Extra details on the Tesco Mobile iPhone deal
You’ve probably seen that Tesco have announced the availability and pricing of the iPhone on Tesco Mobile. You’ll be able to pick it up from any Tesco store that sells phones Tesco Stores that contain Phone Shops (there’s a list here) from December 14th. PAYG iPhones are available online from Tesco Phone Shop, and from from Customer Services on 0845 600 4411.
There are a few things that their iPhone page doesn’t mention, such as whether tethering or an unlock will be allowed. I’ve been in touch with the very helpful Jo at Tesco Mobile PR, and here is some info that may swing your decision to chuck an iPhone into the basket with your Christmas turkey.
The long road to Cannes
If you’re a fan of keenly focussed and very informed comment on mobile, then you really should sign up for the Mobile Industry Review weekly newsletter. This week’s edition really chimed with me as a vision of what a truly connected mobile life could be, and how the iPhone is a pathfinder, edging towards it.
As Ewan of MIR points out, the signifying role of the mobile of the future can be summed up in one word: Enablement. That is, allowing the mobile user to do whatever they need to do, seamlessly and easily.
But there’s a big problem, which may stop this party before it gets started.
BBC accidentally reveals native iPlayer app?
I’m absolutely indebted to antshez for emailing me with this tip. Earlier today the BBC started sharing detailed data on iPlayer usage. They revealed that there were 79 million requests for on-demand and live iPlayer content in October 2009, of which a significant percentage – 7% or 5.5 million requests – were from the iPhone and iPod Touch.
You can download the Powerpoint presentation directly here, but for me, the most interesting thing is not the popularity of the iPhone platform in iPlayer statistics. The most interesting part is the graphic on the front page of the Powerpoint file, which shows a brand new interface for iPlayer on the iPhone.
The cheapest way to get a pay monthly iPhone on Orange UK
LAST UPDATED: November 18th 2009
November 10th has come and gone, and O2 is no longer the sole iPhone provider in the UK. I already have an article describing the cheapest way to get an iPhone on O2, and to be honest, the pricing from Orange is quite similar – there’s no price war at the moment. But there are a few differences that could make it worthwhile choosing Orange as your iPhone network, if you’re basing your decision on price alone.
So, read on for a quick guide highlighting the total cost of ownership for a pay monthly iPhone on Orange (the Pay As You Go article will be along shortly…)
Watch live UK TV on your iPhone
I’ve been happily watching BBC iPlayer on my iPhone for a while now. It’s a shame the other UK channels haven’t followed suit in opening up their offerings to iPhone users, but it’s understandable given the problems that the Beeb have had with their shows being unofficially downloaded.
But what about live TV? Catchup TV is all well and good, but sometimes you just want to watch live. Unless you’ve streamed it yourself using Slingplayer, Orb or EyeTV, then you’ve been out of luck. That is, until a couple of days ago when TVCatchup opened up a beta of their new service.
The beginning of the end of O2’s iPhone exclusivity
I’m sure you’ve heard that T-Mobile are giving iPhones to some customers in the UK. As with the unlocked iPhones available on Play.com, these are grey market imports that are not locked to any network. T-Mobile customers will apparently be offered an iPhone 3G if they spend £75+ per month and threaten to leave.
Initially, this will only affect a small number of high spending customers. And, it has to be seen in context of T-Mobile trying to maintain subscriber numbers – in order to make themselves more attractive if the network is sold.
But for the first time, you can now get an officially-supported iPhone in the UK on a network other than O2. Are we about to see iPhones available on other networks as well?
Now with video capture
Back in June just prior to the 3GS announcement I wrote,
“But what if Phil Schiller and company take to the stage tonight and announce the much rumoured iPhone Video? What if it has autofocus? What if it has VGA resolution? What if it has a rock solid 30 frames per second frame rate? What if it has an effective video editing solution? What if it captures stereo sound? What if it has digital zoom that actually works? What if…”
As we now know the iPhone 3GS brought many of these features to the table. Autofocus, VGA, rock solid 30 frames per second and even a basic but powerful editing and distribution solution.
Pricing sanity seems to have prevailed in the iPhone App Store
Phase 1 in the iPhone App Store was the initial ramp up and the very first applications – this didn’t take long to work through, only a matter of weeks. Applications were sensibly priced. Serious app? Call it $15 or so, commensurate with the work taken to create it.
Then we had 6 months of utter craziness. With applications appearing in their thousands (literally – though 900 of each thousand was complete rubbish), the prevailing wisdom seemed to be that developers had to price their apps at a dollar or so to stand any chance at all of success – anything more expensive and sales wouldn’t be high enough to make it into the top 25/50 table – which, as we all know, is where the real stars live. (more…)
Unofficial tethering with O2 – a word of caution
Are you all upgraded to iPhone OS 3.0 now? Good. Then you’re probably aware that the new firmware allows you to tether; that is, use your iPhone’s data connection to provide internet access to a computer (via Bluetooth or USB). It’s been possible to do this for quite a while on jailbroken iPhones, using apps such as PDANet, but to be honest the experience has always been slow and flaky. Having it built into the iPhone’s own operating system makes a lot more sense.
What doesn’t make sense is O2’s pricing. If you want to tether, O2 would like £15/month for 3GB or £30 for 10GB. That’s a lot of money, especially when you compare it to say Three’s offer of £15 for 15GB/month. And also when other phones can effectively tether for free without having to pay O2 extra.
Wouldn’t it be nicer to tether easily for free? Of course it would, and you can. But be aware – I believe O2 are able to monitor unofficial tethering with little effort.
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iPhone 3G to 3G S on O2 – upgrades and insurance
Have you heard? 😉 There’s been a bit of discontent about O2’s attitude towards existing iPhone 3G customers who would like to upgrade to the new iPhone 3G S, which is due to be released in the UK on Friday.
There is no special upgrade deal available (unlike AT&T users). When the iPhone 3G came out last year, existing iPhone customers on O2 with original (2G) iPhone were allowed to break their contracts and upgrade to the new device. No such joy this time.
So how can existing O2 customers get an iPhone 3G S now?
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