After the storm: iPhone & the U.K.

I'm desperate to kick my N73 to the kerb come my O2 contract upgrade time in December (nice timing eh?). But here's my issue... I grabbed the N73 when it was pretty fresh last year. After that the N95 landed - no doubt what I would have gone for at the time had that N95 been available (and PS my handsets are never totally free unless they are at least a month or two old or have limited functionality). SO - where would I be left with an 18 month deal on an iPhone? Will iPhone revB pop a week later and leave me high and dry?

All that's keeping my powder dry is the lure of RevB being better (I want a flash, better camera, bluetooth phone to bluetooth phones and MMS).

Hey manchester people, apparently Brighton has the highest concentration of Mac users. But that would make sense as its so much of an arty / creative town that the University has its own Apple store for students.

I have been working in the phone industry for the last 7 years. The most common tariffs are the £30 - £35 ones.

An N95 would be free on the 18 month £35 plan in any shop. Even if you add Data and Wifi your bill would be £47 which is £2 more than an a iphone.

So over 18 months you would save £244 by having a N95, which would have a much better online speed.

Nick,

I see where you are coming from, but I think it will be fair not to just compare N95 and iPhone in terms of price or contracts to justify iPhone's price tag in UK market.

You should be looking at compatibility of iPhone with the dynamics of UK phone market at large and if it really is an 'affordable' proposition.

Comparing it to only one N95 deal coming from the same website is- although not wrong in anyway- pretty incomplete and is in no way enough to solicit/market this device.

I would openly acknowledge that Apple has introduced a device that is in contrast with what UK phone consumers take almost for granted in terms of price and functionality (no 3G).

Thank you for taking your time out to reply to my post, I appreciate that.

Is it a coincidence that out of the handfull of Apple stores in the UK, Manchester has 2?

Weird, I too hail from Manchester, are we the only ones with Macs in the UK !!!!!! or only loud enough to be heard ; )

Greetings Macunians.

They could give you a 1Gb/s download limit and it wouldn't matter a bit because you're on a slow network that barely covers 30% of the country. The chances of you even being able to use that 'unlimited' data package are slim.

I can't find anything on the O2 site to indicate that the £7.50 'unlimited' internet package limits me to EDGE if I have a 3G phone. I suspect that's the reason the data limit is lower.

This article also fails to point out that at the £30 per month contract, the N95 is free:
http://shop.o2.co.uk/phone/Nokia/N95
This gives you 400 mins calling time and 1,000 texts, add the £7.50 for data and you're paying £2.50 more per month for a free handset, 200 more call minutes and 800 more texts. Granted, your data limit is lower and you're not able to surf the net on wi-fi from a telephone box, but hey, 3G beats patchy EDGE coverage any day.

As a person from Manchester (and late to the party), I would like to also chime in.

I was all hell bent on buying the iPhone, but after some deep thought, it seems absolutely stupid for me to buy the iPhone, in that there are too many compromises.

1) Tie myself in for 18 months
2) At a rate of £50 per month!!
3) 30% Edge coverage
4) Edge!!
5) No GPS
6) Steve Jobs has admitted that they are working on the 2nd & third Gen models already.

Myself? For the last 3 years, I have been buying phones off E2Save (a Carphone Warehouse company), and with cashback, been paying a maximum of £0 per month. (sometimes even less)

I am an Apple Fanboy, with 3 Ipods (nano, 4G 60GB and 160GB classic), a 24" imac and a macbook.

But this??? I think Apple have made a very bad decision by tying the iPhone in with one carrier. They could have made the iPhone a generic non-tied phone... They would have sold millions all over the world...made many more deals with many more carriers, and a lot less hassle to boot.

So upon reflection, it seems stupid for me to try to justify buying the iPhone. I mean, it's Apple's job to entice me as a potential purchaser. Not my job to make excuses to buy it as an Apple fanboy.

Nik, if you are trying to compare TOTAL COST OF OWNERSHIP then your math is wrong. Find the LOWEST average cost of ownership offered by several shops and several contract types for the N95. THEN come talk to us. Like several others have already said, the N95 is FAR and away cheaper. Your post is very misleading and a disappointment for this blog.

How can you say the iPhone contract is cheap or fair. £35 a month for 200min and 200texts in the UK is stupid. I currently use the o2 genie pay as you go service. I top up only £15 a month. That £15 gets me 500texts, 150mb internet and then i can use the £15 for call time. Fair enough i had to buy the handset i use, but id have to buy the iphone, and then pay more for less. I would love to get one but i don't see why i should pay more and recieve less.