iPhone
The iPhone has arrived in Ireland – last Friday actually – and I always said I’d be one of the first in the queue. Every time I’ve visited the UK since it’s launch there I’ve made a point of spending some time in an O2 shop playing with it, and what a fabulous device it is! So easy to use (even with my stubby fingers) and such a gorgeous thing to hold. It’s the first mobile phone that I’ve really wanted.
So have I bought one? No. Why? O2 Ireland. OK, so there are several minor issues: I’d like to have more memory (32GB minimum) and maybe 3G, and clearly the software is going to develop very, very quickly over the next few months; but no, it’s the incredibly mean package from O2 that is making me wait.
I don’t mind the 499 euro price tag – it’s worth every cent – although it’s nearly 80 euro cheaper in the UK. I don’t mind the 45 euro per month for 18 months, but I want some value for that. In the UK, for about the same money, I’d get 600 minutes, more texts than I could dream of using, unlimited data (subject to fair usage) and 7,500+ free hotspots. In Ireland I’d get 175 minutes, plenty of texts (I’m not a big texter), 1GB data (OK, probably plenty but it’s the principle) and no free hotspots! OK, so I spend most of my time at home, so the hotspots are not such a big deal. It’s the minutes. O2 Ireland are not just taking the proverbial, they are profiteering.
I don’t expect a deal to match that in the US – Europe is always more expensive and we’ve learnt to live with that – but I do expect to be rather closer to the UK deal. O2 Ireland say their deal is similar to those in France and Germany, which may be true (kind of, the packages vary but on balance there may be an approximate equivalence) but I say that the French and Germans are also being ripped off!
So for me, right now, something has to give. I’m not sure what it will be that brings me to my tipping point, but I’ll know when it happens. In the meantime I’ll continue to lust after it!
