[Hands0n]

Here's an interesting snippet of news - it is offered as is, without warranty express or implied :D

My daughter has an iPhone that she is using on Vodafone with a Rebel SIM card. It works well. However, she has had a bit of trouble with Vodafone internet today and called up the CS to see if they could help. What she was told is worth passing on.

The CS said that they could email her the settings for the iPhone but could not send them to her, yet. Then went on to tell her that they were getting the iPhone in early Summer (June? to coincide with release 3.0 code?). Allegedly Vodafone wouldn't take on the iPhone when it first came out in 2G and 3G modes because it did not handle MMS or allow Vodafone customisations and/or branding. That Apple were going to allow these things to happen in the early Summer and at that time Vodafone would be releasing the iPhone to its customers.

Wow! But I suppose it was bound to happen. Apple want market penetration and they are simply not going to do that with a solus network per country. Their only option is to make the iPhone available across as many networks as they possibly can. The drivers to do that are very apparent by the significant number of iPhone that are not on the O2 network in the UK.

Remember folks, you read it here :)

[chagle]

That's very interesting reading - In many ways, I do hope you're correct.

If the iPhone ever went to T-Mobile, I would be there like a shot. I was on TM before getting the iPhone and from personal experience (in my area) I had much better 3G coverage with TM.

Would I go to VF? Probably not, especially if they over brand in their normal way and ruin the handset.

I can't wait 'til June!!

[getti]

Hell if the iPhone is sim free i might even......... who am i kidding lol!.

June is N97 time!

[miffed]

Funnily enough I heard a similar rumour around the time of the 3.0 announcement , but dismissed it as the usual rubbish - maybe there is something in it ?
Hope the iphone v3 (hardware) doesn't come out as a Vodafone exclusive though , that would be a real shame

Not sure I can imagine a Vodafone branded iPhone , if it had external branding to that would truly be sacrilege !!

[chagle]

Not sure I can imagine a Vodafone branded iPhone , if it had external branding to that would truly be sacrilege !!

If it did have external branding then they can stick it where the sun don't shine! The only branding I want is that lovely Apple logo!

Why does June / July feel so far away? :mad:

[getti]

because it is? :D

Plenty of time to save for what will be an overpriced product. Oh wow apple you have added MMS to a product that should have had it in the first gen iPhone.

Sorry, just feel in a bit of an Anti-iPhone mood tonight as i really don't see the appeal

[chagle]

I know what you mean. Trouble is, I can't see past the iPhone. OK, it does have some thing that it should have had in the first place but those are being taken care of and to be honest it just so integrates perfectly with the Mac and what with all the Apps, it really does make life so much easier.

Before the iPhone I was constantly checking websites, Nokia and the like for the latest / upcoming phones - These days. I don't bother. Apple have taken that away from me...! :D

Am I the only one? :-)

[chagle]

June is N97 time!

PS - What's a N97? Some kind of phone? LOL

[chaslam]

I have to say, im kind of in the same mind as getti. I remember when then iphone came out all those days ago before you could actually buy one, even in ths US. On Mobile-Review, there were so many iphone critics and I was there trying to defend it. Now I personally just cant be bothered with it. The way I see it, is that people are going mad about this iphone 3.0, but no on can seem to see that its basically what the iphone was supposed to be and what the iphone should have been when it was released. Its 2 years late, and thats what annoys me about it. If Nokia, or Samsung, or SE, or any "Phone" manufacturer made a phone with the specs of the iphone and charged the price that apple are for the iphone, they would be laughed out the market. I understand it isnt all about specs, but alot about the UI and OS, but seriously, come on. If Apple had pulled their fingers out when they started with the iphone, I would be thinking a little differently right now, but seriously, I just dont see the hype about it all. So many people have them, and I really really dont understand it.

[Ben]

Before the iPhone I was constantly checking websites, Nokia and the like for the latest / upcoming phones - These days. I don't bother. Apple have taken that away from me...! :D
Indeed, they've taken that away from me, too. It's sad, in a way, because I used to get so excited about the next big fat disappointment with a Nokia logo on it.

...and yet I'm strangely not bothered... better off... and better catered for than ever before.

[3g-g]

How have Apple done it though? How can they release one handset (and one that's not even close for a match on specs for some of the Nokias/Samsungs) and create such a following, such a buzz?

Summer. They're releasing software (and possibly some new phones going on rumour) and yet I'm wetting my pants at the thought? Have I gone slightly mental? Is it just the apps? Is that it? I mean, I have never played games on a handset before, yet I downloaded a 59p landing planes one, and I've been playing it at every opportunity... what's going on?

There's just something about it, and, unless you have an iPhone I'm not sure anyone else gets it, other than to think, you're a daft idiot with this out-of-date specified handset... I remember even a few years ago I wanted the smallest handset possible, and 'till a number of months ago I had this SE thing, 2mpx camera, no flash, crap buttons, but you could lose it in your pocket. Now, I've this fairly large piece of glass in my pocket. 2mpx camera, no flash and I don't mind...

Someone explain to me!

[chagle]

. I remember even a few years ago I wanted the smallest handset possible, and 'till a number of months ago I had this SE thing, 2mpx camera, no flash, crap buttons, but you could lose it in your pocket. Now, I've this fairly large piece of glass in my pocket. 2mpx camera, no flash and I don't mind...

Someone explain to me!

Wish I could explain it - But, I can't! Have we lost our minds! :)

When you think about it, it's not logical is it? Someone told me the other day that they had one the of latest handsets - My thoughts were 'Tsk - so...?!' - Where before I would say, 'lets me have a look!' :-)

[Ben]

I think a lot of it has to do with all of the information that our iPhone's store. In the past the only thing I'd do to a new phone is get my contacts onto it. That was the only thing that survived from an old handset. The iPhone, on the other hand, has a wealth of apps, bookmarks, mail, and our entire music and video libraries on board. It's packed with things that we want and use every day, so it's much more important than any standalone device.

If iTunes could sync everything with any mobile phone, and if other top end mobile phones provided the same functionality as the iPhone along with push services etc, I think there'd be appeal to try them. However, no other manufacturer has yet successfully recreated the Apple 'experience' (it's so much more than just a phone), and it's that experience that appeals to us so much.

The iPhone should have started with things like copy and paste and MMS. Yet the iPhone embodies the digital experience that phones like the Nokia NSeries should, and could, have started with, and are still unable to reproduce now.

[miffed]

Plenty of time to save for what will be an overpriced product






June is N97 time!

oh the irony !!!:D:D:D

[Hands0n]

Oh wow apple you have added MMS to a product that should have had it in the first gen iPhone.

Actually, it will be added to iPhone 2G, 3G and 3G.1 whatever the latter turns out to be. Its all done in the software and so a complete no brainer. In typical Apple fashion, one set of code for all - none of this "feature set" nonsense.

[3g-g]

Indeed, I'm wondering if it's the iTunes side of things that makes the overall difference. Thinking about the number of crappy PC suite software CDs I've had with the last few phones that add no functionality and bloat the windows OS, yet my Mac seems to want other Apple devices to make themselves known and say hello... I really do hope that iTunes on Windows is a similar experience. It's a package, it's everything mixed together that makes it... it's like now, I'm sat in a hotel in Manchester yet I'm downloading new podcasts to my iPhone via iTunes and free WiFi, who else can do that so seamlessly?

[Hands0n]

Thats the thing really, its been said before, the whole experience is what differentiates. I've had my share of Nokia PC Suite, Sony Ericsson PC Suite and even Motorola's abortion of an integration software. Even Windows Mobile integration suites, they all suck. They are clunky, clumsy and inefficient.

Contrast with iTunes as the integration platform the iPhone and iPod range work seamlessly with Apple Mac as well as Wintel computers. It really is a case of 'plug and play' as nothing before or since.

The thing is - we would all like a new differentiator to arrive, and maybe the Android range will do this, although I doubt it because no one manufacturer is in control of the end-to-end design. And that, I believe, is where Apple score. They do have the full product lifecycle in their complete control, and it shows.

Who else can do that so seamlessly? I think that the answer is no one!