Forums › Apple iOS and devices › iPhones may be sold by Telecom

bonkiebonks

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#20374 24-Mar-2008 05:58

Stuff.co.nz reports that the iPhone may be released by Telecom here in NZ, come November when the new Telecom GSM network is launched!

iPhones may be sold by Telecom

By TOM PULLAR-STRECKER - The Dominion Post | Monday, 24 March 2008

Telecom has hinted that its new $300 million mobile phone network may be the first in New Zealand to support Apple's iPhone.

Head of mobile Martin Butler says whether Telecom would sell the iPhone was a "commercially sensitive issue".

But he said it was a "good inference", given Telecom's partially-completed mobile network uses the same 850MHz GSM/Edge technology that the iPhone supports.

Mr Butler says Telecom has finalised the "footprint" of the new network, which chief executive Paul Reynolds has forecast will launch in November.

Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/4449431a28.html

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sbiddle

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#118309 24-Mar-2008 06:50

My interpretation of that was simply the fact Telecom will have EDGE so iPhone's will be supported - and nothing to do with Telecom actually selling the unit! :-)

The 3G iPhone will be available by then anyway so EDGE support is irrelevant. There have also been some whispers that the 3G iPhone may be a tri band UMTS device supporting 850, 900 and 2100MHz WCDMA networks. If this turns out to be the case then it's Vodafone who will actually have the better supported network!

johnr

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#118316 24-Mar-2008 08:58

Not a very well written article its all rumors and the umts network will make edge look like gprs.

stevenz

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#118351 24-Mar-2008 11:15

Network support will be fairly irrelevant if Telecom is the one that ends up with distribution rights to the thing. Both companies have ridiculous data charges which makes the 3G/EDGE usage for data fairly prohibitive unless the iPhone is being used for/by business. Presumably whoever ends up with it (be it Telecom, Vodafone or the oft-rumoured Orcon) they're not going to be selling it in an unlocked state. It'd be preferable if the company with the best support for the device (Vodafone) ended up with it, but presumably it's a behind-closed-doors battle.

According to an inside source initial plans were for Telecoms GSM network to be active about now-ish (1Q), looks like red-tape prevailed as November is still a long way off. A lot of people would've given up waiting by that stage.

nzbnw

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#118354 24-Mar-2008 11:44

stevenz: Both companies have ridiculous data charges which makes the 3G/EDGE usage for data fairly prohibitive unless the iPhone is being used for/by business.

What’s wrong with $29.95/$39.95 (+/incl GST) for 200 MB, or $49.95/$59.95 (+/incl GST) for 1GB? (Yes johnr, I know Vodafone has a 3GB plan ). Besides, come November, one could guess more than likely there will be some changes to mobile plans, both data and voice.

Presumably whoever ends up with it (be it Telecom, Vodafone or the oft-rumoured Orcon) they're not going to be selling it in an unlocked state.

Most likely.

It'd be preferable if the company with the best support for the device (Vodafone) ended up with it, but presumably it's a behind-closed-doors battle.

How do you justify that Vodafone will have the best support for the current iPhone, when it does not support 3G, and Vodafone have a 2G GPRS network, compared to Telecom's up and coming EDGE network?

According to an inside source initial plans were for Telecoms GSM network to be active about now-ish (1Q), looks like red-tape prevailed as November is still a long way off. A lot of people would've given up waiting by that stage.

I would check your sources, that has never been the case AFAIK. November has always been the proposed date AFAIK.

nzbnw

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#118356 24-Mar-2008 11:47

nzbnw:
stevenz: Both companies have ridiculous data charges which makes the 3G/EDGE usage for data fairly prohibitive unless the iPhone is being used for/by business.

What’s wrong with $29.95/$39.95 (+/incl GST) for 200 MB, or $49.95/$59.95 (+/incl GST) for 1GB? (Yes johnr, I know Vodafone has a 3GB plan ). Besides, come November, one could guess more than likely there will be some changes to mobile plans, both data and voice.

Exactly what I was going to write about... Prices are bad for casual data, but there are data plans around that are good value.

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sbiddle

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#118361 24-Mar-2008 12:16

Just one other thing to ponder.. Apart from a small group of iPhone fans does anybody really care? Sales in Europe have been terrible and the fact it's so easy to unlock the device even if a network in NZ was given rights to sell it it would largely be a case of "who cares" since the device can be used right now anyway.

It's not in Apple's interest to try and stop peope unlocking the device. Their iPhone business model has been shown to be seriously flawed and had it not been for the huge numbers of unlocked devices you could probably say the device was a bit of a failure - consider that the N95 has sold close to three times the volume of the iPhone over a similair period.

stevenz

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#118462 25-Mar-2008 07:05

nzbnw:What’s wrong with $29.95/$39.95 (+/incl GST) for 200 MB, or $49.95/$59.95 (+/incl GST) for 1GB? (Yes johnr, I know Vodafone has a 3GB plan ). Besides, come November, one could guess more than likely there will be some changes to mobile plans, both data and voice.

Obiously your definition of cheap differs from my own. With devices becoming capable of much more than just simple email, ~$30 for 200mb feels fairly pricey to me, of course I'm not exactly the target audience and hence not making enough money to compensate for the expense. If they improve the plans as one would hope they would, then that'd be fine.

How do you justify that Vodafone will have the best support for the current iPhone, when it does not support 3G, and Vodafone have a 2G GPRS network, compared to Telecom's up and coming EDGE network?

Bugger 2G. The 3G iPhone will likely be out by November if not sooner and Vodafones network has better 3G coverage, although Telecom may well use the recent agreements to try and leverage usage of their network as other companies are now able to use theirs. Even EDGE is still far too slow compared to 3G. They'd be fools to release the 2G model so close to the imminent arrival of the 3G unit. Vodafone presumably wouldn't want a high-end device that couldn't make full use of all their Live! services, and I'd imagine that Telecom would be the same for whatever comparable things they have planned.

According to an inside source initial plans were for Telecoms GSM network to be active about now-ish (1Q), looks like red-tape prevailed as November is still a long way off. A lot of people would've given up waiting by that stage.

I would check your sources, that has never been the case AFAIK. November has always been the proposed date AFAIK.
nzbnw

I trust my sources relative to their position inside Telecom seeing as part of their job is compliance testing. As it hasn't happened as planned (as frequently happens), it's not really a concern anyway.

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#118467 25-Mar-2008 07:34

sbiddle: It's not in Apple's interest to try and stop peope unlocking the device. Their iPhone business model has been shown to be seriously flawed and had it not been for the huge numbers of unlocked devices you could probably say the device was a bit of a failure - consider that the N95 has sold close to three times the volume of the iPhone over a similair period.

This may be true but you are forgetting that Apple also get a share in revenue for the contract period, generally 24 months in the US. They would probably make more money from this than the sale of the unit itself.

Nokia on the other hand (as far as I am aware) get nothing once they have sold the unit.

sbiddle

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#118468 25-Mar-2008 07:50

marmel:
sbiddle: It's not in Apple's interest to try and stop peope unlocking the device. Their iPhone business model has been shown to be seriously flawed and had it not been for the huge numbers of unlocked devices you could probably say the device was a bit of a failure - consider that the N95 has sold close to three times the volume of the iPhone over a similair period.

This may be true but you are forgetting that Apple also get a share in revenue for the contract period, generally 24 months in the US. They would probably make more money from this than the sale of the unit itself.

I realise this - and it's also the reason their model is flawed. Apple expected to have a massive revenue source from the iPhone but due to the excessive number of unlocked devices this whole business model is looking rather shakey.

My arguement is that had it not been for the huge market for unlocked devices that iPhone sales would be substancially down on the number Apple have actually sold.

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#118475 25-Mar-2008 09:29

whatever the case, noone is going to know for sure until the Steve gets up on stage and tells us what his plans are. Until then I'm paying no attention to the rumours and conjecture - if I DID pay attention to them I'd drive myself crazy with anticipation.

sbiddle

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#118478 25-Mar-2008 09:52

I'm just not so sure why so many people seem to love the iPhone, most of whom have probably never put their hands on one. Sure they are nice and the UI is great but there are plenty of weaknesses and after using one it's not something I'd buy over other phones in the marketplace that have better features.\

Getting back OT you can argue Vodafone already have the iPhone in NZ as there are so many of them around!

eeb41039

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#118787 26-Mar-2008 15:51

Hey sbiddle... (completely offtopic)

who are the people who seem to love the iPhone but haven't used one? - I'm not quite sure what to make of that

And, for me, it is the UI and general "integrated-ness" of the iPhone that got me hooked - I was happy to sacrifice some features that other phones have, to finally have a phone I enjoy using - I don't think I can recall a time I 'enjoyed' using a phone, and that's not to pass off multi-touch as some fleeting feature which i'll get sick of over time - I really find the combination of the thoughtful and intuitive UI plus the core phone/ipod/net features a musthave now (couldn't go back to anything else)

Back on topic - I always assumed that Australian telcos would get the nod first before the iPhone would come here? Also, with the imminent arrival of a 3G iPhone globally (who knows when this might happen), do you think there would be enough demand in NZ for an expensive smartphone with 3g data charges...etc to warrant selling here? - I would've thought that EVEN with 3G a Vodafone or a Telecom wouldn't make any money off it due to our population size and high-entry price for the device itself? Pure speculation but do you think the demand might increase with MS Exchange and ActiceSync support as provided by the next version of the iPhone software?