Insanely Great Mac has the breakdown on a meeting between O2 (purveyors of the iPhone in Britain) and Mr. Jobs from the UK's Financial Times, and it seems iPhone users across the pond can't get enough data. Over 60% of iPhone users use over 25mb/month of data, while only 1.8% of non-iPhone users on O2 go over that mark. That's a lot of data downloading.It's probably not a surprise, then, that about 60% of iPhone buyers are also new to O2, which, in my estimation, means that people who switched for the iPhone also switched from a non-data cellphone, and are making up for the difference. We talked on the Talkcast a little while ago about how the iPhone isn't necessarily stealing the "business smartphone" audience away from brands like Blackberry-- it's actually attracting new smartphone users completely. And there are a lot of them-- O2 is looking to sell 200,000 iPhones in Britain by the end of January, and they say that despite Apple's cut of the profits, they're making money on every one.
Finally, we get almost-but-not-quite-final confirmation that the 3G iPhone is due next year, and that O2 will very likely carry it. Which isn't really a surprise-- seems like things are going pretty well for O2 and Apple in GB, and so it's hard to see either one of them breaking up a good thing.
[Via Macbytes.com]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-28-2007 @ 7:37PM
oshawapilot said...
25 Megs per MONTH? And that's considered high usage?
I can use that in a day, easily. An hour or so, if I get bored and spend some quality YouTube time.
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12-29-2007 @ 6:01AM
Adrian Jones said...
I have used data on cellular for years and moved from a Sony Ericsson w880i on O2. I have used less data on iPhone because after getting used to 3G data and having really poor EDGE (really poor!!!) coverage on 02 the speed of gprs is just too slow for me to use. It needs 3G.
12-28-2007 @ 8:17PM
Mark said...
They download lots of data because they're on flat cost unlimited data plans. If they had to pay per Mb then it would be a lot less. It's the same with other Internet enabled 'phones.
Move along. Nothing to see here.
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12-29-2007 @ 6:40AM
David Jerome said...
I am sure that if apple/02 said you can have the device on a normal tariff (ie £10ish cheaper per month) with no wifi / data 85% of people would change.
They are using it because they can.
£10 for 25mb of data. O2 must be laughing
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12-29-2007 @ 7:16AM
Kevin Davidson said...
That figure of course doesn't include wifi data used at Cloud hotspots (also included in the tariff).
I'd easily use a lot more than I currently do if there was more Edge coverage near me. When it falls back to basic GPRS data it is unusably slow, but worse is the battery level starts to visibly drop. I would need to fully charge the battery several times a day. Edge seems to be a bit better, but wifi is the way to go to get a full day's use out of a charge.
I was in Leeds over Christmas and noticed there's Edge coverage pretty much everywhere. Guess where O2's HQ is... That little E is hard to find near Edinburgh; when I see the blue square instead I know not to bother.
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12-29-2007 @ 8:00AM
jon said...
25Mb a month is certainly not that much over here - I don't have an iPhone, but I do have unlimited data through my mobile, and a wifi plan. Between the two I can easily break that amount in a day, sometimes before 8am if I'm using my phone as a modem on the train.
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12-29-2007 @ 9:36AM
Jah said...
1. O2 charge over the odds for data for non-iPhone users. Why not look at T-mobile; they have over 1/2 million customers using their UKP7.50 per month data plan
2. O2 claimed thay would sell 200,000 by the end of December originally, so they have changed the targets as sales a low. I spoke to a Carphonewarehouse shop assistant and she told me that she never sold a single iPhone.
3. Notice O2 have not said anything official about sales volumes. Strange that....
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12-30-2007 @ 7:04AM
David Jerome said...
@Jah
o2 data is £7.99 for 200mb
t-mobile is £7.50 for 1gb
I don't think that many people would actually use more than 200mb. I personally think that the data is quite fair on o2, not as good as t-mobile but atleast your can use it for what ever the hell you want (voip etc)
I totally agree about the sales in the UK. Apple have totally assumed that we are the same market as the US, which we clearly are not. I personally have seen 9 iphones in my life. 8 were store demo phones. Where are those sales figures?
12-29-2007 @ 2:29PM
MiLK said...
Ummmm isn't it 250mb? I'm 99% sure it is.
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12-31-2007 @ 9:12AM
Derry Quinn said...
NOw I don't want to be an iPhone-basher but no, that means most of them have decided to sacrifice 3G for the iPhones Innovation. Most people will have gone down to edge...im guessing the reporter is american...
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