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The smartphone tariff for the network
Mobile phone network Three has launched its smartphone friendly ‘One Plan’ tariff squarely aimed at mobiles that use lots of bandwidth, at a lower cost. The tariff starts from £25 a month, with a 1GB data allowance - which is usually double the amount seen elsewhere and at the same cost.
This tariff also has bundled in 2000 minutes to any network, with 5000 more to call other Three customers and 5000 texts – all from £25 a month. The One Plan is for a standard SIM or even a micro-SIM at 12 months or a 24 month contract, escalating in value if there’s a new phone attached where there is also a 6 months free Spotify Premium account included.
Three highlight on the One Plan, someone could check Facebook more than 65,000 times, watch up to 30-minutes a day of YouTube each month and send more than 1,000 texts a week. Also, speak for more than one hour every day to anyone on another network, along with calling for more than two-hours a day other Three phone numbers – all at the same cost.
This does appear to be the most comprehensive smartphone plan to date, and one that gives the other networks a real run for their money – especially where the iPhone 4 is concerned and its data allowance. Three believe this tariff is the start of the flat-plan tariffs, which many networks will start to adopt in the future.
Three
 Orange has just made public the news that a SIM adaptor will be bundled with its iPhone 4, all in order to allow regular phones access to the much smaller SIM card that now accompanies the new Apple handset. This information came from Orange’s PR Manager via picture posted on Twitter and is news that hasn’t been made public before by the network, or any other network retailing the mobile.
The smaller microSIM card which really hasn’t been seen before won’t be able to natively fit into a regular SIM card slot currently on mobile phones, where Orange appears to be the first to include the ability to use microSIMs elsewhere by way of this very adaptor.
Besides just creating news for news sake in a week where every network wants that little piece of leverage over its competition – it is actually a good feature. The larger SIM card can work in other mobiles if the iPhone 4 has been damaged, also contacts on existing phones can be copied over to the SIM card effortlessly too.
Link - http://twitter.com/ConorfromOrange/statuses/16682481385
I’d quite like an iPhone but don’t want to be tied to a two-year contract. When looking at the TCO of most plans, you’re looking at something starting at £900 even for the most basic plans (75 minutes, 250 SMS and 1GB data).
Consider that O2 offer the iPhone on Pay as you Go from £449 (£440 on Orange) and you start to wonder what the extra £550 gives you. When averaged out on a two-year plan that gives you nearly £23 a month to play with. O2 offer a 1 month rolling Simplicity deal specifically for the iPhone giving you 300 minutes, unlimited texts and unlimited data & WiFi for £20 a month with a 1 month commitment.
Even with interest taken into account, getting a PAYG iPhone on your credit card and partnering it with a SIM-only deal from the same network is the cheapest way to buy giving you the benefit of a generous allowance and tieing you in for the shortest time.
If you want to be truly independent, you can get a SIM-free (unlocked) iPhone for around £800. You can get them cheaper, but they are usually hacked versions where you cannot update the software or you will relock the device to the original network.
Vodafone do not offer the iPhone on PAYG at the time of writing.
I have tried many touchscreen devices and always go back to numerical keys. Here’s why.
- I can touch type on a keyed device. A touch screen has no tactile feedback making it useless for non-sighted use.
- With a keyed device, the numeric keypad is by far the most gracious design. It constrains the input area sufficiently that I can operate the device using one hand and I need very limited movement in my thumb to operate it. Held in either hand, the side-keys on my Nokia E51 are in easy reach of my fingers and the main keypad sits nicely under my thumb. With a touchscreen, you need two hands if you are to avoid very awkward stretching and balancing.
- After a little time, T9 input is faster than QWERTY. Because I only have to move among 12 keys, I don’t have to look and optically digest an entire keyboard. Tengo provide a QWERTY version of T9 for Windows Mobile devices (I think they may have gone under).
- Constraining input to fewer keys removes the awkwardness of a multi-faceted input UI. There is no doubt that the back key on my device will always perform back functions. Even on the iPhone, this is performed by an on-screen button which isn’t always in exactly the same place. This is more true of the ’send’ or ‘green’ button. For touchscreen devices this is often anywhere on the screen which means you have to hunt for it.
- Keys offer me precise control. I know when I have pressed the key and I get immediate feedback. For a touchscreen I have often experienced a ‘dead touch’ where the screen hasn’t registered my finger.
It’s like a big iPhone, without the phone
You’ve probably already heard about it, but last Wednesday’s mystery Apple event turned out (not unexpectedly) to be the launch of a tablet computer. Chief Executive/Emperor Steve Jobs had his ‘fully operational battle station’ moment, surprising the media with the name iPad, and ensuring a copyright battle with Fujitsu, who launched a handheld computing device for retail stock control called iPad back in 2003.
Jobs’ presentation skills are polished, and he was at his best, enthusing listeners with his belief that the product fills a gap in the market. He says it sits between smartphones and laptops, and should claim the position currently usurped by upstart netbooks. Jobs promoted the merits of iPad as a better experience than any current handheld or laptop, for browsing, email, photos, video, music, games and eBooks. Apple aren’t in the business of making small claims.
It was easy to be mesmerised and buy into these ideas, and outside of all hype, the iPad is impressive. The 9.7” touchscreen has a resolution of 1024×768 and does appear to provide a dreamy browsing experience. I have no doubt that this is a cool product, and my gadget-sense tingles a bit, but I don’t want one.
I feel attached to my keyboard and mouse. Apple acknowledge this and already plan a combined keyboard and charger dock. Yes, I think it would be vaguely nice to be able to just grab my monitor screen and carry it around like a book, but it’s only a distant thought, I have no real desire. iPhone popularised the app, but everything the iPad does seems to me to be already popular.
The Apple A4 1GHz chip is powerful in phone terms, but nothing when compared to the processors in my desktop or laptop. It has no extra graphical support and we don’t know how much RAM will be available. Plus the idea of 6 versions being launched irks me, a clutch of three Wi-Fi iPads first in April (with 16, 32 or 64G of storage), then the same again later with 3G access. Nonsense.
Finally, and as usual, this is an Apple only bandwagon. No USB port to plug in third-party gizmos, and no expandable memory. Once you buy that 16GB version for $499, you’re stuck with it.
If I have plenty of spare cash (I wish!), I may go for an iPad 2 or 3 in a couple of years. Or I may not.
One week and 100,000 sales
It’s being reported that Vodafone has shifted 100,000 iPhone units in its first week of sales. Including pre-orders for both networks, Vodafone has topped Orange’s 30,000 launch day sales by an additional 20,000 and then gone on to sell the next 50,000 about twice as fast.
Although Vodafone does have a larger market share, the difference is only a couple of percentage points and doesn’t explain such rapid sales. Now that UK customers can get an iPhone with O2, Orange, Tesco or Vodafone, perhaps customers are more happy to purchase without the grief of feeling artificially forced to change their network. Vodafone have also been flexible in allowing early upgrades and incentivising existing customers repurchase. Also, it’s been my experience that Vodafone customers are extremely loyal to their brand, more so than any other UK customers.
There’s still no price war, with everyone charging virtually the same total cost on 18 or 24 month plans. Vodafone also followed the pack by setting a 1GB allowance on its iOfferings. iPhone popularity has been identified as causing major strain on 3G capacity, a trend that seems likely to continue to challenge all carriers.
Allows anyone to take a credit card payment
Here’s a demo (thanks to technology investor Kevin Rose) of a prototype credit card reading dongle that plugs into the headphone jack of an iPhone.
The easy to use, secure system (no details are held on the phone) has the potential to turn anyone into a credit card merchant. The user runs the magnetic strip of the card through the reader, signs the touchscreen using a finger, and then enters their email address to receive a receipt showing the amount and location of the transaction.
A cool idea, and great for the United States, but European credit cards have mostly moved away from magnetic strip storage, to more secure inbuilt chip and pin cards. The kit to read magnetic strips is really cheap, but devices capable of decoding the information held on a chip would push the cost up substantially.
Square is a start up company fronted by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey. Set up in February 2009 it’s brought the prototype to market in a very short time.
 Apple (and others) take a bite out of Microsoft
FierceDeveloper, a web site for mobile application developers has published statistics from comScore, a market research pundit. The stats purport to show market share, but really show current users in a market increasing over time.
Engadget ran the story this morning, and forecast WinMo losing out further as Android-powered and Palm devices are available in the new year.
I have colleagues who are raving fans of Windows Mobile, but their turn to get excited about a new version could still be a year away.
Vaunted price war feels a bit Cold
 Tesco make it, and scoop Vodafone by becoming the next UK provider of Apple iPhones. Its mobile arm, an MVNO in partnership with O2 will sell the devices from Monday morning, well in time for Christmas sales.
Offering the only 12-month contract terms that allow customers to get hold of Apple’s flagship phone, it’s very likely to sell well, if not fly off the shelves. But does it really bring anything valuable to consumers?
Promising low, flat rate calls to any UK network, anytime, the pricing follows T-Mobile Flext plans with a value allowance using up 20p per minute and 10p per text. Not so low in supermarket terms with Vodafone-Asda’s MVNO, Asda Mobile iPhone-less but selling at 8p/4p.
Only pennies so far separate O2 and Orange iPhone pricing. When you take base TCO and divide by 18-month contract length, the iPhone 3G 8GB is just under £35 a month and the top spec iPhone 3Gs 16GB just over £44.50 with both operators.
Tesco’s 12-month plans come in with the 3G at £38.50 and the 3Gs 16GB for £53.92.
On prepay, all three companies headline costs are within £1 of each other. War? What is it good for? Fill in the lyric.
I’ve scoured the website and been on the phone to Tesco Mobile (the agents were lovely, well mannered and patient with me), but no news yet on the fair use policy for Tesco’s version of unlimited data and Wi-Fi. I lampooned Orange for their naff 750MB limit so I hope the launch date brings more exciting news. I’ll keep you posted.
My view? There will be a new iPhone out next year anyway to blow these all out of the water. If you just gotta, gotta, gotta have one now, take the iPhone 3G 8GB 12-month plan from Tesco. Make your ‘lifestyle choice’, be part of the brand and save around £160 overall. You’ll be untied earlier when the next version comes out, just be prudent with your call and text allowance.
Perhaps Vodafone will truly shake things up a little when it releases pricing details? What am I thinking?
Price war on the way?
No pricing details yet, but Tesco Mobile announce they will be stocking the iPhone, they hope in time for Christmas. The joint 50:50 MVNO with O2 has an option to register interest on its web site, and may beat Vodafone at being the next UK provider to have the iPhone available for customers.
There have been months of speculation about an iPhone price war, but no carrier has broken ranks yet. Will Britain’s largest supermarket keep the promise made to the Financial Times “to bring a piece of Tesco value to the iPhone”?
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