Metropol

It just got even more interesting - Vodafone have now secured the iPhone as well, starting early next year
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8278073.stm

YAY at this.

I'm so glad I put off getting an iPhone. The O2 exclusive was terrible for competition hence the over the top prices.

Now I know what to put on the Christmas list...

TSK though, and TSK at Ison for telling me. As it says in that article, Voda are planning on keeping it for existing customers, presumably to stop iPhone-related abandonment. Tsk again.

Although of course before we get too disheartened - it does say it's aimed PRIMARILY at existing customers but that's not to say that they won't offer it to new customers as well. The way I see it is that any decent deal is going to be offered to existing Vodafone customers and that there won't be a lot of incentive for new customers. After all it seems as though o2 and Orange will be going head to head in the run up to Christmas with hopefully some price cuts. Vodafone can then waltz along in the new year and say "Yep, we've got iPhone's" and just get on with the business of selling them. I guess we'll have to wait and see exactly what happens though.

Ant wrote:I'm so glad I put off getting an iPhone. The O2 exclusive was terrible for competition hence the over the top prices.

Now I know what to put on the Christmas list...

According to the blurb, don't expect too much in the way of a price war. They're speculating at £30 a month at best. This is apparently due to them subsidising the cost of the handset.

How many millions of handsets do they need to sell before the unit cost decreases?

I suspect it's more to do with Apple controlling retail prices, which apparently they do!

Sput wrote:I suspect it's more to do with Apple controlling retail prices, which apparently they do!

Apple can recommend a retail price, but can't enforce one. Not in this country, anyway. Unless your point is that they are somehow doing so?

The cost to the end user is based on the wholesale price.

Surely the wholesale price is dropping now they've got the economy of scale in manufacture?

The no price fixing rules are glossed over simply by not offerring the exact same deal as a competitor, but allowing the deal to be close to that of the competitor, add a few texts, and take a few minutes off the bundle and charge exactly the same as the other. result apparant but in effect no competition on price.

DVB Cornwall wrote:The no price fixing rules are glossed over simply by not offerring the exact same deal as a competitor, but allowing the deal to be close to that of the competitor, add a few texts, and take a few minutes off the bundle and charge exactly the same as the other. result apparant but in effect no competition on price.

One for the regulator then, surely?

Happens everywhere though, Cameras, Computers and to some extent TVs. You try and look around for retailers selling the EXACT same model of device and the number of cosmetically different models astounds, and remarkably the 'exclusive' deals even with the top names in particular retailers is quite high.

DVB Cornwall wrote:Happens everywhere though, Cameras, Computers and to some extent TVs. You try and look around for retailers selling the EXACT same model of device and the number of cosmetically different models astounds, and remarkably the 'exclusive' deals even with the top names in particular retailers is quite high.

I know that to be true. In fact I was visiting with my mum and dad on Friday, and they have a new LG flatscreen TV from QVC. I googled the model number to do a bit of a price comparison, only to see its a "QVC exclusive" product. That said, the price was pretty good compared with similar specification screens.

But just because its widespread across the retail sector, doesn't mean it shouldn't be challenged. In the case of the iPhone, its only the bundles that differ - so why hasn't the manufacturing cost been driven down after hundreds of millions of sales?

Apple are gouging bastards.

I still want an iPhone though.