Vodafone NZ to get the 3G iPhone!

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#139383 20-Jun-2008 13:26

Is VF bashing flavour of the month? Cmonnnn they cool, PaulB has got us sorted with the jesusPhone, it be sweet. Take a break, have a beer, enjoy life!

ryder1100

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#139387 20-Jun-2008 13:41

mushion22: Is VF bashing flavour of the month? Cmonnnn they cool, PaulB has got us sorted with the jesusPhone, it be sweet. Take a break, have a beer, enjoy life!

I concur... We all know it'll be July 11th launch, we all know VFNZ will be selling it, we all know VFNZ haven't released any info on pricing yet and we all know that as SOON as any info not held down by an NDA becomes available, Paul Brislen will tell us. Nobody in front-line VFNZ retail has been given any info (unless privvy to NDA) and if past experience is anything to go by, expect to hear it here first. Now, where is the beer? ;)

brentbart

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#139506 20-Jun-2008 22:49

I think a bit of sanity has to come into it too. As geeks we're caught up in the Apple hype but I live with people who have never even heard of the iPhone.

When we make wonderful statements that the consumer will revolt against apple/vodafone/the world pricing etc, in reality the only people queuing up to get the device at midnight on the night its released will be us geeks who will be filmed by the media and shown to the rest of NZ in a "those poor fools" sort of fashion.

Perhaps in 3-6 months, Joe Public who has a Nokia 6234 might wonder about upgrading devices but will he consider a device which will have a, probably, expensive data plan bundled with it?! I'd imagine Joe Public uses his phone to make the odd call and to mostly text his friends so will find it not as interesting as us geeks think it will be. He might want to impress his mates ... but thinking about it ... what is impressive about a 16GB iPod nowadays for instance if everyone has an iPod. So will the iPhone be as "interesting" even come November when telecom might get it. I doubt it.

Us geeks, me included, will get it early but I hope we won't regret it.

freitasm

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#139509 20-Jun-2008 22:57

brentbart: in reality the only people queuing up to get the device at midnight on the night its released will be us geeks who will be filmed by the media and shown to the rest of NZ in a "those poor fools" sort of fashion.

I have to disagree. It's a cult. A lot of people will get it because they are self-conscious about being with the latest fashion. Some geeks agree the technology behind it is genuinely interesting. Most will agree the marketing machine is powerful. But reality is most people buying are those Apple fans...

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jmcollis

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#139535 21-Jun-2008 09:17

freitasm:
I have to disagree. It's a cult. A lot of people will get it because they are self-conscious about being with the latest fashion. Some geeks agree the technology behind it is genuinely interesting. Most will agree the marketing machine is powerful. But reality is most people buying are those Apple fans...

Hmm, "Those Apple fans...." I suspect there is a whole conversation there from the way you say it.

I don't think it's just a cult. 20% of smart phone sales in the U.S. within the first 8 or so months makes it a bit more than a cult.

My impressions based on observation is that awareness of the phone seemed way higher than normal. I had friends who have no interest in technology or Apple products talking to me about the iPhone when it was launched last year. I had U.S. based friends who while quite technical, were not particularly "gadget" oriented buying the iPhone and reporting significant satisfaction with using it for their day to day use.

Here in NZ leading up to the current launch, I have come across a bundle of interest from friends etc. If I were to summaise and generalise those who are showing interest in the iPhone, there would be a few categories:

Geeks who have to have the latest gadget. (I haven't come across too many of these actually).
Geeks who don't follow the latest trend always - but are interested because they are disappointed with the current "state of the art" in mobile phones/PDAs as nothing quite works for them.
Generic non-geeks who want an easy to use phone. This groups are being put off initially due to the "no prepay option" initially.
People who trust Apple to make something that "just works", based on previous experience with iPods or whatever.

If I had to place myself, I'd be in category 2, helped along by the fact that in the last 2-3 weeks my 2 year-old Motorola V3X has started behaving rather erratically - in a way that it is now unreliable.

It also stikes me that at the moment, given that neither Vodafone nor Apple seem to be pushing any advertisements etc. the "demand" is simply from those who have heard news reports about the launch.

djpaubes

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#139539 21-Jun-2008 09:54

ipod + phone = iphone.... its simple! Why carry both? And everyone knows how to use an ipod and an iphone isnt much harder so pretty much anyone can use it and enjoy it... an n95 isnt that simple for joe blogs..

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#139540 21-Jun-2008 10:04

jmcollis:
Here in NZ leading up to the current launch, I have come across a bundle of interest from friends etc. If I were to summaise and generalise those who are showing interest in the iPhone, there would be a few categories:
Geeks who have to have the latest gadget. (I haven't come across too many of these actually).
Geeks who don't follow the latest trend always - but are interested because they are disappointed with the current "state of the art" in mobile phones/PDAs as nothing quite works for them.
Generic non-geeks who want an easy to use phone. This groups are being put off initially due to the "no prepay option" initially.
People who trust Apple to make something that "just works", based on previous experience with iPods or whatever.
If I had to place myself, I'd be in category 2, helped along by the fact that in the last 2-3 weeks my 2 year-old Motorola V3X has started behaving rather erratically - in a way that it is now unreliable.

I would put myself on #2 as well. I am not happy with the state of current available models.

djpaubes: ipod + phone = iphone.... its simple! Why carry both? And everyone knows how to use an ipod and an iphone isnt much harder so pretty much anyone can use it and enjoy it... an n95 isnt that simple for joe blogs..

Simple :)

I am not disputing it is simple and it works. It's a well known fact.

My comment was to brentbart's remark "in reality the only people queuing up to get the device at midnight on the night its released will be us geeks who will be filmed by the media and shown to the rest of NZ in a "those poor fools" sort of fashion. "

I think some in the queue will be geeks, but most geeks know that there are limitations on the device and will go for what they need. People who use VoIP a lot rather have a N95 with built-in SIP stack and client. People who use Microsoft Office a lot rather use a Windows Mobile because of the office integration, and people who use e-mail a lot rather use a RIM Blackberry.

At the end some geeks will be in the queue, but not everyone in the queue are geeks. Makes sense?

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euanandrews

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#139553 21-Jun-2008 12:02

jmcollis: If I were to summaise and generalise those who are showing interest in the iPhone, there would be a few categories:
Geeks who have to have the latest gadget. (I haven't come across too many of these actually).
Geeks who don't follow the latest trend always - but are interested because they are disappointed with the current "state of the art" in mobile phones/PDAs as nothing quite works for them.
Generic non-geeks who want an easy to use phone. This groups are being put off initially due to the "no prepay option" initially.
People who trust Apple to make something that "just works", based on previous experience with iPods or whatever.

I would have been a 1, but unfortunatey this device has the problems of 2 for me, being it does not have all I want in a device.

Prepay = No
Video recording = No
Front mounted camera/video calling = No
Camera upgrades to more than 2mp, flash, autofocus = No
Real-time route guidance = No
Bluetooth A2DP for wireless headphones = No
Codec support AVI, DivX, Xvid = No

I would still love to have one, more due to the design point, they are beautifull, but I am not locking myself into a 2 year contract with a phone that can not even do video calling.

I like a device to have every feature, and future proof to some extent to justofy its cost...

I'm thinking my next phone will be the Nokia N96

bonkiebonks

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#139555 21-Jun-2008 12:21

Does anyone have any indications as to when the pricing for the iPhone 3G will be out?

cranz

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#139565 21-Jun-2008 13:33

"Soon"

aperfectcircle

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#139933 23-Jun-2008 13:20

I notice that the Apple NZ site (www.apple.com/nz) makes no mention of Visual Voicemail as a feature of the iPhone 3G (see iPhone > Features > Phone), in contrast to the US site where it is clearly mentioned. A sign we may not get this defining feature?

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jmcollis

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#139936 23-Jun-2008 13:56

aperfectcircle:
I notice that the Apple NZ site (www.apple.com/nz) makes no mention of Visual Voicemail as a feature of the iPhone 3G (see iPhone > Features > Phone), in contrast to the US site where it is clearly mentioned. A sign we may not get this defining feature?

Good spotting. This makes sense. I had heard somewhere that it wouldn't be available (at least initially) in all markets. If you think about it, this feature requires some reasonably significant integration into a carrier's already exisiting voicemail infrastructure.

Benjip

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#139949 23-Jun-2008 14:59

Visual Voicemail also cuts out the revenue stream for Vodafone since you're not calling 707 and paying 20 cents every time you want to check for new Voicemail messages.

I'll be very surprised and disappointed if VV is not available on Vodafone however. I'm wanting to upgrade from my 1st Gen iPhone but every day that we don't get info from Vodafone or Apple NZ makes me that little bit less excited to do so. I fear that we'll get a fairly watered-down iPhone experience in comparison to AT&T - in terms of features (VV, Call Merging etc.) and price plans (unlimited data for YouTube'ing etc.).

Zimsar10

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#140167 24-Jun-2008 13:36

After briefly looking through the specs of the Jesus Phone, I am very disappointed to learn that it does not appear to support 900Mhz - UMTS!!

Linky: http://www.apple.com/nz/iphone/specs.html

What on earth are Apple thinking?

Vodafone are investing millions in their 900Mhz - UMTS Rural Network Nationally & Internationally & yes I realise other phones do support this UMTS frequency, but I can't understand why Apple did not add this in the first place, to what appears to be largely a VERY cool/high tech piece of kit.

Can anyone confirm if there is any chance that the chip can be upgraded to support 900Mhz UMTS? It is probably/more than likely a long shot, but man, what a very short sighted view on Apple's behalf, I must say.

mushion22

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#140169 24-Jun-2008 13:55

Can anyone confirm if there is any chance that the chip can be upgraded to support 900Mhz UMTS? It is probably/more than likely a long shot, but man, what a very short sighted view on Apple's behalf, I must say.

Why? 2100MHz UMTS is already in place here with VF and soon to be with Telecom and in aussie with Telstra. USA uses 1900MHz, other places already have 2100MHz. They've already covered a whole bunch of bands, 900MHz WCDMA probably would have been too uneconomical for the current release given the relatively low number of people for whom it will be a make or break factor for.

As much as it would indeed be nice for better building penetration and better rural range, iPhone is designed for populations where density is a lot higher so smaller 2100MHz cells are more applicable to reduce contention.

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