DATELINE EUSTON STATION

EIGHTEEN HUNDRED OH-TWO HOURS

I happened to be in the area at 6.02pm on Friday and decided to check out the tiny o2 concession store at Euston Station. Euston is one of London’s great train stations serving the north of the country. From Euston you can, for example, take a train direct to Liverpool or Edinburgh.

I often walk by the o2 shop squeezed into the side of the concourse so I thought I’d stand around and see what happened when the iPhone launched, particularly because I spied a small queue of people waiting who were all being peered at by passengers. I unnerved this group a little more by pointing my N95 at them for the five minutes before the launch. Here, then, is the footage I captured, superbly edited(ish) with an ABBA winner-takes-it-all backing track:

Two of the United Kingdom’s mobile operators have spoken to me in the last week on the subject of the Apple iPhone launch in the United Kingdom.

One of them estimates 500,000 iPhone sales within 6 months. The other estimates (and this is a potential shocker) that, worst case, they will lose 500,000 customers to o2.

Since January, I’ve been waiting to see how the United Kingdom audience react to the device. We’re far, far, FAR more advanced mobile consumers than our North American brothers who, let’s face it, are generally dead impressed by a phone that can do little more than send a text message.

I remember remarking, half heartedly, that Apple should have launched in the UK first. Why? Well, I couldn’t really back that up really. It was pure opinion. But what I do know is that your average mobile consumer here in the UK *WANTS* an iPhone. Your average American wants to avoid being screwed by their mobile operator and, if at all possible, get a decent handset. I’m generalising massively, but run with me.

The appetite in the US, I felt, was heavily fueled by Apple geeks. And I mean geeks. Serious geeks. There’s a lot of them in America, obviously, because Apple’s very popular in America. If Apple introduced a watch, they’d sell a million of them in the first week to their loyal, loyal fans, whether the watch was any good or not. Stick an Apple badge on it and they (me too) are typically suckers.

Swap to the United Kingdom and all of a sudden, you’re in a massively different marketplace. Huge amounts of the population are sporting up to date devices. Mobile fashion is EXTREMELY important. Even my mother was sufficiently annoyed with her bog standard Nokia last year to demand a ‘flippy-openy-one-that-is-silverish’ (the RAZR).

Most girls won’t be seen dead with a shit handset. In fact, it’s that bad I’ve seen many-a-girl check her text messages on her handset whilst it’s in her handbag — just so she doesn’t have to bring it out and be seen with it.

Or, they’ll bring it out and explain, apologetically, that ‘it’s my old one, I flushed my [insert sexy brand name device] down the toilet yesterday’ or ‘I was mugged, my new [insert sexy device] arrives tomorrow.’

Indeed, our operators are that attuned to the UK’s mobile handset fashions that they’ve turned their once drab functional shops into palaces of design — and made sure they’ve outlets on every High Street. So, yes, we’re up for new and fancy, fashionable devices. For a while now, we’ve been used to Nokias, Sony Ericssons, Samsungs, LGs… distinctive handsets arrive on the marketplace and cause a stir. The 3UK Sony Ericsson K770i, for example, is their top selling handset ever since it was launched a few weeks ago. There was massive demand for the 5 megapixel Nokia N95. The distinctive LG Shine flew off the shelves. Samsung’s latest handsets continue to turn heads.

And now the iPhone arrives into a crowded marketplace and will, at least for a good few months, be the number-one device in terms of aspiration and most probably in terms of sales.

Over the weeks I’ve talked to lots of people who’ve been doubting the device appeal to the masses. To each of them, I stopped the conversation, stayed silent and pointed to my iPhone as I pinched and flicked through my photos. And when each person inevitably said ‘But, it…’ I then went silent again and demonstrated the iPod capabilities, in particular, the album flicking function. Then I showed the video. Then I showed the text messaging. Yes the keyboard might be a bit of an arse to get used to. But that’s nothing. NOTHING compared with the fancy iPhone features. Folk are going to love it. The mass market will eat it up.

‘But it’s £269 pounds,’ many said.

‘So what?’ I said. Watch the queues. 269 is nothing. NOTHING. Nothing in the context of an (apparently) quality Apple device that comes with BUCKETLOADS of cachet for the ordinary person on the street. All over the country, Jumpin’ Jacks nightclubs will be teeming with posers dressed in designer Armani jeans with iPhone sticking out the back pocket. TGI Fridays will be rocking to the beat of iPhone ringtones and chirrups. One poser in every group of folk will splash out the dosh for a device and a contract with o2. They know that they will INSTANTLY be the source of envy and attention for a long, long time. Girls will simply adore the way it works. Many a geek will roll eyes. But it looks good. It functions nicely. It’s Apple and it’s got crate-loads of show off potential. It’s a winner and the United Kingdom is going to go 100% iPhone mad. That’s more or less a given.

What’s going to be fascinating to watch is the next trick. What next? After 6 months of iPhone sales, what happens? How will demand for top-of-the-range Sony Ericssons and Samsungs fare?

I was reading in various papers today about comparable iPhone devices. One paper reckoned that HTC’s latest Touch is a good substitute. Or the Sony Ericsson Walkman handests. Or even a top notch 5 megapixel Samsung. Or the LG Viewty. No. None of them are remotely, REMOTELY anywhere near the same or comparable to the iPhone. Not on your nelly. Not as far as the UK public is concerned.

Stick a top notch Samsung into the hands of Tracy from Southend or Linda from York and she’ll still be SEETHING with envy when her friend brings out her iPhone. Such is the potential and power of this Apple handset — in this marketplace — at this particular time.

In 6 months, I wonder.

Will it wear off? Will the half a million iPhone customers in the country begin to get annoyed with the smooth animations that after a while get a bit boring (”Just show me the sodding Phone screen when I click it please, stop wasting a second or two animating”)? Will the iPhone begin to truly convert the masses to data, to web browsing on the move, to Google Maps on your mobile? I wonder, I wonder.

I will be waiting with baited breath. Waiting, watching and observing. It’s going to very, very exciting to witness the changes in the mobile industry.

For now though, I’m going to sit back and watch the news reports from around the country. The nutters are already queuing for their iPhones at the Apple Store in Regent Street. It’s chucking it down with rain and blowing a gale. But you know, these folk want to be first to get in the door and buy their iPhone when they go on sale at 6.02pm tomorrow.

Did you get that, by the way? 6-dot-oh-two-pm. ‘o2′. Heh. Nice. They could have done it at midnight then the devices could have gone on sale at ‘0:02′.

I won’t be focusing on the Apple stores though. They’re going to be popular, period. It’s the Carphone Warehouses I will be watching. Almost 800 stores across the UK will be selling them from tomorrow (along with, obviously, o2’s own stores.).

Expect pictures and commentary from Carphone Warehouses tomorrow here on SMS Text News.

Now this is a bit good. As you know I’ve been giving o2 a leeeeeeeeetle bit of a kicking for quite a while about their Unlimited Data plans (or lack thereof) and when they introduced the 200mb unlimited option, well, I just rolled my eyes.

I was so downright disappointed, I took to naming o2 customers, affectionately, as ‘chumps’. (Here’s a list of SMS Text News posts featuring coverage of o2 chumps).

But there’s life, Jim!

Oh yes, there’s life!

I talked with o2 this morning and I got this quote from Sally Cowdry, o2’s Marketing Director about the news that they’re scrapping the 200mb limit for iPhone data usage and making it properly unlimited:

“When we announced our new iPhone tariffs back in September we broke new ground for O2, introducing unlimited use of mobile data services and The Cloud’s public Wi-Fi network. The iPhone offers the best internet on mobile experience in the market and we want customers to enjoy this without limit or worries about being charged a penny more.

To avoid abuse of this offering, a fair use policy was set in place at an amount that’s miles beyond expected average use. This policy was intended to prevent commercial exploitation or using the iPhone as a modem, both of which would put everyone else’s experience at risk.

We now appreciate that having set limits as part of the fair use policy conflicted with our objective of encouraging internet usage on the iPhone. People don’t speak in megabites and customer feedback has been that if we say unlimited, it should be unlimited.

We have listened to our customers and will be lifting these limits so that our original intention - for you to use your iPhone to your heart’s content - is what it’s all about with no confusion or distraction.

We look forward to our customers enjoying the fantastic internet experience on their iPhone when it goes on sale this Friday.”

That’s fantastic. Absolutely fantastic news.

a) It demonstrates proof-of-life at o2 headquarters
b) Most people won’t be using anywhere near 200mb+ of data; it’s just nice to know that, as long as you don’t take the mickey, you won’t be nailed by o2. This brings o2 into closer alignment with 3UK and T-Mobile.
c) I confess I’m surprised and delighted at the warm language used by Marketing Director, Sally Cowdry. It almost makes me want to go out and buy an iPhone right now. I’ve felt that personal connection — the fact that there are actually people at o2 who actually care about your experience — had been missing for quite a while.

It’s important to be clear that this news relates to o2 iPhone users only at the moment. I’ll need to get the status for standard o2 users.

But it’s a momentous change that will, no doubt, attract keen attention from other UK operators who’re sat in no small amount of panic as iPhone day approaches.

SMS Text News reader Paul caught this story at Automated Home, reporting that o2 have dropped the 200 ‘unlimited’ limit.

Dropped it to where, I’m not entirely sure, yet. Probably 1,000mb/month to rival the likes of T-Mobile?

Link: Automated Home - UK iPhone Gets 1.1.2 and No Data Limit!

With just days to go before the UK launch of the iPhone (Friday 9th November 2007), O2 have decided to drop the 200 megabyte “Fair Use” download limit. 

This is good news for anyone considering an iPhone, and good sense from O2.  A few minutes ago T3 Magazine uploaded their un-boxing video showing the UK iPhone for the first time, complete with its new V1.1.2 firmware.

No specifics on the o2 site that I could find — just this in the FAQ:

Your O2 tariff for iPhone allows you unlimited use of O2 UK’s Edge / GPRS networks and The Cloud’s UK Wireless LAN network, for personal internet use, email and Visual Voicemail (VVM) on your iPhone only. All usage must be for your private, personal and non-commercial purposes.

So strictly speaking, you can’t use your iPhone’s data connection for commercial purposes — that is, sending a work email, for example. Or browsing a work-related website….

This is a bit stupid:

You may not use your SIM Card in any other device, or use your SIM Card or iPhone to allow the continuous streaming of any audio / video content, enable P2P or file sharing or use them in such a way that adversely impacts the service to other O2 customers.

You can’t do a continuous stream of any audio/video content? On your iPhone? What about Youtube? That’s integrated directly into the device? Strange, strange…

Update: More news here.

And how are the competing mobile operators getting on, I wonder?

No doubt the T-Mobiles, 3UKs, o2s and Vodafones are, at least, slightly concerned at the imminent launch of the iPhone coming 9th November.

I wonder how many customers o2 will be able to churn from other networks on to the iPhone? 20,000? That’s fine.

But if they’re able to take 100,000 new customers? Or 200,000? Or half a million? I wonder, I wonder.

It’s going to be an exciting month, November.

WAIT!

Were you just thinking that innovation was seriously tanking across the mobile industry?

Stop that now! Witness! o2 customers can now access MySpace.

You what?

This is equivalent to your local telecommunications supplier ‘announcing’ that you can ‘now phone Dominos pizza’ when, in fact, you’ve been able to phone Dominos ever since you had a phone line.

The only bit of news? If you’re smart enough to have read the small print, you can get a ‘free browsing link’ by calling 2112. So instead of paying shitloads to browse the annoyingly individual MySpace pages, you can do so at no additional cost. Until December 2007. Then you’re screwed.

You’re on your own if you step off-portal though…
Link: Netimperative - O2 takes MySpace mobile

O2 customers will need to call 2112 to activate a free browsing link to be set up on their handset.   
 
Free access to MySpace will also be available from ‘What’s New’ on the O2 Active portal from November. 

Orange do broadband at home.

Vodafone do broadband at home.

And now o2 are launching it. Launched, even. To the point that the o2 concession store in London’s Euston Station has a ‘o2 broadband’ desktop picture on the computer’s display.

My response to the news?

Initially: Meh. I mean, totally despondent ‘meh’. So what. Who cares. Next.

However, this bit saved me from an evening of banging my N95 into the wall to try and forget the stagnation and me-too-ism that’s often so prevalent across the industry:

Link: O2 launches broadband to 50% of Brits

Customers will also be able to combine mobile and broadband product features, including O2 Broadband emails automatically being sent to their O2 mobile phone message in-box and address book synchronisation between their PC and mobile.

Now if this works properly. If this works like YOU and I think it might, then genius.

If it’s a throwaway download for o2 customers that’s not properly supported and that no one at o2 Towers will care about, then, hand my my N95, I have some walls to be felled.

However, here’s hoping. This could be a very valuable feature for a good few million of o2’s customers.

[ Insert o2 dig here* ]

Could be good, could be good!

* As long as their customers have subscribed to an unlimited (which isn’t quite) data plan, so they’re not hosed for pounds per meg to get their email.

Telefonica - parent company of UK mobile network O2 - yesterday announced a deal to bring Yahoo! oneSearch, Yahoo! Mail and photo sharing community Flickr to more than 100 million mobile customers in 15 countries.

Yahoo! oneSearch is specifically designed for mobile devices, delivering results directly in the first screen and thereby removing the need for consumers to navigate through a sea of links to PC Web sites to find the information they want. Yahoo! oneSearch gives consumers access to news, financial information, weather conditions, Flickr photos, Web images, as well as Web and Mobile Web sites.

Together, Telefonica and Yahoo! are enhancing the search experience for consumers on mobile phones, while providing both companies with new revenue streams through mobile advertising.

Julio Linares, Telefonica’s general manager for Coordination Business Development and Synergies, said, “Partners are essential to our mobile strategy and these key relationships, like the one we are announcing today with Yahoo!, will continue to evolve and deliver state of the art Internet experiences to our customers at home or on the go.”

“Yahoo!’s new partnership with Telefonica furthers our leadership in mobile and demonstrates our commitment to working with partners to enhance the Internet experience for customers on their mobile phone,” said Marco Boerries, executive vice president of Yahoo!’s Connected Life Division. “Together we can grow usage of mobile Internet services and create new revenue streams through mobile advertising.”

Telefonica customers will also enjoy the benefit of direct access to Flickr, one of the world’s leading online photo sharing communities. The inclusion of Flickr in Telefonica’s mobile services will allow customers to easily view and share their photos, view their friends’ pictures, view and create comments on photos and browse or search more than one billion images posted by the Flickr service, all from the mobile phones.

Additionally, Yahoo! Mail will be seamlessly integrated into Telefonica’s Mail Express service, providing Yahoo! Mail users with the ability to receive their Yahoo! Mail messages directly on their mobile phone via MMS messaging, enabling customers on the Telefonica network in Spain and Latin America to stay connected to their community even when they are away from their PC.

Link: Consumer Data Bolt On - Tariffs - Mobiles & Tariffs - O2

SMS Text News reader Barry got in touch just now to highlight O2’s rather stupid ‘unlimited’ data offering. They’re trying to hard to match similar options from T-Mobile and Three, but manage to completely screw it up by throwing in loads of conditions and exclusions.

Here’s what they have to say:

O2 Web Bolt On gives you unlimited* browsing through your phone for £7.50 per month

So far so good. What do you reckon their definition of ‘unlimited’ is? 1Gb? 2Gb? Maybe even three? Nope - not a hope in hell. Buried in small print on the page, they say:

A fair use of 200MB per month applies to the O2 Web Bolt On. A fair use of 3GB per month applies to O2 Web Max.

Eh? Let’s compare this with T-Mobile. Web’n'Walk on your phone is £7.50 a month, and gives you 1Gb of data. You can even do pay-as-you-go Web’n'Walk for a quid a day.

However, there is one ray of sunshine in this whole mess. They give you a free trial of data services to all customers before you decide to commit. How much do you reckon you’ll get for free? If you’ve got a tariff with less than 600 minutes, it’s a very generous 100KB. Wow, what a lot. It gets even better if you’ve got over 600 minutes a month on your tariff - you get a whole 512KB to play with.

The bottom line? Utter crap. Sorry and all that, but it is. If these are the basis for the T&Cs for EDGE data on the iPhone, then I’m wondering whether Apple realise they’ve really shot themselves in the foot.

Update: SMS Text News reader Paul got in touch, pointing out that the T&Cs for the Web Bolt On are even more strict than first thought. Witness these points, from the O2 terms and conditions page

The O2 Web Bolt On can only be added to a consumer voice tariff and allows you unlimited use of O2’s 3G/GPRS Mobile Data Services for Permitted Uses only.

Permitted Uses of theO2 Web Bolt On are uses of your SIM Card within a handheld mobile device for the purposes of Internet Browsing and email (excluding BlackBerry® email) only.

Any other use of the O2 Web Bolt On will not be a Permitted Use, including but not limited to:

1.      Use with Data Cards or Modems;
2.      Instant Messaging,
3.      IP Telephony,
4.      Point 2 Point file sharing and file transfer,
5.      VoIP (e.g. Skype™),
6.      Video and TV streaming,
7.      Slingboxes; and
8.      Use in conjunction with routers.

O2 reserves the right to suggest an upgrade to O2 Web Max or to withdraw the O2 Web Bolt On from you at any time if O2 reasonably suspects you of using the service for uses other than the Permitted Uses or abuse of the service, including using an atypical volume of data as compared to normal users of the O2 Web Bolt On, which will normally be less than 200MB of usage within a one month bill cycle (termed “fair usage”).

O2 will contact you before the O2 Web Bolt On is withdrawn or upgraded. If for any reason contact is not possible then O2 may temporarily bar the service until contact can be made. In the event that O2 withdraws the O2 Web Bolt On, O2 is not obliged to offer any alternative replacement service. If O2 determines that you may upgrade to an alternative service which is more appropriate for your requirements then, if you consent, O2 will transfer you to the alternative service as soon as is reasonably practicable after you advise O2 that this is what you wish to do.

So basically you can’t use it for IM, VoIP, streaming, file transfer, or anything really useful. Do O2 realise the internet has changed a lot since the early 90’s?

o2’s call centre has been getting a lot of traffic today I’m sure. SMS Text News reader Barry has been on to them this morning asking about unlimited data.

Unlimited Data has been an on-going saga for ages. They’ve steadfastly avoided introducing any unlimited plans to date — and, alas, many of their (stupid) subscribers are wondering if o2 will reserve the data plan allowances for just iPhone customers.

I said that I was surprised to see they would be offering unlimited data to iPhone customers and that I wanted to know if they would offering unlimited data to non-iphone users. The first girl I went through to said no they wouldn’t as these were special iphone only tariffs.

At this point I imagine Barry was going nuts at this point.

I then asked for my PAC code and was passed through to retentions.

It’s a shame that this is the only strategy available to o2 customers to get any answers.

The guy there said that they would be offering new data tariffs as of the 28th of this month and that they would definitely be available to all customers. He asked how much data I wanted and I said the minimum I would be looking at would be 120mb as per Vodafone’s deal. He categorically said that their tariffs on the 28th would be better than those offered by Vodafone. I got the impression from the way he worded his question to me (how much would you need, 75mb, 120mb, more?) that they won’t quite be as good as T-Mob/Three but it is progress. Like you say let’s hope they have no silly restrictions.

Just swap. Enough is enough o2 subscribers. How long are you going to wait for unlimited data?

Otherwise, wait ’til the end of the month and find out just how bad the deal is…

Mark Tynan of SMS Text News sponsor, ShopQwik, phoned up o2 customer select (their premium customer line) today to ask about getting the iPhone……. Here was his experience (he posted it his comment here.):

Was just on to O2 customer select (their premium customer line) and the very nice girl didn’t know when the iphone would be available or what price it would be….

I have an upgrade coming up in November so I asked if I could be put on a waiting list of some sort for one…
Sorry Sir, we don’t have a list but we could maybe text you when they come in… Em, I think there will be a big demand for these phones, I said, so is there anyway I could put my order in now?

No sir, you can’t.

Why not?

Because we have no facility to do that.

Eh, ok, but surely looking at how many were sold in the US it might me a good thing to do?

I’ll pass on your comments…

Right, ah well, I tried

Deary me.

The Cocoon looks like a nice handset that will appeal to a subset demographic. I’ve been following the o2 outreach programme — an absolutely fascinating experiment that, I hope, el Chumpo will take on board and actually adopt on-going.

I’ve glanced now and again at the feed and this one caught my attention last night as it’s about the Cocoon and Mac connectivity.

This chap posted a blog on the o2 Cocoon site, thus:

Link: O2 Cocoon Blog » Mac Connectivity

Wanted to drop you a line to ask about the Mac-connectivity of the O2 Cocoon. I bought one today at the Bristol O2 store, with the assurance that the device was fully compatible with a Mac computer. I have tried to send mp3 files from my Mac to my Cocoon with no success. The devices appear to recognize each other but that is as far as it goes…

Obviously the chap is not impressed. He’s either been given incorrect information by the o2 staff OR he’s got a duff Mac and he hasn’t set up drivers correctly.

Warning signs start flying when I read further:

I cannot send a single file to my Cocoon from my Mac, and honestly, I’m beginning to feel a bit ripped off. Especially as I have also attempted to install support software for the phone as well, and I still can’t send any files.

Deary me.

Warning signs are officially flying at top mast, one would think, right?

The chap finishes with:

Do you have any suggestions? I would not treat any practical advice you have to offer as an endorsement from yourselves for anything, but much as I try, I’m only drawing blanks. Please help!!

First problem: The chap is that suspect that he’s actually integrated a disclaimer into his text — he’s expecting that any responses he gets are going to hampered by the tech support arsing around unable to give endorsements. He’s effectively pleading for help on the site that is COVERED in o2 branding and is, one assumes, run by — or run on behalf of o2.

Ergo they know people. Right? If you’re the editor of the o2cocoon.co.uk site, you know people. You get a comment from this guy about Mac compatibility and the FIRST THING YOU DO is you pick up the phone to the Director of Handsets at o2.

The conversation should go like this: “Hi Brian (or whatever his name is), it’s Mr/Mrs Editor of o2cocoon, yeah, hi.. right. Now this Cocoon… is it Mac compatible? Right, have a look at this post we’ve just got. Can you get your chaps to respond to it within the hour please so that when I publish it, we’ve got an authoritative response on the site? Thanks!”

Brian should sort out an immediate categorical response.

The complaint post goes up. Immediately underneath it, someone who IDENTIFIES THEMSELVES as o2 support (or similar) posts a solution.

Job done.

Everyone’s impressed.

Everyone thinks ‘wow, o2 is really reaching out… and they mean it!’

Did that happen?

Heh. No. Dave posted his complaint on August 30th. He got a response right away, same day, from a chap called ‘harvey’ who doesn’t quite get CaPiTal lEtters and how they’re used:

first of all, i don’t think the software is mac supported, as there is no .dmg installation file that i could see for mac. secondly connect the phone to the mac via usb, make sure lcd says connected, then open the phone and select transfer files, now the phone should appear as mass storage device on the desktop, from there open the icon, select a folder and drag & drop as normal like usb stick.

Is that the official o2 response? Who the hell knows. If it is, it needs some caps and some authority.

Matter closed?

No. Next day, ‘George’ has posted this:

I confirm this handset is totally incompatible with macs except maybe to store files (like usb keys) via the usb cable. No contact synchronization, no music, no images, no bluetooth…yet.

Shit.

Right, so let’s say I’m interested in purchasing a Cocoon and I’d like Mac support……….. this is hardly a useful advertisement. It’s bordering on almost helpful.

It’s all very well reaching-out to the blogger community……. that is to be applauded. But it is highly, HIGHLY ineffective to publish this sort of content when no one’s taking ownership. Where is the chap-from-o2 giving the authority line?

I find it all very perplexing that they’ve done it half-heartedly.

They’ve let a chap post a problem and a plea for help. One person responds with some sort of solution, only to have it cancelled out by the next chap stating the device isn’t compatible. Confusion reigns and the o2 cocoon blog is shown for what it is — clearly run by well meaning, committed and enthused people but entirely ignored by o2-the-organisation. Surely someone in the handsets/support division should have read this thread and been embarrassed by the confusion and sorted it out?

Or, maybe the Cocoon isn’t actually fully Mac compatible?

Who knows.

You’d expect someone on the o2cocoon site to know — and care. It’s been 18 days and the matter’s been left. . . . . .

Link: O2 to join flat rate club - www.mobile-ent.biz

Mobile Entertainment are reporting that O2 are about to launch a flat rate data plan in the UK - although quite when that’ll be (and how much it’ll cost) is anyone’s guess..

An O2 insider said: “O2 will offer wholesale data, but we think most of the problems associated with the cost of downloading rich media through direct-to-consumer channels will disappear once all-you-can-eat data plans are widespread - you can expect us to make an announcement in the coming weeks.”

.. which is nice. I wonder how much of this has been forced through by O2 getting the UK iPhone gig (still allegedly, but as it’s now possibly the worst kept secret in the industry)..

(Thanks to Barry for the tip)

Ben Smith has put on a black long-haired wig, a load of white foundation and some bright red lipstick to bring us these set of possibly fairly accurate Apple iPhone UK predictions.

You shouldn’t wish your life away, but I do wish it was tomorrow already (and not just because of the leftover pastries from the weekly client meeting) so to wile away the remaining few hours until Apple’s big announcement, I’ll don my ‘Mystic Ben’ big pointy hat, buff my crystal balls and gaze deeply into them to bring you some wild guesswork predictions:

What: Yep, it’s the announcement of the UK iPhone as widely predicted, but not it’s a full launch tomorrow. Instead we’ll get the release schedule, the networks and retailers named. The Apple store in Regents Street will be closed during the announcement, but will re-open at 4pm with an iPhone display. Around midday the Apple logo will be hoisted over Buckingham Palace (possibly).

iPhone 2 / 3G: Nope, it will be the same EDGE-based model as launched in the US with 8GB of storage. The sound of narked tech journalists explaining that anything less than a 3G model won’t sell in Europe will be drowned out only by the sound of the baying crowds that gather at every potential point of retail.

Who: As widely predicted O2 will get the deal and announce immediate availability of a nationwide EDGE network as well as visual voicemail. Anyone with an EDGE-capable device will be confused by this ‘announcement’ as it’s been active in some areas for some time.

When: It will be available in mid-October. In the intervening time announcements for the remainder of the ‘first wave’ of European launches will be made in their respective countries.

Retailers: In addition to Apple and O2 retail locations, Carphone Warehouse, who neither sell carphones nor operate from warehouses, will be announced as a retailer. A small Apple shrine will be erected at each shop and Charles Dunstone will push a TalkTalk discounted offer as an additional benefit for the CPW customers. Anyone taking up that service will be desperately disappointed and spend a lot of time discussing the failings of the UK’s local-loop unbundling arrangement with ‘Kelvin’ who will be somewhere in Bangalore [actually that’s not a prediction – more a statement of fact].

Price: The iPhone will be £269 with an 18-month contract from O2. The Bluetooth head set will be £79 and the dual dock will be £35.

Tariffs: O2 will launch three 18-month tariffs exclusively for the iPhone. Priced at £35, £55 and £75 per month they’ll offer 400, 800 and 1200 minutes respectively and will be matched with bundles of hundreds of texts. The text bundles will be largely unused though as people struggle with the touch-screen keyboard. All three tariffs will include ‘unlimited data’. Starting midday Tuesday, O2 will roll out a programme of training to its retail staff explaining the term ‘unlimited data’. Many will need counselling support. A selection of add-ons will be available to supplement the iPhone tariffs, but these will be reserved for the dedicated tariffs and existing ‘bolt ons’ will not be available.

Problems: There will be a number of problems at launch, including the O2 website which will fail under the initial peak demand. Number porting will be slow and unreliable, as all the networks struggle with the sudden rush of requests. O2 will be more prepared than most, but their efforts will be largely negated by the other networks who will be unable to process the load and unwilling to expend much extra effort to cumulatively off-load a couple of hundred thousand users.

Surprises: [...and this is a really long-shot] The launch won’t be UK-only and the O2 / CPW deal will also extend to the Republic of Ireland - there will be rejoicing in the streets although launch will be after the UK.

What next (short term): Telefónica shares will drop after some initial wobbles as the market realises that revenue sharing with Apple means less money for the same work / risk. Things will get worse in Q1 2008 as Apple announces the US-availability of a 3G-based iPhone and plans for a European launch late 2008. This time there’ll be no early-adopter rebates (for customers or Telefónica’s investors who will wonder if the expense of nationwide EDGE roll-out for less than a year’s use was worthwhile when they already had a 3G infrastructure).

What next (way, way off): With the exception of Canada, Australia and New Zealand iPhones won’t be launched any further until a 2nd or 3rd generation is launched. Apple will resist customising the hardware for specific markets so official launches in the Asian markets, particularly China and Japan won’t happen in the next couple of years.

[Note: ‘Mystic Ben’ has no inside information– in fact he barely even reads the papers. Your credibility may be at risk if you rely on any of this. Ben does not accept any responsibility for inaccuracies and won’t take kindly to being told he was wrong tomorrow because he’s just guessing really. Your home is at risk if you do not keep up repayments on a mortgage or other loan secured on it]

Loads of media reports today about o2 getting the Apple iPhone. I will hunt around for more details. Despite already having a wonderful iPhone working here in the UK, I could well become an o2 customer if the UK iPhone is 3g… A pipe dream perhaps?

So, the details? Well, sketchy. The full gossip should be with us by tomorrow, but the leaks are dribbling out.

The paper with the details is the Guardian’s Media section (do have a look, they’ve had a nice face lift on the Guardian site).

The key paragraphs:

The UK’s largest mobile operator came from behind at the last minute to seal an agreement with Steve Jobs, Apple’s chief executive, to market the iPhone in the UK, but one other operator described the deal as “madly money-losing”.

O2 is understood to have agreed a margin on the retail price - to be confirmed tomorrow - but will return to Apple as much as 40% of any revenues it makes from customers’ use of the device.

The price of the combined phone and iPod can be changed by Apple at any time, as happened recently in the US. Out of O2’s share also comes a commission and further revenue share with Carphone Warehouse, which is understood to have secured the right to be the sole independent retailer of the device on behalf of O2.

Vodafone were reportedly deeply unimpressed at Apple’s ‘divide and conquer’ approach negotiating with the UK operators.

Permit me the opportunity of a deep big smile. These operators have had us — the consumers — over a barrel for decades (It’s STILL 35p a minute to call someone on a different mobile network from Vodafone, after you’ve gone over your minutes). So it’s rather exciting to hear reports of operators getting upset.

And upset they should be. The iPhone isn’t perfect. But it’s next-century compared to your standard Nokias and Samsungs. It’s going to be interesting to see how the UK normobs react to the Carphone Warehouse and o2 marketing the hell out of the iPhone.

Given a choice between a Sony Ericsson W-something or an iPhone, it ain’t difficult to work out which one the customer will want. Obviously the up-front cost of the hardware is a bit of an arse for us here in the UK, we’re used to getting devices for next to nothing. But there will be uptake. On that, you can bet your top of the range N95.

It’s good news for o2. Sort of. They’ll get a short term kick from the churning users. But … now that you can EASILY unlock your iPhone… what’s to keep people from swapping? The major barrier is the price of the device, though. That’s going to keep the market moving relatively normally — as most normobs aren’t going to be too impressed at having to spunk 300+ pounds on a device… but most of the country will be coveting the devices, they really will.

If the iPhone is slightly different, I’ve already worked out my strategy. If they’ve upgraded it to 3g — which, well, now that we’re seeing news of o2’s ‘EDGE’ network up and running, looks a bit iffy — I’ll get it. And hand the current iPhone to my equally sexy girlfriend.

So, let’s standby and watch.

No, honestly!

el Chumpo, our affectionate name for UK mobile operator, o2, is shortly due to announce an unlimited data plan. It’s an open rumour. An open secret. o2 has been winding up it’s subscribers for quite a long time by refusing to extend unlimited data to anyone… except the lucky few who’ve managed to convince the retentions department that they are worth retaining.

Tony at The Register Hardware section reckons it’s more or less ‘expected’ within the next few weeks.

This, depite various folk at o2 being quoted explaining that their network simply cannot cope with unlimited data usage.

Gah.

Don’t expect the world, though. Expect some shit, rubbish, half-baked unlimited-but-not-really stillborn data plan that lets you do F-all except browse Google without being billed four quid a minute.

Cynical? Me? Expect that, right, then if they surprise the world by doing a 3UK style ‘open pipe’ offering, we can all walk around with smiles on our faces for a few hours.

I had a note in from SMS Text News reader Barry concerning el Chumpo — that is, everyone’s favourite UK mobile network, o2.

Barry is fuming — nigh on apoplectic — that o2 has seen fit to switch off it’s billing/shop system until Tuesday.

Tuesday? I had to read his email again to check I wasn’t seeing things.

FOUR-DAYS-FROM-NOW-TUESDAY? Geez.

I’ve been trying to verify this. Obviously I didn’t bother phoning o2 Public Relations — fat lot of use they would be (I’m told by a few people that they believe a ‘blogger’ is some kind of advanced lumberjack) — so I’ve been seeing if I can order a phone on the o2 site. That segment appears to be working ok to the point of typing in my name and address.

Anyone else had trouble with o2 recently?

Link: O2 starts charging for calls to non-places | The Register

With the world and his wife now seemingly having a non-geo number (0845, 0870, 0800), it’s curious to hear that O2 have become the last UK mobile network to drop these numbers from customers inclusive minutes packages.

According to The Register, O2 customers who’ve signed up since March have already had to pay for calls to these numbers, with older customers being notified last week by text of the impending changes.

O2 have also decided, rather kindly, that this change is “significant”, so much so that they’re offering users the chance to cancel their contract early. If you’re in that position, get your skates on - you’ve got until the end of September to cancel.

el Chumpo, AKA “o2″, has cooked up another raft of data plans for international roaming — as has, I think, been commented before.

Paul Worsley caught this via the o2 site and I thought I’d better document it for my own sanity. Whenever I think that we’re getting somewhere with mobile data in this country, I have to remeber to come back and browse the posts I’ve made under the Mobile Data category here.

International Data pricing
Tier Price per MB
Tier A £6.00
Tier B £4.50

Notes:
Charging is in 1KB increments
Charges apply at all times of day
1MB is 1,024KB

From 1 October 2007 we’re removing Tier B pricing. All usage will be charged at the Tier A rate.

So Tier B — 4.50 a meg, will shortly be defunct. You will now be hosed at a more attractive six pounds per meg.

Ridiculous.

Still, if you’re an o2 customer, I say this to you, in a slightly Glasweign accent:

Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a foking big television, Choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players, and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol and dental insurance. Choose fixed- interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Just, please, don’t choose o2 any more. (Rest of the Trainspotting quote here).

At the SMS Text News Unlimited Drinks evening last week, speculation was rife about the UK operators who are gearing up to sell the Apple iPhone. Almost every operator — with the exception of 3UK — was linked to the device that evening.

I was rather interested to come across this Google Ad when I was searching for ‘iphone unlocked‘ in Google News:

It reads:

Phone - Exclusive to O2
Coming to the UK soon
More details and free notifications
www.iPhonefromO2.com

Gosh, I thought, it’s out there! The news is out?

I clicked on to the www.iPhonefromO2.com:

First glance and the site appeared genuine. If anything, the o2 online shop style looked to have had a bit of an upgrade. There’s a Q&A, a Tariffs page (”coming soon”) and Tech Specs. There are then links to the o2 site and the UK Apple Store.

“Be at the front of the queue,” exclaimed the text, “Enter your email address,” it continued. The concept being you’ll be notified when the iPhone is available.

Curiously I clicked on to the Privacy Policy.

This website is published by Maxafi Limited. Contact details can be found here.

Curious! I was surprised to see the o2 branding everywhere yet find Maxafi as the site publisher. Maybe they’re an advertising agency used by o2, I thought.

I clicked on to www.maxafi.com to find out that:

Maxafi is a fast-growing online media network serving more than 2.5 million unique visitors every month.

No mention of o2.

I went back to the iPhonefromo2 Privacy Policy page and then recognised some faint gray text at the bottom:

This website is not authorised or affiliated with Apple Inc or Telefonica o2. All trademarks are acknowledged.

Ah hah.

One would imagine o2 isn’t going to be that impressed at finding such a site using their branding so extensively.

I also imagine that the site is probably attracting a good amount of traffic and collecting email addresses — so when the device becomes available, presumably on o2, they can shoot each email an update and point them to a site to sign-up for it — that earns commission.

A perfectly fine service — but I don’t think it’s cool to use the o2 branding in that way.

Link: BBC NEWS | Business | O2 agrees BBC phone content deal
BBC Worldwide (the commercial arm of the BBC) have inked a deal with O2, which will allow the operator to offer clips from popular TV shows including Little Britain and The Office to it’s O2 Active subscribers.

Peter Percier, head of  mobile for BBC Worldwide, says: “O2 is the largest UK operator by subscriber numbers so this is clearly a great deal for us”. He added that BBC Worldwide has “access to some of the best known and most loved TV brands”.

According to reports, O2 customers will initially get access to about 300 pieces of media content, increasing in time.

I got in a taxi last night to go down to China Town. Could have got the bus, yes, but I was caught in that annoying 20 minutes where only the buses you don’t want come flying by the stop. So I hailed a cab and sat back to enjoy the ride.

Then, to my left, I noticed what appeared to be a phone fixed on to the side of the taxi’s window frame.

I looked closely and saw an ‘O2 UK’ indicator, along with signal strength and a text message indicator.

Strange, I thought.

Then I looked at the adverts on the seats in front of me.

Directly ahead, I saw this:

No charge. Use the taxiphone and call for free. It’s next to the door on your left.

Call for free? Ohhh.

Here’s the picture:

Here’s the phone stuck into the window frame:

That’s particularly cool. HIGHLY cool, in fact. Instead of just doing the usual adverts, it appears o2 have taken advertising to the next level. It’s interactive! You can actually USE their service. No cost. Wow. Really smart.

I imagine the phone is configured to only call mobile numbers and landlines within the UK, but fair-enough. If you’re on a long journey or, well, let’s face it — with today’s London traffic, almost any journey is long — you can dial home or call your friend for a natter. Above the phone was a microphone and speaker, just like the kind you get on a normal car phone. I wonder how many taxis they have installed this into. Maybe just a few to test out the response. Imagine if they put this in every taxi. What brilliant, brilliant marketing, or as Michael Tchong has it, ‘tryvertising’, for them.

I’m rather impressed at o2 for doing this. It’s changed my impression of them. Yes, I still think their data rates are nothing short of ridiculous, but I like this gesture. I do also think that whoever does their public relations is nicht gut, as they say in Germany. I really get annoyed finding out about these sort of things by personally witnessing them. I’d have liked to have known about this at launch date, whenever that was, so I could have documented it earlier. Anyway, it’s still cool.

Then, I looked to the seat advert on the right of the cab and saw this:

Recharge. To recharge your mobile, ipod or Blackberry, just ask the driver to open the hatch on your left.

Now that is double genius. Here’s the pic:

Obviously, I then turned left as instructed by the advert, and saw this:

The recharge facility is integrated into the armrest. The driver unlocks that for you and you simply open the armrest to reveal a plethora of charge leads. Again, absolutely tip-top fantastic if you need a bit of extra juice when you’re going from A to B.

Fantastic.

You know o2 and their £100 a meg data policy? (Ok, slight exaggeration)

Well, SMS Text News reader Owen has had a bit of luck with them. He posted this today:

Link: SMS Text News » o2 chumps, attention: Get unlimited data for £10/month

My contract had run out so I phoned O2 and INSISTED on being put through to “retentions” I then played hell about my data charges and said I’d leave then and there if they did not give me unlimited data plan for free(OK aim high!!) They did a deal with me.

I got £100 quid cashback plus 20MB data a month free (I’m on a £30 contract) I had to extend my contract 12 months not too bad, sorted thanks again Owen

That’s better than a kick in the teeth — and 20mb is a reasonable amount of data to get at no additional cost from such a stupidly expensive network.

Good work Owen. You must have spoken to a very nice o2 retentions specialist.

UK mobile operators T-Mobile, 3 and Vodafone have confirmed plans to begin rolling out the High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA) standard in the UK by the end of the year.

The technology - which uses packet scheduling - takes the performance enhancements found in the High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) standard and brings them to the upload side of a data connection. The net effect is a balancing of the theoretical maximum upload and download speeds.

Vodafone have already launched the technology in Germany, and will begin rolling out their UK service later this year. Rivals T-Mobile and 3 will also be aiming to start upgrading their network by the end of the year, with Orange planning to introduce the HSUPA service in 2008.

The only UK operator not figuring in these plans is O2 - who have at present not announced plans for HSPA enhancements to their network.

(Thanks to SMS Text News reader Mike for providing additional information to correct this article)

Link: O2’s failure to launch voice and video shortcodes ‘holds up entire industry’

According to a couple of industry players, UK mobile operator O2 is “holding back the entire industry” by not being able to offer video or voice shortcodes.

Speaking to The Inquirer, MX Telecom’s Mark Fitzgerald has said: “You couldn’t have an X Factor vote, for example, which worked for everybody in the nation except those on O2. So customers won’t buy into the concept while one network’s subscribers are excluded.”

Meanwhile Jeremy Flynn from mobile video specialist D2See asks:  “Given the amount of money O2 has made from SMS shortcodes, how come they find it so difficult to provide equivalent voice and video shortcodes?”

“There are over 100 video shortcodes in use in UK - how come they don’t seem to want to let their consumers access these services, and make money from this?”