Results tagged “02” from Birmingham Mail - Technobabble

I see the new 3G iphone has come out in the shops to a host of supply problems.

Main supplier 02 has revealed that each of its stores will literally have a 'few dozen' of the handsets to sell.

This means a lot of people desperate to get their hands on the 3G enabled phones will be disappointed for some time.

Is this situation in any way related to the fact that 02 had thousands of onsold original iphone handsets left on their hands the last time?

Readers will recall that I blogged on this at the time, and railed at the mega-high price plus crippling monthly charges.

Would it be cynical to suggest that 02 might have decided it would be better to create a 'buzz', with headlines about shortages and keen consumers left empty handed?

After all it has become standard policy in the electronics industry. Every console launch is accompanies by shortage of supply with queues of parents trying to get it in time for Christmas.

Below: not coming to a store near you - the iphone 3G.

Mobile phone retailers have announced that the price of the iPhone is to be slashed for the next month.

This means cuts of around £100 for the much-hyped device.

The Carphone Warehouse and mobile phone operator O2 said they would sell the 8GB iPhone for £169 until June 1.

This is a cut of more than a third of the gadget's original price within five months of its much-anticipated launch.

But Apple stores will continue to sell the 8GB phone for £269.

So has it been a runaway success? Clearly slashing the price soon after launch has nothing whatsoever to do with disappointing sales, say the shops.

In fact O2 today described it as their fastest selling device. But they don't qualify the statement - so it might have been the fastest selling ever on launch day, for example.

After all, anyone waiting in anticipation for the launch would probably have bought it immediately. Also consider that in your average 02 shop there must be 30 phones on sale at any one time - so a standout product like the iphone would be expected to perhaps out perform other mobiles which have many rivals.

I certainly wouldn't be surprised that people haven't been flocking to buy a device for £269 with a minimum £35 monthly contract, data limits and functions that most people wouldn't ever use.