No 3G for the U.K. iPhone
Apple announced its first iPhone deal outside of the U.S. this morning, and might have made its second big mistake in the early days of its iPhone strategy.
The company announced an iPhone partnership Tuesday morning in London with U.K. carrier O2. CEO Steve Jobs made an appearance at the Regent Street Apple store to answer questions from the British press, who were curious as to why Apple decided to introduce the same EDGE phone that's on sale in the U.S. to the U.K. market.
Engadget's live blog reported that Jobs is still concerned about battery life. "The 3G chipsets are real power hogs," Jobs said, adding that he doesn't think 3G chipsets will allow for sufficient battery life until next year. That was the same answer Apple gave earlier this year to questions about the first U.S. iPhone and its dependence on an EDGE cellular network outside of Wi-Fi hotspots.
The two markets are very different, however. The U.K., and really Europe as a whole, are much further along in their deployment of faster 3G cellular networking technology than the U.S. O2 CEO Matthew Key said Tuesday that only about 30 percent of its network will be EDGE-compatible when its iPhone launches, but the carrier has already deployed 3G in many places throughout the U.K. EDGE was meant as a stepping stone for some carriers who weren't ready to roll out full 3G services, but most U.K. carriers went ahead with 3G implementations to replace their older 2G GSM/GPRS networks. (Check out GSMWorld.com if you need help deciphering the alphabet soup that is the cellular industry.)
Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveils the company's U.K. iPhone deal with O2.
(Credit: Crave UK)It's a little different back in the U.S., where 3G technologies compatible with the base GSM standard used by the iPhone are just getting under way, and EDGE was used to keep people interested during the interim. AT&T, the U.S. iPhone carrier, only offers 3G services in select cities around the country, while the U.K. carriers have a more seamless deployment of 3G technology.
Therefore, Apple's going to have to really captivate U.K. buyers with the design and interface of the iPhone. That's been the device's strong suit since the day Jobs first held it aloft at Macworld, but lots of U.S. iPhone customers had never experienced 3G networking speeds before, and therefore didn't know what they were missing. Most tech-savvy Brits interested in smart phones likely already have a 3G phone, and asking them to step back to EDGE might be a tall order.
Jobs' insistence on a high standard for battery life may pay off in the end, but it could be a tougher go for Apple in the U.K. at first. Apple and O2 are throwing in a subscription to The Cloud's U.K. network of hotspots, since O2 has limited EDGE coverage at launch.
But coming off Apple's miscalculation on the iPhone price cut backlash, you have to wonder if the company is likewise misreading the appeal of the iPhone in the U.K. Sure, it's pretty, but is it too slow? As always, people will vote with their wallets.
Tom Krazit writes about the ever-expanding world of Internet search, including Google, Yahoo, online advertising, and portals, as well as the evolution of mobile computing. He has written about traditional PC companies, chip manufacturers, and mobile computers, spending the last three years covering Apple. E-mail Tom. 
I have Wi-Fi available in 90% of where I work, live, and visit.
the iPhone has gotten. WiFi on the iPhone would be a plus and
an edge on the competition, so there is no way they are going to
mention that in any articles. If there was a problem with the WiFi
they would be all over it, but there isn't so they will choose to
omit that from any articles and only write about anything negative
they can come up with as ALWAYS.
cellular telephone networks which evolved to incorporate high-
speed internet access and video telephony. IEEE 802.11
networks are short range, high-bandwidth networks primarily
developed for data.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3G
Can you read? It is like saying your land line phone sound
quality is better than Cell phone and cell phone not needed.
has on it. Then again, maybe Jobs should talk to SonyEricsson,
SamSung or Nokia and ask them how they manage to to roll out
phones (smart or not) that have no battery problem when using
3G. Jobs' argument is a crock, me thinks. Using the faster 3G
consumes more power than using the slow EDGE network? Don't
think so.
What is really behind this is simple greed. Though I have been
an Apple fan all my computing life I also know that money is
what interests Jobs the most (besides his aestethic views on our
digital life). In certain instances I concurr with the man, like with
iTunes, but in this case I will wait until the next generation
iPhones is available. For that is the sole reason Jobs doesn't offer
3G support. He wants us to buy an iPhone now and buy a new
enhanced one a year later. Of course, there will be enough
people who wil actually do that. Me, I'll wait until he offers 3G
(or I'll by the iPod Touch, that seemingly has no battery trouble
despite its 16GB memory).
Does anybody know how long it will take to solve the battery drain problem? Me thinks that Steve Jobs has asked this question and either can wait for it for the next revision of the iPhone, or knows that it is farther off than Apple consumers would like....
despite its 16GB memory"
Er, no, NAND Flash capacity doesn't affect battery life. Higher
power radio transmitters do. 3G phones DO consume more
battery power. It's simple physics.
You can visibly see a Nokia N95's power draining.
The thing about the iPhone is that its data capabilities encourage
more use, so unlike the 3G phones you list which probably get
just a few minutes data access per day because of their interface
limitations, the iPhone would suffer disproportinately.
Also, Apple seems to like making thin devices, which necessitate
a smaller Li-on cell. They could make a bulkier device, but in its
present form factor, with the current Lithium cells, the battery
life would be cut substantially going 3G.
But I'm sure by mid-2008 there will be a compromise reached.
thing, a status symbol.
They will never need 3G speeds for their dull web only internet
anyway.
3G. The iPhone will not manage in Europe until Apple adds 3G
************ (well, preferably there should be HSDPA too...)!
And yes, we know that WiFi is faster -- but 3G works everywhere,
while WiFi hotspots can be found only in selected places in the
bigger cities
I'll be the first to buy an iPhone -- when it gets 3G/HSDPA. But
hey, I won't buy a heavily overpriced _2G_ phone, no matter how
great the UI is!
- Using iphone
- by dan1000 September 19, 2007 10:16 AM PDT
- Many of these comments are valid but for some of you are
- Like this Reply to this comment
-
(13 Comments)missing the point, mostly because you have never used an
iphone.
I have an 8GB iphone which I have hacked and run in London on
the Orange network. They do not have Edge capability so when I
am away from a hotspot I do not have access to the internet. I
could overcome this issue by purchasing an O2 sim card but so
far it really hasn't been an issue.
When near a hotspot i update emails on 3 accounts and have set
the preference to save 200 emails. Most of the text on 200
emails is loaded in the phone, I lose most of the graphics and
ads, etc. but I am okay with that. Then when commuting or
doing nothing I can peruse my emails. Most of my emails are
informational and rarely require a reply. At these particular
moments I can not surf the internet, so if that is your main
motivation then wait until a 3G unit hits the stores. For those of
you who do not have an all or nothing mentality then the iphone
is a joy to use.
I use the ipod function whenever I am away from home or office.
The phone rings in my earphones, I accept the call and listen to
my caller in the earphones while holding the phone out away
from me and the microphone picks up my voice quite nicely.
When the call is over it returns to the song I was listening to
seamlessly. It is an absolutely fantastic interface. Sometimes I
am playing Tetris or Blackjack and it returns me to the game and
starts the music. I'm not sure what else I could ask for. It's
great!