - no! There are 4 litres in our gallon. So that's $12 per gallon.

 

[BongoBanger]

I don't think there is any revenue sharing with the 3G (At least not with AT&T)

Nope, which is why it won't disappoint this time.

 

[robbieduncan]

lol - no! There are 4 litres in our gallon. So that's $12 per gallon.

Yes, but they are buying US gallons so you have to convert to US gallons. There are 3.785 litres per US gallon, 4.546 litres per UK gallon.

So $3 per litre is over $11 per (US) gallon, not the laughable $5-6 suggested above.

 

[JBaker122586]

Eh... not strictly true because of the revenue sharing agreement.

When I said "this has nothing to do with Apple," I meant the price being free after subsidy. Directly, Apple doesn't control that at all. Maybe Apple's poor business plan in Europe led to T-Mobile and O2 giving free iPhone with contracts, but Apple's not trying to compete by giving iPhones away, O2 is.

 

[secretbum]

But considering we're much more skilled at wasting fuel, that whole thing is a wash.

$3/litre is about $5-6/gallon, right? If so, we're catching up. Just paid $3.95/gallon.

United States has cheap fuel.In Australia Diesel is over $6 US/gallon.

 

[paduck]

Believe it or not, the US is not the world leader in cellular phones. We actually follow the rest of the world. Europe, in particular the UK, has the most competitive telecommunications market in the world. In this case, Europe is benefiting from greater competition than the US. They can call here cheaper than we can call into the next state. Calling to the US on an O2 Pay and Go plan can cost as little at 15 pence/minute (30 cents, but the math isn't as simple as that, you are better off thinking that the pound has the same buying power as the dollar). International texts are 10 pence each. Part of this is that their network deployment costs are dramatically lower than in the US, but part of it is also that landlines are VERY expensive in Europe (used to be controlled by the Post Office as a government service), they charge for local calls, and (very important, I think) the caller pays for all costs associated with a call. This is all the more confusing with the higher minute offers in Europe, since those minutes only apply to outgoing calls - not incoming ones.