July 2008: Monthly Archive

Time.com begs the question as to whether consumers would be, and should be, willing to pay for App Store apps:

So why can’t all iPhone apps be free? Well, quite simply, because people are still willing to pay for them.

Er… No. All apps can’t be free because all developers don’t get free housing, food, and a healthy cash allowance for themselves and their families to live off of while they develop all these fantastical free apps.

It’s the same reason why the Time.com writer probably doesn’t work for free, even though the web page containing the article has advertising on it.

There will, no doubt, be tons of apps offered for free. We’ve already heard about Apple’s iTunes remote as well as free apps from Ebay and AOL AIM from the looks of the recent Guided Tour video. These will all be released because their business model supports releasing them for free. Their companies feel that they will either be able to generate sufficient revenue from other sources (like advertising, or paid pro versions) or are willing to eat the cost as part of their marketing (hoping it will serve as a loss-leader to drive the products or services that really pay their bills).

Personally, I’d love apps to be free. I’d love gas to be free. I’d love a new Mac Pro to be free. But it’s really economics 101 at work here, isn’t it?

I’m sure I’ll find a free app or several that’ll be useful, just as I’m sure I’ll find some commercial apps I feel are worth paying $9.99 (or whatever) for. And if I don’t think a particular app is worth paying for, I just won’t buy it. Simple as that.

What about you? Do you think there will be some apps worth paying for?

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TeliaSonera and their Norwegian subsidiary, Netcom, are pretty much dropping Ragnorok onto Scandinavians who dared hope for reasonable price plans, but how about Finland?

Small plans start at €31.69 for 100 min, 100 SMS, and 100 MB of data, with €159 for an 8GB handset and €385 for 16GB.

Large plans are €89.99 for 1000/1000/1000, with a €1 8GB and a €85 16GB.

US$142 for 1GB of data?

But wait, there’s more! Denmark gets only one (1) plan, DKK 599 for 300 min., unlimited SMS, and a paltry 300 MB of data, with DKK 1399 for an 8GB handset and DKK 1999 for a 16GB. Six months later, however, the price will drop to DKK 399, just to add to the confusion.

That’s US$128 for 300MB of data for the first six months, and US$85 thereafter.

EPIC FAILURE there for the Scandinavians.

Can the Swiss offer some Euro-redemption?

Swisscom’s Small plan kicks off at CHF 25 for CHF 0.68 hourly talk rate and 100MB of data, with an 8GB handset for CHF 245 and 16GB for CHF 243.

Large plans play out at CHF 55 for CGF 0.49 hourly talk rate and 1000MB of data, with a CHF 99 handset at 8GB, and CHF 199 for 16GB.

That’s topping out at US$54 for 1GB… Nowhere near as bad as their neighbors to the north, but not unlimited. Is there some rule that says the colder you get, the worse the telcos rip you off?

The App Store will officially launch alongside the iPhone 3G on July 11th, but what’s going to be available? We’ve seen the highlights. Super Monkey Ball. Ebay. Twitteriffic. Loopt. But a handful of Apps do not a Store make. Apple will need some volume and to get it… they’ve imposed a deadline!

Yup, of the fraction of developers who’ve been accepted into the program, only those who have their final release uploaded to Apple’s servers by 12PM PDT on July 7th will be eligible for App Store launch. (And even then, there’s no apparent guarantee Apple will approve you in time for that most auspicious of occasions.)

Quality apps will certainly be vital to the App Store’s success, but is Apple cutting things (and developers) too close?

Who am I kidding, while this may inconvenience journalists overeager for early reviews, as long as consumers can hit the icon and get their monkey ball on, all will be right in App land. Right?

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Sister site WMExperts brings word that T-Mobile is raising the a la carte price of SMS text messages to an exorbitant $.20 per 160 characters (sadly, an industry average…) While they have their theories as to why tiny text qualifies for thousands of dollars per meg of data charges, others only really care about one thing:

A change in the terms of service may — just may — be a way for those of you stuck on contract with T-Mobile to get out of jail and into a sexay new iPhone 3G.

Whether T-Mobile lets you out or not will likely depend on who you talk to and how much you scream, but a chance is a chance. And could T-Mobile have had worse timing in providing that chance?

Nope.

On the Canadian front, GSM monopoly Rogers is still amending their iPhone info, after correcting the embarrassing typo that made it seem like the early termination fee was $1100 ($100 turned out to be correct). Now it’s info on non-iPhone specific plans, and warnings galore on off-plan data usage ($0.05/KB!) and roaming ($3/MB on plan). Clarified, however, is that using Visual Voice Mail won’t count towards your minutes or your miserly data cap.

Also interesting is the inclusion of anti-Jailbreak/Unlock verbiage:

Your iPhone is restricted to use on the Rogers network, unless you are roaming. If you attempt to unlock your iPhone and use it on another network, it may become permanently unusable. Making unauthorized modifications to the software on your iPhone violates the iPhone software license agreement, and any resulting inability to use your iPhone is not covered under your iPhone’s warranty.

Those lucky… bloggers over at Gizmodo have scored a video walkthrough of both the iPhone 2.0 software (build 5A345) and the matching iTunes 7.7 developers received last week. What say they?

As you can see in the video, the App Store is there—although it’s not active yet—along with the new Push data feature, the content restrictions, and the BCC field in Mail, among the rest of the new features.

Though they also say that the Gold Master didn’t drop last Friday due to some remaining glitches. However, the iPhone/iPod Touch Remote Control was already baked in!

Check out the video and then keep wiping the drool until the 11th!

I’ll admit that when I saw the prices for the iPhone 3G sans contract ($599 for the 8gig and $699 for the 16gig), I was disheartened. It turns out these prices are a actually more surreal than they appear at first blush. Gizmodo did some math and figured out the following: it is cheaper to just buy an iPhone 3G and sign up for the contract, pay the activation fee, then cancel the contract immediately and pay the early termination fee. Check it out:

$299 - 16GB iPhone w/contract
$36 - Activation
$175 - Early Termination Fee
$70 - One month of service
Total Price Using The Shady Method: $580

…Of course, the above method does have a hidden cost: the cost of having AT&T run a credit check on you, which technically can put a ding in your credit rating if there are a lot of checks in a short period of time. There’s also the ding on your morality — financial shenanigans may make you feel like a huckster. If you try the above method, we can’t be held responsible for anybody confusing you with Ron Popeil.

Whoa! Looks like Hong Kong’s kung fu may not be as good as we thought it was. While their rates aren’t terrible, it doesn’t seem like many people will actually be able to enjoy them, least not at launch!

Reader Janric sent this in:

Unfortunately, you need to register in 3’s website and pray that you’ll be one of the random 500 lucky ones selected for the July 11 launch. In other words, the iPhone 3G launch in HK is very limited. You can only buy it on July 11 if you are one of the lucky 500 registrants. There is no information on their website on when it can be purchased by the public. I also called 3 customer service and they don’t know when it will be available after the July 11 launch. Hopefully I can get more details after July 8 (date of the draw for the 500).

After communist party officials back in China, the local Taipans, and the Shaolin monks (’natch), what are the odds an average Apple iPhone seeker will even get one of the units?

Could this launch get any crazier?

Probably, as the next week is likely to show us all!

What’s this year’s new hottie in Smartphone-ville? (Not) Surprisingly, the same as last year’s, only this time all dressed up in 3G chic.

That’s right, in an RBC Capital Markets survey of 3600 technology adapters (and panelists all), a whopping 56% of those who intended to buy a smartphone in the next quarter had their sights, and lust, firmly set on the iPhone 3G. That’s twice as much a second-place RIM Blackberry, and an obliterating staggering lead over the meager 3% of Palm, and the 2% of recent iCloners Nokia, Samsung, HTC, and 1% Motorola.

Ouch! But why?

67% claimed the price drop to $199 sealed the deal, 63% the fast 3G speed bump (which goes to show just how ineffective advertising has been from the existing 3G phone makers), with GPS, Exchange, and App Store rounding out the top 5.

Bottom line? The analysts are seeing “unprecedented pent-up demand”. But worry not, prom night is just a little over a week away!

Are you one of the 65 percenters?

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Current German and Austrian iPhone carrier, T-Mobile pushes its way into the lowlands with news on their upcoming Netherlands iPhone 3G rates:

Cheaper plans start at €29,95 for 150 min, 150 SMS, and unlimited data, with €79.95 for an 8GB handset, and €159.95 for 16GB.

Premium plans end at €64.95 for 500/500/unlimited, with €1 for an 8GB and €19.95 for the 16GB.

T-Mobile WiFi Hotspot access is also thrown in gratis.

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UPDATE: Rogers has posted early-cancellation fees for their already ridiculously expensive iPhone price plans, and not surprisingly they appear at first glance to be stratospherically high: (ii) $1100 or (iii) $220 per month remaining in the service agreement, to a maximum of 400

The 400 there, as well as this thread on iPhoneinCanada.ca, makes it look like a typo — ironically Rogers money grabbing reputation is what probably made people think otherwise initially.

UPDATE 2: Yup, it was a typo. $100 and $20 were (and now are) the correct figures. Ouch. Could Rogers have picked a worse time to be sloppy about their dollar figures? If nothing else, it certainly increased the scrutiny they were already under.

Now, if only Rogers would fix the typos on the data rate plans. I’m sure it’s not really supposed to read $115 for 2GB, but $30 unlimited, right?

Thanks to rwwilliams for letting us know they fixed it!

Confederation Day, the day when everyone from Pacific to Atlantic, from frozen north to the US border, came together and voiced their common disgust for… GSM monopoly Rogers/Fido iPhone 3G data plans.

We’ve already covered them, of course. And the reactions to them, domestic and in news reports from the US and Europe. And Rogers’ PR panic, involving everyone from their VP to outside contractors sending out spin as ineffective as it is impenetrable. Heck, even Crackberry.com is feeling our pain!

One local petition, ruinediphone.com, hoping for some rate plan redress, has now reached 22,000+ signatures (though it did go down, and has since come up, though scattered reports indicate those who use Rogers for their internet connection can’t get to it… hmmm…)

Will it have any effect? Common sense and international embarrassment hasn’t, but there’s still just over a week until launch day on July 11, so there’s still time for Rogers to come to their senses.

Little help, Ted?

And for those non-Canadians curious about our holiday, those who appreciate pointed humor, or just those who want to skip to 3:25 for a healthy dose of Rogers hate, please enjoy the video following after the break:

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