So September 18th came, and to the delight of all Apple followers in the UK, Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone. Since its release in the US I for one have been waiting for the day I could get my hands one one (without having to hack the software to use other providers SIM cards).
The presentation gave a lot of details about what would, and wouldn't be included in the UK iPhone. A price tag of £269 was revealed, which when compared to US price ($399), is considerably more than our Apple chums across the water have to pay, nearly 30% less infact.After speculation on most Apple news websites about which provider would sell the iPhone, 02 finally came out on top to take the honours. Tarif details were published along with the phone, and at first sight, they seemed rather expensive. Set at £35, £45 & £55 and all being 18 month contracts, it meant over the span of the contract it would cost a minimum of £899 to be able to say, 'I have an iPhone'. This seems like an obscene about of money to be spending on what in reality is 'just a phone'.
The other big disappointment to many people was the lack of 3G as part of the UK spec iPhone. 3G has been a buzzword in the UK for a few years now, and people have got used to the speeds and coverage it supplies. When quizzed about this, Steve Jobs put it down to 3G technology being a real battery sapping feature, and until it was improved, it wouldn't appear in the iPhone. Instead the iPhone is supplied with EDGE, and also WiFi access. To make WiFi more attractive, Apple have struck a deal with The-Cloud and are offering free access from over 7500 WiFi hotspots. After doing a few tests with the postcode search on their website, it seems coverage is pretty good, and when coupled with the fair use policy of 1400 webpages a day, I think most people will take full advantage of this.
So is the iPhone worthy of all the hype? On closer inspection of the prices over 18 months, the iPhone is actually quite good value. If you compare everything to a Nokia N95 on a similar tarif you actually end up paying more over the term for a service which gives less for your money...Don't believe me? Well here are the figures :-)
--------------------
Nokia N95 Costs
Phone Cost £199.99
Basic Contract £25.00 per month
EDGE Data £7.50 per month
WiFi £6.99 per month
TOTAL CONTRACT £39.49
18 month cost £910.81
--------------------
Apple iPhone Costs
Phone Cost £269.00
Basic Contract £35.00 per month
EDGE Data -
WiFi -
TOTAL CONTRACT £35
18 month cost £899.00
--------------------
As you can see, the iPhone actually works out cheaper, and it is also worth noting that the unlimited use fair use policy applied to the Nokia N95 is 1400 pages (around 200MB) PER MONTH. The iPhone has a policy set at 1400 pages (around 200MB) PER DAY!
While people will still say that it is insane to pay £269 for a phone that is still tied to a contract, when compared like for like with other phones, the iPhone is actually good value for money, and hopefully will help move the Mobile technology Industry forward in leaps and bounds.
