Comments on: O2: British businesses may block iPhone usage

Mobile operator says it's happy to transfer phone numbers to Apple's new handset but that businesses may impose tougher rules.

[rcrusoe]

Same headline, different country.

British businesses, like their American cousins, may well decide
to block use of the iPhone within their company. But these
policies will probably last about as long as they did in the US.

In other words, as soon as one high ranking executive in the
company brings in his iPhone and tells IT to set it up, the
floodgates will be open.

In our case, we "decided" to support the iPhone two days after
its introduction - when our President walked in with one.

[lkrupp]

Which just goes to show...

that IT drones in general have a bias against anything Apple.
They were assimilated into the Borg collective years ago.
Remember the IT big shot at the hotshot university who
immediately blamed the iPhone for bringing down the campus
wireless network? Remember how he had to run and hide a
couple of days later when it was discovered it was a
configuration problem in his wireless network and not the
iPhone? Oooops.

Controlling or limiting technology may be a noble goal for a
corporation but, just as with DRM on music files, it's a futile goal
nonetheless.

[proadventurer]

Misleading headline!

This is about a service contract issue. "Block" is not the right word. A better headline would have been: "Businesses may be reluctant to enter into service contracts for iPhone"

[sapporobaby]

Steve Adler

Steve Adler is an idiot. This pretty much sums it up.

[Ronald66796]

No way!!

Steve Adler an idiot?!

I hear he's AMAZING!!!

[Grumpyz77]

Once again arrogance comes to the forefront

Adler, "I can't imagine why anyone would want to unlock their iPhone." I am probably hoping against hope that Adler is just naive and uninformed, not arrogant. Why are there over 1/4 million unlocked iPhone users is a much better question. Taking what could be an excellent device and concept and slaving it to a mediocre network and experience and calling it grand is, at best, delusional. I will bet that in 3 months time there will another 1/4 million unlocked phones running through the EU. What of France's law requiring that no device can be locked in their fair country? How long before the EU homologates standards and no phone can be locked? On 29.10.2007, the US state of California ruled against a prime US carrier, Sprint/Nextel, that locking phones is prohibitive in their state and carriers will have to supply device portability along with number portability. (Exclusive technologies notwithstanding.) At best Adler and O2's position is laughable. I can't wait for reality to set in. Reality does seem to have a way of curing ignorance and killing stupidity.

[sapporobaby]

Good point

Nice Grumpyz. Right on the money. I currently live in Finland
where it is illegal to have a phone with a subscription based
contract an NO 3G. I wonder how Apple will get around this. I
think they are being greedy now and some people are stupid
enough to pay in 2007 for 2003 technology. Remove the iPhone
UI and you have a very old phone.

Mix that with the pathetic comments Adler, and you have a sad
sack of crap.

[Oh Blah Dee Blah Dah]

Locked iPhones are Good for Users!

Until the iPhone, mobile service providers FULLY controlled the service
experience and the handset features and options that were made
available to users. The service providers actually mandated that certain
handset features had to be DISABLED or REMOVED from handsets, before
the provider would consider selling that specific handset on its network.

Users NEVER had full control, nor availability, of all of the features that a
handset was capable of bringing to the market, because the service
providers prohibited handset features that competed with the service
providers' network offerings.

Apple was able to convince a service provider (AT&T) to sell the iPhone
with ALL of Apple's handset features and options, on the condItion that
the service provider (AT&T) be given exclusive, contractually binding
iPhones, locked to the provider's (AT&T) network.

THIS is what enabled Apple to make an end-run around the U.S. market
oligarchy of Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint, and AT&T. The lure of high-data
revenue from the locked iPhone is what convinced AT&T to break from
the oligarchy and bring the iPhone with full web access to its network.

Remember, AT&T does NOT receive any revenue when the iPhone is used
on a home router to access the internet. In this case, the user is accessing
the web, and making phone calls, without any charge. Previously, almost
all other handsets required the user to access the provider's mobile
network to access the web. And, even then, the web access was to what is
called the "mobile web," which is not the TRUE web that is now available
with the iPhone.

The LOCKED iPhone actually FREEs the user to have more access to
information than than before. After all, previous to the iPhone, a user
could only change the network provider. The user could NOT get more
features nor service options, because the service providers would NOT
permit the features to be available on the handsets that the provider
authorized to be sold for use its network.