It’s been two weeks since the July 11th, 22 nation launch. Do you know where your iPhone 3G is? Sadly, for many, the answer is still “backordered” if not “out-of-stock”. But don’t worry, your always customer conscious and perennially consumer focused mobile cell provider wants to make sure you know that they know that you’re feeling some pain. And they want to assure you they’re doing everything they can to get your money you your shiny new iPhone 3G.
First, they are absolutely, positively not hoarding them or stockpiling them in any secret iVaults. It’s still first-come, first-served, and in AT&T is prioritizing direct fulfillment (with a 2 week wait time), and advising their stores are currently sold out. (Hey, they’re moving it twice as fast as last year, remember? Just imagine if they had stock!)
Second, for its part Apple has stopped providing JSON data to independent webbers who were keeping you better informed (than Apple) as to what stores had precisely which units when you got there 15 exactly minutes too late. Back to Apple.com, or the still long line ups outside Apple Retail, for those in the US.
Third, in the UK 02 Online is out, stores are in increasingly short supply, but might get a few more units trickling in today.
Not worried in the least, Apple’s supply-chain wizards plan to launch the iPhone 3G in 20 more countries in just under a month from now. Good luck with that.
Sounded like a great idea, dinnit? Put up a website where your customers could upgrade to the brand-spanking-new iPhone 3G kit, right? Digg effect, meet iPwnage (no, not the hack, the tidal-wave of traffic Apple’s little gadget brings with it). It’ll Steve your website right quick — especially when you offer to hand deliver them on launch day!
Says O2:
“We had invested heavily to add a huge amount of additional capacity, 250 times its normal rate, and back-up systems. We tested this carefully in advance. The massive simultaneous crush exceeded even our worst case assumptions. Demand was at 13,000 orders per second. Frankly, we have to admit we just weren’t prepared for this unprecedented level of demand. No Web site is.”
Yeah. Just be happy you don’t host a Stevenote stream. Traffic aside, though, 13,000 orders per second is staggering, and O2 admits Apple can’t meet that demand during a 22 country simultaneous launch. In fact, supplies look tight for the next few week, and nary an iPhone White in sight!
Our sympathies for our United Kingdom friends. If any of you mange to nab an iPhone 3G, please let us know!
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Proving once again why telcos lead the universe in lack of customer satisfaction, within the span of a single day the UK’s exclusive iPhone 3G carrier, O2, announced and then un-announced Pay-As-You-Go plans!
The original info revealed that you could get an iPhone 3G 8GB for £300 and 16GB for £360 on the PayG plans, with browsing (data?) and WiFi tossed in free for the first 6 months, and £10 a month thereafter. Offer valid to new and upgrade-worthy customers until the end of the year.
Now, however, the page is gone, the server is bereft, and only a very Apple-esque talk-to-you-later notice remains.
Accidental upload snafu, rapidly rolled back? Attempt to gaslight over-enthusiastic iPhone non-contractors? You decide!
UPDATE: Apple Insider is reporting that O2 may be honoring their usual 1-year-later unlock policy for the iPhone 3G on Pay-As-You-Go. This means, 12 months in, you could cough up £15 to get your iPhone opened up to any network.
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Another round of pre-WWDC mayhem:
First up, Ars Technica reported that AT&T followed the Apple Store’s lead in being sold out of the current generation iPhone (2007) model. Did Apple really underestimate demand so uncharacteristically and dramatically, or are they learning to wean consumers earlier this time? And any wonder the old iPhone’s market share has dropped, given that its been getting harder and harder to buy one over the last few months? Moday should fix that…
Next up, Apple Insider spread the unabashedly crazy-sounding rumor that UK’s O2 might subsidize the iPhone 3G to the extent of making them “free upgrades”. This links into other rumors of an ultra-low (~$200) price point for the iPhone 3G, with O2 willing to eat even that cost in an effort to attract tasty service-consuming users.
Lastly, Engadget works the bugs out of Google Translate enough to let us know that Reuters Italy has said that while co(?)-exclusive iPhone carrier Telcom Italia might not be selling the iPhone 3G early next week, they will most definitely probably be potentially announcing it. Wouldn’t be waiting for someone else to do that first, now would they?
The United States and England are countries separated by one ocean and two languages, or so they say. Yet Apple Insider reports good tidings for both sides of the pond this week.
First up, the recent price cuts on the 8GB iPhone in the UK seems to have had the desired effect, with both Carphone Warehouse and O2 retail stores experiencing increased demand — and even selling out of Apple’s revolutionary mobile phone.
AT&T, meanwhile, boasted of a 22% increase in profits and the addition of 1.3 million new subscribers.
Boom indeed…
Following on a veritable flood of previous “OMG 3G!!11″ news and rumors, it now looks confirmed that O2 in the UK has knocked 100 quid off the price of an 8G current generation (2.5G) iPhone 8GB.
The discount is being referred to as a special promotion that will run through June 1, but following the T-Mobile discount promotion, and the apparent urgency for 3G in data-spoiled Europe, the rumor mill is running full bore again.
WWDC? What do you think?
The iPhone has now successfully stormed the mobile markets of both the Emerald Isle and the birthplace of the Oak. For those keeping track at home, this brings the official score card to:
| Europe |
North Am. |
South Am |
Asia |
Africa |
Oceania |
Antarctica |
| 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
(Not counting the massive gray market, ‘natch).
What makes the two newest iPhone launches unique, however, is that while hardware pricing is consistent with other EU countries, it looks like Austrians won’t be loving them some unlimited data any time soon, with T-Mobile caps firmly in place at 3GB. Of course, they’re still better off than their O2 bedeviled Irish launch-mates, who not only get even less data at a miserly 1GB, but also don’t get Visual Voicemail! (We should point out that, according to Apple Insider, use of Visual Voicemail in Austria will also count towards your 3GB of data!)
So are these capped data plans the future of iPhone? Are the European EDGE networks so obsoleted by 3G that they can’t handle more or is Apple being forced to concede on their data demands to get their units into more and more territories?
And now that 5 and 6 are settled, who’s in the running for 7? Apple COO Tim Cook did promise us Asia this year, which makes Japan (who knows about China?) a possibility. What about Australia? Scandinavia? Are we betting on Antarctica before data-gouged Canada? (I am!)
Based on O2’s last quarter earnings report, the iPhone is not only O2’s fastest selling device, is not only setting new records for customer satisfaction, but helped contribute towards a 9.5% increase for the last quarter 2007.
In addition to Apple’s debut mobile device having the lowest return rate among O2’s lineup, it also drove a whopping 30% more revenue per user than the carrier’s average, and helped add 483,000 customers and 276,000 new contracts (roughly 60% of which were nicked from the competition).
Impressive, innit?
But is it enough to help shore up what some see as Apple’s diminished leverage with international carriers, especially with companies like China Mobile which boast hundreds of thousands of unlocked units already on their networks? We’ll see…
Current exclusive UK iPhone carrier O2 has apparently confirmed to Pocket-lint (via Engadget) that Apple’s finest will be launching on Ireland’s emerald shores come March 14th.
As with the UK, the device will sell via O2 Retail and Carphone Warehouse, cashing in at €399 (incl. VAT) for the 8GB or €499 (incl. VAT) for the 16GB, with rate plans starting at €45.
With O2 expanding its exclusivity into Ireland, and T-Mobile set to expand theirs into Austria, what’s next? Orange in Belgium? AT&T somehow getting into Canada? What’s your guess for iPhone’s next move?
UPDATE: Looks like the 1.1.4 firmware confirms carrier listings for O2 in Ireland and T-Mobile in Austria (Macity via Ars Technica).
UPDATE 2: It’s official, O2 launches the iPhone in Ireland (via Engadget).
