madcomments

Judging by the queues outside the Apple store on Regent Street this morning, not very excited. Was it because it was bitterly cold last night, or the fact that you can buy these in O2 stores, Apple stores and Carphone Warehouse stores, or don’t we go in for queing quite like the Americans do? Personally, I’ll wander in Monday morning at my leisure…

I agree with Nikki that its just another day another phone. This is the third handset to be launched in the UK this week alone. The novelty will wear thin and soon enough the price will be cut in half and something very similar but somehow better and more ‘modern’ will enter the market. The mobile market is fickle and slightly shallow but when it comes down to it, different people want different things out of their handset.

The iPhone, I think, has little appeal for its massive price and hype. Most people only use the text, phone and alarm clock functions…the iPhone will be another wasted gadget that sits in our unused electronics cupboard soon enough.

Ability to take videos?
Can send and receive MMS?
Greater than 1.7 megapixel camera?
Removable battery?
Built-in GPS?
3G internet connection?
Removable storage?
Free with monthly contract?

Apple iPhone - all answers, er, “No”.

The US market is about the least sophisticated mobile phone market in any major industrialised country - the UK market is one of THE most sophisticated. We’ve already had phones more technologically advanced than this YEARS ago. Who’s going to be dumb enough to fall for it? Urban fashion victims with more money than useful things to do on their phones. Possibly. I bet if even they read the small print about what it CAN’T do, they’d wait until a version fit for Europe arrives (if ever). Other than slick marketing, the only thing it has going for it is the touchscreen - but try fast texting on it and even that soon loses it shine - the US doesn’t know anything about the scale and the vital importance of the UK text market either. I mean really, the phone for the YouTube generation doesn’t do video? I don’t think so….

O2 has denied that sales of the the iPhone bombed over the weekend, saying it sold “tens of thousands”, but wouldn’t be more specific. Despite the lack of queues, O2 is adamant that early demand has been strong and predicts it will sell “a couple of hundred thousand” before the end of the year.

Perhaps more importantly to the mobile operator, two-thirds of the buyers this week are said to be new customers - people who have had to ditch existing contracts just to get their hands on Apple’s latest offering.

It all seems to bode well for O2 but not sure how Apple’s heavy-handed - do as you must - approach will go down with consumers in the long-term. Up to now the company has been portrayed as the lifestyle friendly, ‘less corporate’ alternative to Microsoft. Now its telling me what network provider to use and which shops to go to.

If you’re a Mac person, you’ve got to have it. Especially with the free wi-fi access on The Cloud network that’s included with the O2 deal, a bargain I think at £35 a month. Only question is whether to buy one now or wait a while in case a better hardware version comes along. Unlikely though?

Couldn’t agree more. Your sentiments are totally inline with the mobile research we ran at Universal McCann. It showed that the vast majority of people choose mobiles based on messaging, cameras and video recorders, all the things that Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Motorola phones do so well for free. Results also showed that most people don’t want convergent phones, preferring separate ipod or mp3 player to their phone. After all why would you spend that much on an iphone when you can get a free phone and your choice of ipod or mp3 player? I’m convinced that despite the hype it will remain the preserve of geeks – its offering is just too niche. I think the hype in the US is from the lack of good handsets over there. When its finally released in Asia it will struggle as so much competition and too expensive.

iPhone the One Trick Pony?

I love the fact that the media are giving up acres of time and energy on the new iPhone as ultimately all this coverage will help to convince consumers that mobiles are not all about text and talk. However secretly I marvel at all this hype over what is basically a very pretty phone with great music capability. Furthermore I’m perplexed at the fact that it’s incapable of hooking into 3G which will undoubtedly mean the mobile internet experience will be slow and therefore unlikely to encourage their owners to browse and discover the magic of off-portal. What’s more, for a high-end phone it also has a really poor camera quality and the phone does not support any Java applications (only its own which it can do over the air). Of course I also realise that I’m being just a tad churlish as Apple have made the whole look and feel and navigation much brighter and easer to understand that can only help to convince users to ditch two devices and replace with just one. Finally I also think that considering the up-front costs to purchase the handset and to sign up to an 18 month contract (err why?) then if Apple achieves its ambition to ship 10M handsets in 2008 …. I will eat my iPod.

Craig Massey

Head of Mobile

Glass

Am quickly coming to the conclusion that perhaps iPhone owner’s should be shown the same respect as people who make ‘Facebook Friends’.

Does it make better phone calls than my current phone? Or have I missed the point about this phone. Given it is on the O2 network then…