I think Palm must have been mad to have signed a contract with O2 - surely an alternative operator would have pushed it far more than the exclusive owner of the iphone? Perhaps O2 offered them a bit more money up front. They will rue the day.
Why is it that we now expect every new smartphone to be exclusive to one network (usually O2)? The iPhone started this nonsense, now it seems all manufacturers have carte blanche to engage in this borderline monopolistic practice. It's just not cricket I say... :(
@timple: It seems O2 want to bag all of the major smartphones, thereby eliminating most of the competition in this sector. I'm sure they handed Palm a mountain of cash for the privilege.
Like it or not, the exclusivity works for Palm and O2. Palm will have been guaranteed a level of sales by O2, and O2 gets to keep its insultingly bad iPhone pricing and tariffs in place.
I don't appreciate being lured by the prospect of owning a device with contact-charging, then learning that the feature will cost £45 extra.. No no no!
Sure O2 offered most - but it looks like a very short term decision. Customer goes into O2 shop - "I want a smart phone - I heard about something called the pre?" - O2 sales person - "well here's the iphone. It sells much better than the pre. if i were you i'd get that mate. Let me show you this latest app I downloaded from the app store..."
Its only the TR readers and the like who will persist beyond that. Its like the cricket selling out to sky.
"So how much will this much lauded device set you back? The good news is significantly less than an iPhone 3GS"
Yep, tho the same as an iPhone 3G, which I think is quite significant. And also suggests a £350 price point for the PAYG version, if that ever appears.
Not good enough 02 IMO, in direct competition with the iPhone 3G I think its going to get pummeled, if O2 were serious about marketing the Pre then they would have undercut the iPhone, but I guess since they have exclusive rights to both in the UK then they have no interest in competing with themselves.... "sigh"
It's being released in Ireland on the same day (also exclusive to O2), and we get completely boned in price. To get it free, you need to be on the €100pm (£91) contract. The cheapest contract is €45pm (£40), with the Pre costing €100, and that gives you jack all minutes and texts.
On the upside, we do have a PAYG Pre, but it'll set you back €420 (£385) and you pay through the nose for mobile data.
@Hugo: That's the wonderfully crap world of the Irish mobile market... Yes, it's bizarre how comparatively cheap the PAYG option is. I need to see if they have some better contracts than that available...
While we're on the subject of pricing, we don't have it much better (Canada).
We can't even get the Pre on anything other than a three year contract! And we still have to pay $199.95 for it, but at least the plans are reasonable enough; they start at $45. Add in all the usual "fees" and GST and it works out to, oh about $6000. :)
On another note, I walked into Bell World excited to try it out, and I was absolutely shocked at how horrible the keyboard was! It really is that bad. I couldn't believe how small it was. My thumb took up like six keys or something. I had to really take my time to type on it and the errors were plentiful. I could actually get used to the soft keyboard on the iPhone (I think), but this, it's just a disaster!
I can predict what the TR review is going to say now. :)
Why can't O2 stop paying millions (presumably?) for exclusive rights to over-hyped phones (step away from the keyboard, I'm including the iPhone in that...), when they could wisely invest that money in a decent 3G network spanning the British Isles... Or at the very least the south of England...
@Chris - Although I can offer no proof, I'm certain that the iPhone wasn't the first phone to be tied to a certain provider. I've had friends in the past reluctantly switch from one to another to get the handset they were after.
@timple - Just one less charging pin/port that can fill up with pocket fluff or get damaged as far as i'm concerned.. innovative solutions like that should be commonplace. I started looking at these things differently when i fell in love with the magsafe charging system on my Mac - never need to fear kicking a cable and losing the entire ensemble again..
I work in Southwark in London and cannot get a 3G signal in the office anymore. In fact its got so bad recently, my iPhone normally just divert to voice mail and I get a deluge of emails, texts and message when I get close to Waterloo. A number of other iPhone users at work have called o2 to complain, one guy even got them to give him free line rental.
If the Pre had launched here in the first half of the year I would own one, no doubt. Now its lack of video recording and no SD slot just makes it a no sell. Web OS looks great and I look forward to more featured phones using it but just not on the Pre...or the stupid pixie
I also hate the way O2 is snapping up all the good phones, they are apparently getting the Leo to, swines I say!
@Cub: Yeah, I'm sure you could find examples of prior handset exclusivity deals, but it seems like ever since the iPhone, the majority of major smartphones have been tied to exclusivity deals. Not exactly fair on the consumer.
Yes, I agree with most of the comments above. But there is another issue here that I find both unfair and distasteful. Since when have these preposterous tariffs and contract lengths become the norm? Have we been conditioned by the appalling value of the iPhone's packages into thinking it's ok or relatively 'normal' to enter into 18/24 month contracts at over £45 per month?
When mobile phones first became within reach of the average Joe here in the UK I was the first person I knew who owned one. The phone cost me £100, on a 12 month contract that cost £29.99 per month. Since then mobile phones have become commonplace across the planet and literally BILLIONS of people have embraced the technology. The associated volume of that mindblowing uptake will have caused production costs to plummet. I appreciate that the networks infrastructure in under more strain now and that modern smartphones are far superior devices than those huge Nokia bricks that first appeared. But -and this is a massive but- the tech and the associated costs have risen proportionally. (ie: a smartphone in 2009 is no more costly OR 'advanced' than a Huge Black Brick Mobile was in 1996.) Bearing all of that in mind, why is the consumer now expected to enter into a binding contract for 24 months? (With some tariffs -eg the Irish one above- knocking on for £100 per month!)
We've been hoodwinked by the telcos. They have very carefully manipulated public perception whilst applying stealthy incremental price increases. We've been cheated into believing we are getting a fair deal for this tech. We're not. And it stinks.
Looking around £25 a month on three with no "negotiation" needed gets you a Nokia E71 (a phone TR gave 10/10 in july 08), 500 anytime mins, unlimited 3to3 mins, unlimited texts and unlimited internet, unlimited skype..... If you pay anymore surely you have to agree to yourself it is fashion £'s you're spending.
I don't think these tariffs represent good value for money at all. Come on, the Pre is no iPhone, yet the customer is being asked to pay £100 for a Pre on a £35/mo tariff for 18 months? So £730 over the life of the contract... Hmm. I think they should have positioned the Pre a little more to the lower end. But I guess we'll see how sales work out - I mean, if O2 really do have specific sales targets as part of the exclusivity agreement then we should see pricing changes pretty quickly if things get off to a slow start.
A few of us on Talk3G are finding O2's network particularly naff at the moment, with calls sometimes taking ages to connect or not connecting at all. If the Pre is a big sales success, which is a big if given the iPhone tariffs IMHO, surely things are only going to get worse. Telefonica need to put some money where their mouth is and invest in an extensive network upgrade!
We're sorry. We were unable to report abuse at this time.
We limit the number of reactions an individual user can submit over a given period for quality reasons. You have currently reached that limit. Please try resubmitting your abuse report again later.
Comment is too long. Enter 500 characters or less.
Comments