I spotted an article in the Financial Times last night which said Apple has succeeded in persuading 3 mobile operators to sell the iPhone in Europe using the same revenue share as AT&T in the US.
The three mobile operators mentioned are T-Mobile of Germany, Orange of France and O2 in the UK. According to the article:
The operators are set officially to announce the partnerships at the IFA trade fair in Berlin at the end of August
The article goes on to say that
[Apple] will continue the roll-out elsewhere in Europe next year, when it will also launch in Asia
Damn! I realise it is unlikely but is there any chance the UK O2 launch will include Ireland?
It shopuld be noted that Orange and Vodaphone have modified their sold handsets so that VoIP may not be used.
iPhone will do the same.
Nokia95 is much better than an iPhone anyone.
I doubt it Tom, they are separate businesses from what I have seen.
And Henry, I think it is up to the user which phone is better. I have the N95 and an iPhone and far prefer the iPhone. Many co-workers though have N95s and they like them. Matter of taste and needs really.
I’ve a Vodafone Branded E65 and I can use Wifi and Fring no problem?
I doubt it. O2 in Ireland can barely do WAP on phones and last time I was on to their customer support about 3G they had no firm plans to do 3G for phones beyond testing it so why bother with an iPhone on their network?
I’m pretty sure O2 do 3G in Ireland just fine. Coverage isn’t great but none of the other networks are any better. It at least works here in Waterford on a variety of 3G phones.
Paul, really? Hmm, I must try again. It didn’t seem to work for me and I contacted their support and kept getting told that they had the O2 broadband offering for computers. Actually thinking about it now the broadband service would suit the iPhone. When I go into shops and ask about 3G services for phones like video calls and downloads and cheaper data packages I usually get the “We are testing a service like that but have no launch plans yet” response.
Sadly the O2 Broadband offer is not available for phones. I tried to get it added to my call plan so I could use it on an iPhone but they said I had to use O2 Broadband with the USB modem.
I was tempted to get the SIM out of an O2 USB modem but wasn’t sure if that would let me do calls and SMS too.
As for 3G I was using it on a Nokia 6233 the other week. Sucked battery life but it worked.
I suppose it’s possible, I know that you can top up your British o2 Phone with Irish Credit, but beyond that I don’t know how closely the services are merged.
I suppose time will tell, plus a 17 Year Old Hacker got his iPhone working on T-Mobile so there may be hope for those who don’t wish to be with the standard services.
thebigman87, we got two iPhones working on O2 Ireland’s network.
O2 locked UK phones will work fine in Ireland so long as you are using an O2 simcard. They are franchises but at the end of the day they source the hardware from the same place. I’ve been living in the UK for 6 years now and with the one locked phone I had I was able to swap between digifone (O2) and O2UK sims without issue.
Question instead is whether you would be willing to pay a monthly UK contract price in addition to your irish one just to have the phone (though you would need a UK address to register it to too). Although the UK tends to always offer a full price sim free version as well as contract subsidised phones… I have to wonder if that’s likely to happen with the iPhone given apples control at the helm??
Might be cheaper/easier to source an unlocked one on ebay, not that I would endorse such a thing.
think it might be awhile..if they are waiting to partner with a company in ireland
i think i’ll use the e65 in the meantime. it’s working good here.