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).
