It was almost inevitable, given all the hype around Apple’s 3G iPhone launched in 22 countries last Friday, including Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany and the UK.
In the UK, O2’s credit checking system crashed so that besieged Apple stores couldn’t connect to the O2 network.
This was a microcosm of the US launch, where customers couldn’t get their phones to work either due to software glitch and huge numbers of people had to stand in line for hours. A spokesman for AT&T, the exclusive carrier for the iPhone in the US, said there was a global problem with Apple’s iTunes servers that prevented the phones from being fully activated in the stores, as planned.
In the UK there were complaints that it took up to an hour to deal with each customer; carrying out credit checks manually led to huge queues building up. Having waited for several hours, it turned out that there weren’t enough 16Gb devices go round either.
Earlier in the week, O2’s website had collapsed under the weight of the interest shown in the new 3G iPhone. Carphone Warehouse, the other UK iPhone outlet didn’t get phones to many of its customers on Friday either, causing considerable fury.
Many of the problems in the UK were blamed on the convoluted procedures put in place in an attempt to stop users unlocking the device for use on the network of their choice an iPhone, forcing them to provide photographic ID.
Initial problems aside, there seems to be general satisfaction among users, despite the fact that you can’t send or receive MMS, that the camera hasn’t been upgraded (still no flash or zoom facility) and the grease-attracting composite back is less classy then the chrome back of the first generation.
Also, users can’t open the unit to insert a fresh battery, which would have been a boon, given that some reviewers claim the battery only lasts 4 hours or so using 3G.
Still it has got GPS and the new app store should do wonders for the download app market, even if it is stitched into iTunes very tightly and of a heavy American bias.
As The Inquirer commented, “Overall though, the device is still playing on its own within a crowded market - its heads and tails above the other miserable excuses for touch-screen phones.”
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
Most operators selling the iPhone worldwide subsidise the gadget but in India the story is different. Airtel and Vodafone, the two operators who will selling the iphone in india will not be in a position to subsidise the iphone due to the fear of unlocking and likely flooding of counterfeit iPhones in the market.
As its well known that the latest 8-GB iPhone (Version 2.0) is being sold at $199 (Rs 8,000) and the 16-GB priced at $299 (Rs 11,960) by AT&T in the US,however this is not the scenario in India.The phone is given free by O2 in the UK, while T-Mobile prices it at a meagre 1 euro (Rs 67.92) in Germany. The 8-gb version of the gizmo is likely to be priced between Rs 16,000 and 18,000, while the 16-gb would cost around Rs 24,000 to Rs 28,000 in the country.This
price hike doen’t end here.It’s likely that the prices in india would also be higher by around $25-30 (Rs 1,000-1,200) as companies are expected to levy handling and other charges.
The secret behind the cheap pricing of handsets by AT&T, O2 and T-Mobile is that they are bundling iPhones with their services.This is not all as they have
accepted the fact that they are subsidising but its extent is not known.
As for Airtel and Vodafone, they are unlikely to subsidise them as bundling is not a “successful formula” in the country and penalty clauses are not strictly adhered to leading to lengthy court battles.Industry Sources have said that without subsides the iPhone would cost around $400, double the price offered by AT&T in the US.Bharti Airtel spokesperson said: “We have plans of bringing in the iPhone before the close of the year, though a specific launch date is yet to be announced. It is too premature to comment on pricing details.”
While Vodafone-Essar did not respond to queries, an Apple spokesperson based out of Singapore said: “Apple does not comment on speculation.”
It seems that the recent inflation in India has hit every aspect of our lives, even the most awaited iPhone.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
Malaysia’s Maxis Communications dismisssed reports it is planning to sell its 74% stake in India’s Aircel, a Reuters report said.
Earlier, the Economic Times of India said Maxis is looking to sell the stake to US giant AT&T.
The unlisted, Kuala Lumpur-based Maxis denied the report and reiterated its commitment to build Aircel’s mobile business in India, the world’s fastest-growing cellular market, the Reuters report said.
“This news item is based on speculation, having no basis whatsoever. We are not aware of any discussions with AT&T about this matter,” Maxis said in a statement.
“Maxis Communications and its partners remain committed to the accelerated growth and development of Aircel to be a successful Pan-Indian operator,” it said.
In May, Maxis said it would spend €2.5 billion (US$4 billion)-€3.1 billion (US$5 billion) in India by 2009/10 to expand its network. It has in the past denied newspaper reports that it planned to exit its Aircel unit.
Unlisted Aircel, which has 7,000 telecom towers, has nearly 11 million subscribers in India.
AT&T, which has applied for licences in India in partnership with the Mahindra Group, was reported last year to be eyeing a wireless acquisition in the fast-growing market.
It said earlier this year it would invest €635 million (US$1 billion) worldwide for expansion.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
On Monday the EU’s Commissioner for telecoms, Viviane Reding, sent a shiver through the mobile industry when she promised to take action if the roaming charges for SMS and other data usage didn’t fall substantially and immediately.
On Tuesday, the Commission seemed intent on proving it wasn’t against operators per se, confirming that it would not prevent mobile carriers for charging users for receiving calls in their own countries.
China Development Bank is to stump up €640 million and Huawei pledged to upgrade infrastructure as part of £1.1 billion investment in Play, Poland’s fourth biggest mobile operator. It was launched 16 months ago and has 1.4 million customers. In traffic going the other way, Alcatel-Lucent won a €643 million deal from China Mobile, which prompted Ericsson to point out it had not wanted the contract anyway.
And as for playing in other people’s back yards, Korea’s Samsung took delight in pointing out it has a growing market share in Finland, home of the might Nokia.
BT too has decided to play away from home, offering its new converged mobile offering for enterprises in Asia. After so many failed attempts in its home market, it’s touching that BT hasn’t given up. In an echo of previous products, the new service is called Corporate Fusion – will that become Confusion?
Meanwhile Sweden’s Parliament approved a law that gives authorities sweeping powers to eavesdrop on all email and telephone traffic that crosses the Nordic nation’s borders.
In a week that saw an outbreak of discount deals on the new iPhone, Funambol announced free, open source email for the device while AT&T and Apple settled their legal differences over their iPhone agreement.
And finally, Australian regulator has struck a blow for eBay users all over the world by saying that the online auction house cannot compel all purchases to be made via PayPal (also owned by eBay), as it will restrict competition. It was widely believed that the Australian market model would be rolled out around the world in due course, so this is a considerable blow down-under for eBay.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
Apple and AT&T have settled claims that the iPhone’s “visual voicemail” technology infringed patents held by Klausner Technologies, an Associated Press report said.
Klausner Technologies is a New York-based patent holding company founded by inventor Judah Klausner.
The visual voicemail feature lets iPhone users see a list of people who’ve left them phone messages and listen to the messages in any order they choose.
The three companies said in a joint filing this week in US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas that they’ve resolved Apple’s and AT&T’s portion of a larger patent lawsuit Klausner filed, the Associated Press report said
They asked the court to dismiss the case.
Judah Klausner said that Apple and AT&T have agreed to take out licenses on the technology, joining eBay’s Skype division, which last month also settled a lawsuit filed by Klausner over a visual voicemail feature in Skype’s VoIP service.
Financial terms were not disclosed.
Representatives for Apple and AT&T did not immediately return emails seeking comment.
Klausner’s lawsuit over visual voicemail includes several defendants, most of whom have now settled.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
The iPhone Web application arms race is on. A variety of companies are getting involved in developing applications that will bring their services to Apple devotees. While the platform is bringing competitors onto the same stage, everyone is trying to take a bite out of that Apple. Detente is nowhere in sight.
Recently, AOL threw its hat into the iPhone Web application ring and is offering CBS streaming radio to users. The AOL Radio powered by CBS Radio Web app was highlighted last week at Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference and won the award for “Best Entertainment Application.”
“We’re thrilled to be recognized by Apple for the work that has gone into AOL Radio for the iPhone,” said Kevin Conroy, executive vice president at AOL. “The APIs available in the iPhone SDK provided us with all the tools necessary to quickly create a terrific version of AOL Radio for the iPhone OS, and we’re looking forward to adding streaming radio to the many great experiences available to iPhone users.”
AOL Radio uses the iPhones Core Location Framework to detect the location of a user and patch into local CBS radio stations. The application also automatically detects the type of network a user is on—Wi-Fi or cell network—and adjusts the stream between low and high bandwidth.
The award brings weight to AOL’s self-professed goal to “Get back to the Mac.” Other AOL efforts include AOL Mobile Search, a new portal, and a Desktop for Mac.
Bringing streaming audio to the iPhone isn’t a new concept. NPR mobile already offers an application that allows users to get their news.
But streaming music has been more difficult for frustrated users of services like Last.FM and Pandora.
Last.FM is a social community where users can stream music to their machine and rate the music they listen to on iTunes. By rating music, Last.FM can learn preferences and stream music tailored to individual tastes.
According to the Web site, Last.FM uses an Audioscrobbler engine that allows “users to ’scrobble’ their tracks to our servers, helping to collectively build the world’s largest social music platform.” Currently, MobileScrobbler is the only iPhone application that users can use in order to stream Last.FM to their device.
But MobileScrobbler comes with a catch: it can only be used on unlocked iPhones, meaning users run the risk of voiding their warranty and carrying an expensive piece of silicon and plastic around if something goes wrong.
Pandora has at least one intriguing scenario already in place for bringing streaming music to the iPhone. Writing on the Pandora blog in May 2007, Tom Conrad, CTO of Pandora, talked about getting Pandora on a mobile device.
“One of the most interesting startups in the Bay area right now is a company called Zing. They’re building a really cool platform that enables Wi-Fi-connected media players. They’re the company behind the new Wi-Fi-connected Sansa Connect media player,” wrote Conrad.
Conrad got in touch with Zing and worked with the company to take the Pandora Everywhere Platform and get it running on a Wi-Fi device. While Conrad demoed the product, he specifically noted that it wasn’t a product announcement and that there are no plans for a Pandora-specific mobile device.
And now, by clicking on the mobile tab on Pandora’s Web site, users are presented with the option of embedding Pandora on their mobile phone—so long as it is a device that supports the application and exists on the Sprint or AT&T network.
AT&T currently has an exclusive contract with Apple to provide services for the iPhone.
A quick search of Apple’s iPhone Web application page shows more than 25 pages of existing applications. A streaming music provider that creates an application that allows users to stream music to their iPhone would be in an advantageous position to capture part of the market.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
Verizon Wireless says its planned acquisition of Alltel Corp has been on the cards for years and that the buy will not be a ‘game changer’ for Verizon. Referring to how Sprint’s fortunes have dipped after its acquisition of Nextel in 2005, Verizon Communications president and chief operating officer Dennis Strigl says Alltel represents a good fit for Verizon Wireless, Dow Jones reports. Strigl is hoping the purchase can be closed by the end of this year, pointing to the quick completion of AT&T’s recent buyout of Dobson as an example of how a large deal can be pushed through in a matter of months rather than years. The combined Verizon Wireless and Alltel would leapfrog AT&T to become the nation’s largest cellular carrier, with a total of more than 80.3 million customers at the end of March, ahead of AT&T which had 71.4 million at the same date.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
Apple has unveiled its second generation iPhone, a 3G device that will sell from 127 euros (US$199).
As expected, Apple CEO Steve Jobs took the wraps off the new HSDPA device at the Worldwide Developer’s Conference in San Francisco on Monday.
The phone features a new camera, a GPS chip and a contacts and calendar suite called MobileMe aimed at the enterprise market.
The 8GB version will sell for 127 euros (US$199) and the 16GB unit for 191 euros(US$299) in the US and other markets from July 11.
AT&T announced it would continue to be the exclusive US carrier channel, but said it had scrapped the previous revenue share arrangement in favor of a handset subsidy.
Jobs gave no details on whether this would be applied outside the US.
The announcement comes a year after the launch of the first iPhone, which has sold 6 million units.
Ovum senior analyst Steve Hartley said the new device “goes a long way in addressing some of the shortcomings of the original device: 3G, cost, geographic availability and third party applications.”
“Unfortunately, no details were forthcoming regarding the operator business models this time and what, if any, revenue sharing agreements are in place between Apple and the operators,” he noted.
He said it was also uncertain whether existing iPhone users, who paid as much as 384 euros (US$600) for a slower device, would be allowed to break their contracts to upgrade to the new phone.
AT&T’s share price fell Monday after it revealed the subsidy scheme.
According to the Apple web site, of the 25 launch markets worldwide, only four are in Asia-Pacific – Japan, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand.
The phone will be sold later in India, Singapore and the Philippines, but no agreement has been made to ship to China, Korea, Indonesia or Vietnam.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
Verizon Wireless’ deal to buy Alltel for €3.7 billion (US$5.9 billion) was applauded by investors and should mean a greater range of choices for Alltel subscribers, but some worried that Alltel’s commitment to rural coverage will get lost, an Associated Press report said.
The report quoted several customers expressing worry over the deal.
Dan Yahro in Bishop, Calif., close to the border with Nevada, has two options for wireless service: Alltel and Verizon Wireless. Now that one is buying the other, he wonders what will happen.
“Alltel has twice the coverage of Verizon here. When you get into Death Valley National Park, which is where I spend a lot of time, Alltel is the only game out there,” Yahro said.
Alltel’s wide-ranging rural coverage in 35 states has given it 13.2 million subscribers and plenty of fans. In its area, mainly in the interior of the country and in the Southeast, it provides an alternative to the four big national carriers: Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint Nextel, and T-Mobile USA.
John Wilfong, 29, of Alexander, Ark., said he had service on his Alltel phone everywhere when he worked as a deliveryman.
“When I used to go into a lot of fringe areas, it got a better signal,” Wilfong said. “When I was living at home before I got married, my dad had Cingular and he couldn’t get a signal in the house, but I could.”
Having the No. 2 carrier, Verizon Wireless, swallow the No. 5 carrier, Alltel, would catapult it beyond 80 million subscribers and past AT&T to become the largest carrier in the country. It could also reduce competition in areas where Verizon Wireless and Alltel overlap.
A Justice Department spokeswoman said the agency “would be interested in looking at the proposed transaction.”
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
A unit of Vodafone Group will pay 7.72 billion riyals (€1.3 billion) for Qatar’s second mobile phone licence.
The report quoted the Gulf state’s telecom regulator saying that the deal, originally agreed in December, requires Vodafone to sell shares in incumbent Vodafone Qatar by the end of November: Vodafone owns 51% of Vodafone Qatar while the state-owned Qatar Foundation owns the remainder.
Qatar’s Supreme Council of Information & Technology also said operations are to begin in the first quarter of 2009 and will compete with state-controlled Qatar Telecommunications, which runs the country’s only mobile and fixed-line networks.
It beat rivals including AT&T to win the license that will end the last Arab mobile-phone monopoly, the report said.
The initial public offering will sell 40% of the company’s stock and 15% will be sold to state-owned affiliates, leaving Vodafone and Qatar Foundation with 45%.
The November deadline for the IPO is later than a June target originally outlined but the regulator did not explain the apparent delay.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
3G iPhone launch descends into farce in US and UK
