I'm not sick of the iPhone news, but I am sick of the news about companies screwing eachother and customers over because of the stupid iPhone. If they'd just SOLD THE PHONE instead of hammering out all these individual deals then it would have been a normal product launch then it could have had a global launch and we wouldn't still be watching people outside the U.S. still wait for Apple to grab the biggest possible piece of pie and rack up more and more problems.
Exactly. Committing to AT&T, O2 and other providers is one of the most stupid moves from Apple that I can remember - at least from the standpoint of the customer. I live in Norway, and a friend bought me the iPhone when he went to the States.
Since that I've had so many people ask about this phone it's ridiculous - but none of them can buy it the regular way because of Apples commitment to money rather than the customer. We have no idea when the iphone will arrive in Scandinavia, for all I know it could be next fall before anything happens. Small countries and all that, and Apple doesn't care enough about small markets to make them a priority.
I can buy EVERY other Apple product here, just not the iPhone. And that stinks.
This is why I like China so far- the iPhone is sold here unlocked and pre-jailbroken. No restrictive exclusive carrier agreements, just hand over the money, get the phone, run Installer.app, download, and enjoy.
donkey - it's immediately obvious how stupid this was to everyone outside the U.S. just hit ebay to see how much the unlocked iPhones go for. it's totally ridiculous. and it's all _money that Apple is not making_ but could be making if they didn't insist on selling it through exclusive contracts.
it was a huge mistake. but I believe that Apple realizes this now and is trying to get out of the exclusivity contracts (and associated revenue). the USA really is another planet when it comes to mobiles but the rest of the world simply won't go for it.
Apple could shift 10M iPhones _tomorrow_ if they sold them unlocked and to everyone who wants one.
compared to that, their nickle-and-dime strategy with revenue sharing looks stupid. besides, Apple is giving its rivals a full year to produce some worthy rivals. at least here in Asia.
I dont like it and it doesn't suit me (i unlocked a US iphone for use in a small country) but it makes complete business sense.
Apple will be making bucketloads of cash from the revenue sharing deals and I dont think they are losing much business as those people in countries who cannot buy an iphone will probably buy one of the ipods instead.
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I'm not sick of the iPhone news, but I am sick of the news about companies screwing eachother and customers over because of the stupid iPhone. If they'd just SOLD THE PHONE instead of hammering out all these individual deals then it would have been a normal product launch then it could have had a global launch and we wouldn't still be watching people outside the U.S. still wait for Apple to grab the biggest possible piece of pie and rack up more and more problems.
Exactly. Committing to AT&T, O2 and other providers is one of the most stupid moves from Apple that I can remember - at least from the standpoint of the customer. I live in Norway, and a friend bought me the iPhone when he went to the States.
Since that I've had so many people ask about this phone it's ridiculous - but none of them can buy it the regular way because of Apples commitment to money rather than the customer. We have no idea when the iphone will arrive in Scandinavia, for all I know it could be next fall before anything happens. Small countries and all that, and Apple doesn't care enough about small markets to make them a priority.
I can buy EVERY other Apple product here, just not the iPhone. And that stinks.
This is why I like China so far- the iPhone is sold here unlocked and pre-jailbroken. No restrictive exclusive carrier agreements, just hand over the money, get the phone, run Installer.app, download, and enjoy.
donkey - it's immediately obvious how stupid this was to everyone outside the U.S. just hit ebay to see how much the unlocked iPhones go for. it's totally ridiculous. and it's all _money that Apple is not making_ but could be making if they didn't insist on selling it through exclusive contracts.
it was a huge mistake. but I believe that Apple realizes this now and is trying to get out of the exclusivity contracts (and associated revenue). the USA really is another planet when it comes to mobiles but the rest of the world simply won't go for it.
Apple could shift 10M iPhones _tomorrow_ if they sold them unlocked and to everyone who wants one.
compared to that, their nickle-and-dime strategy with revenue sharing looks stupid. besides, Apple is giving its rivals a full year to produce some worthy rivals. at least here in Asia.
I dont like it and it doesn't suit me (i unlocked a US iphone for use in a small country) but it makes complete business sense.
Apple will be making bucketloads of cash from the revenue sharing deals and I dont think they are losing much business as those people in countries who cannot buy an iphone will probably buy one of the ipods instead.