Byrnesys Blabberings

I first got my hands on an iphone about a month before they cam out in the UK, not because Im some technology guru who apple felt the need to run it past me before going to the shops, but because I happened across some travelling americans who had one and let me play (and drool) over it.

Needless to say I was impressed and was clicking refresh twice a second on news sites to hear which network was to be trusted with the UK release, checking release dates, and tech site estimations on the expected prices. A few weeks down the line and o2 was announced as the UK carrier and the date was set.

While I always expected the iPhone itself to carry a hefty price tag (coming in at £269 while most phones on the market are now free with contract) I didn’t expect O2 to be so unbelievably grippy with their monthly tariffs. For those of who who havent tracked down the true cost of owning an iPhone in the UK needless to say its very expensive. Essentially you get 200 mins and 200 texts for £35, 600 mins and 500 texts for £45 etc etc. So for any decent amount of minuites you have to pay at least £45, adding in the iPhone price to that the phone a tariff is costing over £1000 for 18 months. This is, so were told , justified by the fact that the contract includes unlimited data (internet and email attachments aren’t charged at the usual extortionate per MB prices) and the fact the contract entitles the phone to connect to 7500 wireless networks run by the cloud and its partners. But in actual fact there is no way anyone could have release the content based iPhone on a contract with a per MB rate and the wifi connectivity will pay for itself in terms of iTunes access and such like which it affords the user.

Despite the numbers making absolutely NO sense, I happened passed the o2 store on saturday while shopping for Christmas presents and had another play, and even though it was somewhat sticky thanks to the fingers of some sugar covered little kids hands I was once again transported into the realms of desire.

With the iPhone apple have done something every other company has dreamed of, the product was in my hand and I didnt even care that I could buy a car for the same price as 18 months ownership, all concept of "making sense" fell away.

You will however, probably be glad to know I dont have the odd £1000 sitting around and so I didn’t indulge myself with this new technology, but Apple have certainly made one serious shake up for the mobile phone industry and (I guess we’ll see) imaginably similar revolution that the iPod brought into the world of music devices.

END NOTE: I like this satirical take on Apple’s market the iPhone shuffle - Press one button and it calls a random person in your address book!