According to the rumour mill on September 18th O2 will be announced as the official carrier for the Apple iPhone in the UK, whilst T-Mobile and Orange win the German and French deals respectively. Apparently at 10am BST there will be an Apple event in London probably announcing these much rumoured deals for European carriers.
The deals have come with a hefty price tag - it’s believed that Apple will receive 40% of iPhone revenue from each carrier, that’s right, revenue not profit. Nice!
So what about all the old Vodafone rumours floating around not so long ago. Well I reckon that the 40% revenue share was just too much to swallow for some carriers and they will take their chances with other mobile manufacturers. O2 and the others have obviously decided that the iPhone branding will reap other financial rewards at some stage as a 40% revenue share must surely spell ‘loss-making venture’?
The only people smiling right now are the Apple execs who dreamt up this plan of dominance business plan. Oh and of course European mobile users who can now find out what all the fuss was about ‘over the pond’ a few months ago.
Having been labelled as ‘unbelievably arrogant’ by European operators, rumour now has it that Apple have influenced AT&T, their iPhone carrier in the US, to downgrade the functionality of the ‘rival’ Blackberry 8820. The downgrade would limit the GPS functionality of the 8820 to the subscription only service TeleNav and with the iPhone boasting the Google Maps functionality the belief is the iPhone would appear ’superior’ and more appealing to the consumer.
As pointed out on several blogs the iPhone and 8820 are aimed at different market sectors, yet AT&T seem oblivious to this fact in promoting the iPhone over its other products.
Of course this is all rumour and there is no indication that Apple have asked AT&T to impose the downgrade of the 8820, but given Apple’s ‘arrogant’ labelling by some European carriers, it would be no surprise if this move was Apple instigated.
Personally, I’m neither a big Blackberry fan nor iPhone zealot, but the real concern here is that AT&T or Apple are forcing their will on RIM. Ultimately the loser in this is YOU not RIM, these kind of corporate moves directly affect the consumer through lack of choice and inflated prices. It is this kind of corporate greed that is repulsive and abhorrent in my opinion, the downside of capitalism no less - anyone else want to weigh in with their thoughts?
I hate bills, I hate receiving them, opening them and most of all paying them. Boy am I glad I didn’t get an iPhone then - check out this lass’s video on her first AT&T iPhone bill, bloody scary.
Now you know why your AT&T contract for the iPhone is so expensive, the cost of the packaging alone for all those bills must have cost a bomb. Way to go AT&T.
According to an article on Reuters, Vodafone are concerned that the Apple iPhone does not operate on 3G networks. Vodafone’s CEO Arun Sarin said
It’s clearly a good, software-driven device, but we’re concerned about wideband area coverage so that 3G (third-generation) or HSDPA (upgraded 3G) connectivity with the iPhone is something that we look forward to.
Vodafone would obviously love to add the iPhone to the range of mobile devices on their network but do not seem to be prepared to bend over backwards (unlike AT&T) to strike a deal with Apple. Dare I say, the customer comes first in this instance - unfortunately probably more of a power play by Vodafone.
Also quotes like that from Vodafone’s CEO just fuel the rumours that the second generation iPhone is imminent, whether the new version has 3G or not is still unsure. Some sources report that the next version of the iPhone will be some sort of iPhone Nano, smaller in price and presumably functionality. However Apple must be keen to release their pride and joy into the European market, so hopefully a deal is brokered sooner rather than later.
Now we’re talking, this is about the most useful thing I’ve seen the iPhone do since its release. Nate True over at cre.ations.net has modified the open source software VNC so that all the Apple fans out there can access their Windows desktop via their snazzy new iPhone.
From his write-up of the VNC mod it sounds as if you are presented with a list of open windows on your desktop and by selecting one of them it is displayed on your iPhone. It also seems to use a funky text box input system for keyboard input as your desktop is viewed as a series of jpeg images and therefore no direct input is possible.
I do wonder how secure your VNC password would be, especially as you’d probably be using your iPhone to do this over someone else’s Wi-Fi network. But the theory is good and it sounds as if Nate has done a great job with this mod for VNC judging by comments on other blogs. Well done mate.
Well, there’s about an hour to go before the iPhone is unleashed on the world, well the east coast of the US at any rate. Rather than bang on how good or bad the latest toy is, I thought I’d list some iPhone reviews to help you make up your own mind.
MacRumors - user reviews, obviously none posted yet ;)
Hopefully that should help you sort out whether you spend your Friday evening standing outside your local AT&T store or down the local pub as usual. For those of you choosing the AT&T option have a great weekend playing with your toy!
Whilst the US Apple fans gear up for the release of the iPhone on Friday, their compatriots in Europe are still twiddling their thumbs and wondering when they’ll be able to get their grubby little mits on the new toy. Well Apple have still to announce a distributor for the iPhone in Europe but the favourite is currently British firm Vodafone.
According to Reuters both companies are deep in conference on an agreement, but Apple require a guaranteed sales volume for the iPhone and Vodafone want to have control of its price.
Deutsche Telecom and Orange have also been touted as possible partners for the iPhone but Vodafone would be an obvious choice for Apple. Watch this space for an announcement soon!
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According to the rumour mill on September 18th O2 will be announced as the official carrier for the Apple iPhone in the UK, whilst T-Mobile and Orange win the German and French deals respectively. Apparently at 10am BST there will be an Apple event in London probably announcing these much rumoured deals for European carriers.
Vodafone would obviously love to add the iPhone to the range of mobile devices on their network but do not seem to be prepared to bend over backwards (unlike AT&T) to strike a deal with Apple. Dare I say, the customer comes first in this instance - unfortunately probably more of a power play by Vodafone.
