Tag: o2
iPhone UK launch: O2's iPhone (and iTunes) versus Vodafone's MusicStation
O2 may have bagged the iPhone, but keen readers will know that Vodafone got its retaliation in super-early, with the announcement a couple of weeks ago that it would be launching Omnifone’s subscription-based MusicStation service in November. So how do they compare?Well, Omnifone already has a document providing a direct comparison between the two services, which it supplied when we asked for its views. Unsurprisingly, MusicStation comes out on top for questions like ‘Available on prepay?’, ‘Cheapest device’ and features like social networking, playlist-sharing and personalised news.
Video: What do Brits think of the iPhone / O2 deal?
Phew, Susi's been busy this morning – having liveblogged Apple's UK iPhone launch and gotten hands on with the handset, she hotfooted it outside the Apple Store to find out what Regent Street shoppers thought of Apple's deal with O2 to sell the iPhone for £269 on an 18-month contract. Find out what they thought below.
Video: iPhone UK launch – hands on with Apple's handset
Susi was at this morning's iPhone UK launch, as you'll know if you read her liveblog. Once Steve Jobs had done his thang on-stage, she got hands on with the phone, explaining the key features and pricing for the UK market. Watch below.
iPhone UK launch: Free iPhone Wi-Fi in City of London, McDonalds, and Arsenal / Chelsea / Manchester United stadia
The news that Apple hasn’t shoehorned 3G into the UK iPhone will disappoint many people here, even if it wasn’t a huge surprise (not least because if the company had, can you imagine the backlash from iPhone users in the US?)
At the launch this morning, Steve Jobs said battery life is what’s stopping Apple releasing a 3G iPhone, with the claim that a 3G model’s talktime would be cut to 2-3 hours, rather than Apple’s preferred 5+. Instead, Jobs talked up the faster speed of Wi-Fi surfing, and offered us Brits the carrot of a deal with Wi-Fi hotspot provider The Cloud for free access through its 7,500 UK hotspots.
iPhone UK launch: O2 and Apple online stores both down
Ooh, it’s getting exciting now: O2’s online store isn’t working, with a message saying simply: “We’re sorry you’re unable to access the Online Shop at the moment. We are currently making improvements to the site to provide customers with an even better shopping experience.”
Opinion: iPhone UK launch will be £250, O2 exclusive, but not 3G
After nearly three frustrating months of waiting, Apple is finally set to launch iPhone in the UK tomorrow, revealing the handset’s price on this side of the Atlantic, as well as which mobile operator has bagged the exclusive rights.
Kat’s summarised the latest rumours about Apple’s press launch tomorrow in London, for which invites have been sent out with the tagline ‘Mum is no longer the word’.
Shiny Video Preview: OQO e2 UMPC
US readers will recognise this as the 02, but the e2 is the European launch version, heralding the start of OQO’s plan for world domination. Entirely UMPC-focussed, the company has produced the smallest available UMPC (for now), which is a just-about palm-sized, comfortable slider UMPC designed for thumb-typing…
Apple iPhone announcement in London tomorrow: will O2 be confirmed as network provider?
I think we all know by now, don’t we. Since UK journalists were invited last week to the top secret press conference at Apple’s Regent Street store, rumours have been circulating over just what they’ll be announcing, and everyone’s finger keeps on being pointed in one direction – the iPhone.
The Guardian is reporting today that after months of wrangling, O2 has been chosen as the exclusive network carrier for the iPhone in the UK, a deal which one operator told the newspaper was “madly money-losing”. T-Mobile, Vodafone and Orange were all being courted by Apple as well, and reportedly pulled out when the stakes got too high and the figures being mentioned meant they wouldn’t actually earn any money from the deal whatsoever.
Infact, 40% of revenue gained will be returned to Apple, it’s being rumoured, leaving not much for the actual carrier to play with. Sources who spoke to the Guardian are claiming that all four networks were played off against one another by Apple, all believing they had an exclusive, confirmed deal for the iPhone…
European iPhone deal nearing completion: O2, Orange, T-Mobile sign revenue-sharing deal with Apple, sources claim
When you see the headline “Apple secures Europe iPhone revenue deals” in a respected paper like the Financial Times, you take notice, because it reads as if a deal has been done with Apple and at least one mobile network to distribute the iPhone in Europe.
“Apple has succeeded in committing European mobile phone operators that want exclusively to sell its new iPhone to share parts of their revenues with the technology group,” the article begins.
“The contract, which was signed by three European mobile operators in recent days, requires that the operators hand over to Apple 10 per cent of the revenues made from calls and data transfers by customers over iPhones.”
“The contract was signed by T-Mobile of Germany, Orange of France and O2 in the UK, people familiar with the situation told FT Deutschland, the Financial Times’s sister paper.”
There’s the crunch. “People familiar with the situation”. In other words, “unnamed sources”. In other words… rumour.
BBC / O2 mobile video deal is good news for fans of Doctor Who, Little Britain, The Office…
BBC Worldwide has cut a deal with UK mobile operator O2 to put video clips, wallpapers and ringtones of a bunch of top BBC shows on the O2 Active portal. The shows include Doctor Who, Little Britain, The Office, I’m Alan Partridge, and The League Of Gentlemen.
