whyPhone?

Gavin Scott · Thu 07 May, 2009 22.23

judin wrote:I am fairly confident the Orange Shop guy was talking out of his arse with the suggestion that Orange UK will be getting an iPhone. O2 have a contract with Apple to be the exclusive carrier here, and it's most likely they will fight tooth and nail to be the carrier in the future.

It would be astonishingly bad business acumen on the part of Apple not to give themselves an "out" to the exclusivity deal with O2.

There's a number of potential customers (myself included) who have been married to alternative networks for years and years. I nearly moved from Orange to O2, but didn't. I would however change my contract to an iPhone if Orange could offer it. No question about it.

Its a matter of time - and something tells me (business sense I suppose) that the fourth version of iPhone will go cross network. O2 have had all the early adopters for versions 1, 2 and 3 - that's covered the cost of the ad campaigns they've produced for the UK on behalf of Apple.

They opened up their exclusive deals in the States, didn't they?

I reckon the same thing will happen here soon.

rts · Fri 08 May, 2009 10.26

Times blog on possible iPhone version 3.

http://timesonline.typepad.com/technolo ... tion-.html

judin · Fri 08 May, 2009 10.26

Gavin Scott wrote:It would be astonishingly bad business acumen on the part of Apple not to give themselves an "out" to the exclusivity deal with O2.

Gavin Scott wrote:They opened up their exclusive deals in the States, didn't they?

I quite agree that it might make sense to open up the exclusivity, but they still haven't officially done this in the US - the two released iPhone's are both released on AT&T only, and the news was they were going after an extension to this deal.

Gavin Scott wrote:There's a number of potential customers (myself included) who have been married to alternative networks for years and years. I nearly moved from Orange to O2, but didn't. I would however change my contract to an iPhone if Orange could offer it. No question about it.

I really didn't want to have to move to O2 - I've been with T-Mobile for the last few years, but was unhappy with their network which would just cut out with any handset I had. I'd always found Orange comfortably reliable and was disappointed that they didn't get the iPhone in the UK.

Gavin Scott wrote:Its a matter of time - and something tells me (business sense I suppose) that the fourth version of iPhone will go cross network. O2 have had all the early adopters for versions 1, 2 and 3 - that's covered the cost of the ad campaigns they've produced for the UK on behalf of Apple.

There have only been two version of the iPhone released - the iPhone and the iPhone 3G. I think you're confusing models with software versions. I'm confident that whatever upgrades Apple announce in the summer, O2 will continue to be the exclusive partner for at least the next 12 months.

With Orange getting the Pre, the suggested real iPhone competitor, I'd say Apple are even less likely at the moment to let Orange sell their devices.

davidmcg · Fri 08 May, 2009 12.41

Don;t know how much an iPhone is in the UK prepay but over here in Ireland it's down to €480 (£425) now for an 8gb, bit of a rip-off seeing as it's still tied to a network.

Theres also an offer where if you get 10 of your friends to switch newtork to o2, and top up by €20 then you get the pre-pay iPhone 3g for €5, so it works out €200 if you do it yourself (as I am currently doing at the moment)

Sput · Fri 08 May, 2009 14.02

It's about £340 for a PAYG 8GB one here. You do get 6 months of free things though, so it's not all bad.

Anyway, I see the rumour sites are starting to spin their cogs and one of their worst habits keeps resurfacing; headlines like this:

Magnetometer confirmed in new iPhone?

It bugs me. If it's got a question mark then it's NOT BLOODY CONFIRMED. Idiots.

cdd · Fri 08 May, 2009 14.12

Umm, not to be a killjoy, but what the bloody hell is the point of a compass when you have GPS coverage? Can't you (and for that matter the software) determine which way north is simply by moving a few metres?

Sput · Fri 08 May, 2009 14.44

That wouldn't tell you which way you're facing, just which way you're moving. This is a very sensible low-power suppliment to the GPS.

cdd · Fri 08 May, 2009 15.00

The way you're facing is probably the way you've been moving unless you have a tendency to walk backwards. But yeah, I do agree, actaully google street view for the iPhone might benefit from that kind of instantaneous response. Can't think of many practical applications personally.

Sput · Fri 08 May, 2009 15.08

Well if you're getting turn by turn directions you'll want to know if it's pointing relative to the map or the real world. There are obvious benefits.

rts · Fri 08 May, 2009 15.59

Seconded, Sput. If I want to know which way I'm facing, I want to know then, and not have to walk around. It's a very nice compliment to the more powerful GPS, if the latter is not required.

Ebeneezer Scrooge · Sat 09 May, 2009 16.14

cdd wrote:Umm, not to be a killjoy, but what the bloody hell is the point of a compass when you have GPS coverage? Can't you (and for that matter the software) determine which way north is simply by moving a few metres?

There was a video of one of the new android phones on the register recently. During this video they used google streetview as an example of what is possible with the internal compass. Yes, it was a bit pointless, but being able to change the view based on which way your phone is pointing is pretty cool in a VR type way!