back to article O2 may put iPhone on business rates

O2 is considering introducing business tariffs for customers who want to use iPhones at work. At the moment the iPhone is only available on an 18-month consumer contract once you've passed a credit check. The iPhone tariffs are being changed from tomorrow. A spokeswoman for O2 told us: "I can't really say much more to be …

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  1. Dave

    vodafone

    horray, they've noticed GIGAbytes at last! Shame the service is so terrible really...

  2. Shabble
    Go

    No surprise

    In a market that comprises of largely 'free' contract phones, the iPhone was always going to saturate its market pretty quickly, and with sales underperforming it makes sense for Apple/O2 to change their marketing.

    Whilst many Apple products have gained wide acceptance in the UK, or maintained a cult status amongst a die-hard fanbase, the iPhone is seen by most Brits (esp outside London) as being a Yuppie status symbol bought by people with more money than sense, so it is logical to target the device at business users.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    Can we get it out the way now?

    "Waaaa - I hate the iPhone, it's rubbish and expensive, where's the 3G?"

    "No business would want to use the iPhone"

    "I think the iPhone's great"

    "If you hate it so much, don't buy one - no need to complain about it"

    Hopefully covered the big ones - no need to comment now?

  4. Bruce Robinson

    is the business user really that silly...?

    " bought by people with more money than sense, so it is logical to target the device at business users."

    and your point is ???

    If the general public can't be had by an expensive, up front cost for a phone, then lets try screwing a few bucks out of the business user after all it's not real money after all, the company and the taxpayer will be paying for it. Cool move.

  5. Orochimaru_Sannin

    W Mobile 7 for the mass

    When Mobile 7 comes out that may or may not solve most of the User Interface issues with W Mobile. If it does then it really doesn't make much business sense to be working off an iPhone other than A/V recreation and internet browsing since there are lots of W Mobile applications out there.

  6. Ian Watkinson
    Boffin

    WM7 or 8

    @Orochimaru_Sannin

    When it was pocket pc, wince was the answer. When it was Wm5, WM6 was the answer.

    Now WM7 is the answer?

    Perhaps when phone.exe is not the same as calc.exe and bluetooth.exe then I might believe you.

    WM phones make great pda's. They suck at being phones though.

    Nokia 6310i, now that's the answer...if you don't believe me, bring your wm7 phone and my 6310i, and we'll both drop them down three flights of stairs.

    First one after to order a pizza on their phone wins.

    For most business customers, 6310i, or 6021 or a whole host of "other" blue tooth no camera phones are the way forward, as they are usable anywhere.

    Iphone akin with all camera phones are not.

    Iphone will work ok for those business customers that are allowed camera phones as the lack of 3g is irrelevant as most will have a 3g card for their laptop anyway, and the iphone will stand in as a more stylish crackberry, having fairly good email on it. Not push at the moment, but it's trivially easy to one you have a moment push sync and check.

    I'd personally rather check my email when I've got time to respond rather than it beeping at me when I'm busy.

    But hey if you're a crackberry drone that lets email rule their lives, good on you, middle management needs more like you.

  7. Danny Thompson
    Thumb Up

    When WM7 ???? FFS

    "When Mobile 7 comes out that may or may not solve most of the User Interface issues with W Mobile."

    Apple have demonstrably been the masters of the HCI (UI in old money). It is telling, is it not, that it takes Microsoft 7 attempts at the OS to get as near as "...may or may not solve...." the same problem. I'm not Windows Mobile bashing, but the point is that Apple got that particular story right first go. One can then expect (or demand) that future iterations of the interface will steadily improve. It is also completely reasonable to anticipate that the ISV will write to the iPhone, applications will appear in 2008 to bring out the natural PDA that it is.

    Re the business use of the iPhone (and indeed the iPod Touch) - it is entirely logical [and practical] to do so. These two devices have the largest natural memory map of any PDA in existence. Leverage that, the HCI and the built-in comms of both and it makes complete sense to take this Gen.1 product and turn it to business use. If any of you were Apple you would do exactly the same.

    Why Lotus Notes? Because Windows has Outlook and Exchange pretty much to themselves (it is all M$'s own product). Notes also has a natural lever into many large corporates. Of course it won't satisfy the Microsoft camp, but it is not intended to - adopting Notes shows a clear policy at this time. Maybe, in time, Apple or a third party will develop an Exchange interface and the point will be moot.

    O2's iPhone tariff changes bring the iPhone into the same arena as the rival networks' £35 value packages. Looking across the networks tariffs one could be forgiven for suspecting that there is a cartel on the go. But GSMA would deny that, I digress. So it is reasonable to expect that many of the critics of the iPhone - by reason of the meagre initial tariff - will now be persuaded to jump onto the bandwagon. Certainly, overall, it is now a much more tempting proposition and - I believe that -it positions O2 for a 3G/HSDPA iPhone where the data elements would have an even greater appeal because of the higher speeds involved.

    What we are witnessing with iPhone and O2 is a cautious evolutionary approach rather than revolutionary. As a first bite of the cherry these two have done a fairly good job. Bear in mind that Apple are not performing an experiment with the iPhone, they are here to stay. O2 have strong business associations and an appealing business model. The nay-sayers won't hear a bit of it - but they don't really matter - history will show how wrong they were.

  8. Andy Worth

    Poseurs only

    Business-wise, there's no USEFUL features on an IPhone that you can't already find on a Blackberry for example, and the Blackberry is cheaper. So really the IPhone will only be of use to those who need it for show, so expect to see it in the hands of estate agents and field sales execs everywhere.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Just get iPod Touch and a phone

    Geeze 10 quid a day to data roam? They do realize there's thousands of free hotspots from restaurants, bars, service stations, shops, companies, etc. here.

    You don't need it, get a regular phone and an iPod Touch.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Linux

    Stuff it.

    Apple makes iPods and that’s about it. Just WAIT for the Dell/Google assimilation and the beast of a phone they will produce….

  11. JayKay
    Gates Horns

    @ Orochimaru_Sannin

    "When Mobile 7 comes out that may or may not solve most of the User Interface issues with W Mobile."

    Well sir, with that much certainty and confidence in your statement, I might just wait till 2010 for 'Mobile 7' to be released.

    I mean come on, since 1995 Microsoft have been over promising and under-delivering. What makes you think 'Mobile 7' will suddenly fix all the faults that are in Mobile 6?

    And here's a little piece of news for you - today is February 1st, and Apple have promised that an SDK for the iPhone & iPod touch will be available this month. I'd rather have an iPhone that works today, than a vapourware product that may or may not be released in the next 3-5 years from a company that may or may not get it right next time.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Alert

    WM6

    What's wrong with WM6? I've used WM2003, WM5 and WM6 for my last 3 handsets and each of them have done the job perfectly for what I've wanted (Phone, PDA and Internet device all in one). I can also easily knock up apps for it, and have done for years.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    corporate email?

    Our tech support folk say that iPhones cant be hooked up to our corporate email because there's no suitable VPN client on the phone, and no way to install one. Otherwise we'd all get rid of our current phones, Blackberries, PDAs and datacards - £35 a month for 600 minutes, email and 'unlimited' web browsing is very good value.

  14. Matt White
    Happy

    All this Windows Mobile stuff...

    Where's the love for Symbian?

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    RE: Just get iPod Touch and a phone

    @AC

    10 quid a day to roam is rather good (compared to before) for the convience of not having to wonder if there is a hotspot nearby. I currently use a 3G card while travelling in India on business for this very reason, and trust me it's a lot more expensive than this - hell my calls are more than that.

    Understand that most business users just want something that "works" and to hell with the cost. I could rely on wireless hotspots, but it just won't cut it if I'm in an unknown location. And yes I realise I'm dependent on being in an area with a mobile signal, but that's near enough a guarantee.

  16. Mage Silver badge

    Nokia

    E-Series

    regular email, Blackberry push or Exchange.

    VOIP on 3G or WiFi

    SMS and MMS and cut & paste and GPS that works.

    MGMaps internet tracking

    Some versions have no camera

    Nokia Widsets, yahoo Go, Google Mobile.

    Fring for IM clients

    Add applications or write your own in Java or Symbian native.

    GSM/GPRS/EDGE/3G/HSDPA. Some are 5 band radio.

  17. Karl Lattimer

    Re: Stuff it

    "beast of a phone"

    me thinks you have somewhat missed the point...

  18. Chad H.
    Thumb Down

    @ AC / Corporate Email

    When the SDK is released, that can be fixed.

    Whats the need for VPN anyway? Setup outlook web access on an exchange server, and the Iphone will be happy with that.

  19. Danny Thompson
    Paris Hilton

    Corporate eMail?

    "Our tech support folk say that iPhones cant be hooked up to our corporate email because there's no suitable VPN client on the phone, and no way to install one."

    Best you go sack all of your tech support then, because they're talking utter orbular things.

    The iPhone does indeed have built-in VPN support for L2TP and PPTP, with or without Proxy support. The built-in eMail client support IMAP, POP and Exchange (IMAP must be enabled on the Exchange server) - so there really is no reason at all why an iPhone with today's locked down apps couldn't work in a corporate environment.

    I suppose "tech support" lives in a M$ shop - in which case I don't suppose more needs to be said. If it isn't M$ it isn't.

    Paris, crying because she can't get tech support to come out of their bunker.

  20. paul kitteringham
    Unhappy

    vodafone price reduction

    Can anyone confirm vodafone has actualy reduced their mobile data tarrifs becasue i cannot find any reference to this on their website

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