I-Phone piling up in stores

[Scrooge]

An article on crave is reporting that there are some 670 000 I-Phones sitting on the shelves of ATT stores nation wide (US)

While the I-Phone is nice, a number of reasons are being given for the slow sales, the one thing they are missing is the fact that ATT will not allow you to use your loyalty credit with the IPhone so whilst the early adopters/Apple heads are more than happy to shell out $400 for the phone I think it is starting to become clear that unless ATT start discounting stock piles will continue.

link

[mcmbenjamin]

Also (until VERY recent) there was not a text plan for the iPhone that was unlimited.

The younger people this side of the pond would rather have a phone with decent ringtones.

I love my iphone but the thought there are teams of people dedicated to stopping people getting their own music on their own phone is ridiculous,

[Scrooge]

After playing with a Blackberry Pearl for the last couple of days I may off found a winner whilst the I-Phone is what I want I just can't see paying $400 for a phone when the Pearl will do what I want..for free.

Originally posted by easygoingeezer
The younger people this side of the pond would rather have a phone with decent ringtones.

In my case, it was for a phone on a price plan which was value for money. Don't get me wrong I want an iPhone myself but at this moment in time it doesn't meet my criteria.

Although I'll accept a few years ago (this was when I was still in high school) I was part of the crowd who looked for a phone that was able to play decent ringtones (i.e. polyphonic ringtones).

It's amazing how quick mobile phone technology moves on, or is it me showing my age at 18? [:I]

some good news for UK customers too, new and existing...

Link

[Bazz]

Interesting reductions... ...still, I will stick with my Nokia N95 with 8GB micro SD card at least until the next generation I-Phone appears. The N95 has Wi-Fi, GPS Sat Nav and an excellent 5MP camera and a host of other features so compares favourably with the 8GB I-Phone, in my books anyway.

I am so glad I was tight and went for the £35 tariff as the new 500 text 600 minutes will do me just fine[:D]

Cool just got the text from )2, I was going to upgrade at the weekend, glad my being attached to my playstatiuon3 made me forget about it.

[Pete]

Judging by the availability of iPhones outside the 'official' markets, I think Crave (and other news sources) have seriously underestimated the amount of iPhones that have been sold with the intention of unlocking and selling into China, Hong Kong, Brasil, and many, many other markets.

If there really were 670K units still in the channel, and assuming there are 4,400 retail outlets, it's ridiculous to think each and every store would have a pile of 150 iPhones sitting in their stock room. Most of those smaller O2 shops don't have the storage space for that much inventory.

I believe it's much more likely that at least a million units have been exported to countries like Hong Kong where the desire for the iPhone is so high.

[mitchja]

How is the battery standing up on the iPhone?

I know a couple of people who have given up with N95's as they wheren't even lasting 8 hours between charge cycles [:0]

Regards

[Pete]

Originally posted by mitchja
How is the battery standing up on the iPhone?

Haven't been timing it - but appears to be excellent. I generally pop it on the charger at the end of the day, but even when I don't it's still got over 50% at the end of the second day.

Watched a full movie on the phone yesterday, and the battery level barely dropped.

So far, very impressive.

Surfing seems to hammer the capacity somewhat,but I usually manage a couple of days between charges.

[Bazz]

Originally posted by mitchja
...I know a couple of people who have given up with N95's as they wheren't even lasting 8 hours between charge cycles [:0]

Regards

I had heard that from a couple of people too James. Personally I charge my N95 overnight and it lasts the whole day with plenty in reserve.

Interesting topic this. I was in the Apple store a couple of weeks ago and asked how the sales were going the response was not so good.

The guy I was speaking to was saying the vast majority of 20 somethings who normally flock to the latest macbook or ipod are just not interested in the iphone. The guy indicated that phones such as the new LG are being chosen over the iphone as the plans are much better and the phone is pretty much free. What was interesting was he advised me to stick with my current contract, buy an ipod touch from O2 and invest in paying the £3 a month (IIRC) in having access to the 7,000 wifi spots.

He said the majority of the staff are of the opinion that Apple will have to cut the price of the handset which is 'crazy money' compared to the ipod touch and a regular phone combination.

Have to agree with him really. I would love an iphone but cannot justify shelling out for the handset when my current phone deal beats it hands down.

Originally posted by willd
Interesting topic this. I was in the Apple store a couple of weeks ago and asked how the sales were going the response was not so good.

The guy I was speaking to was saying the vast majority of 20 somethings who normally flock to the latest macbook or ipod are just not interested in the iphone. The guy indicated that phones such as the new LG are being chosen over the iphone as the plans are much better and the phone is pretty much free. What was interesting was he advised me to stick with my current contract, buy an ipod touch from O2 and invest in paying the £3 a month (IIRC) in having access to the 7,000 wifi spots.

He said the majority of the staff are of the opinion that Apple will have to cut the price of the handset which is 'crazy money' compared to the ipod touch and a regular phone combination.

Have to agree with him really. I would love an iphone but cannot justify shelling out for the handset when my current phone deal beats it hands down.

That's why I didn't go for the iPhone. The plans aren't great to start (although that is due to change) but I can't justify paying over £200 for the handset where there are other phones on the market that offer similar/identical/better features than the iPhone and are on better deals appealing to all ends of the spectrum (from PAYG through to high-end contracts).

So to me, the price tag for the handset is in the same way that you would buy a BMW 3-Series over a Ford Mondeo, its more for the badge than the actual product. Although I accept that other factors come into play when choosing a phone (and a car!).

Hopefully Apple will slash the prices soon on the handset (or for later generation handsets) as it looks a really good phone, but with a price tag to baulk over!

[Pete]

Originally posted by willd

The guy I was speaking to was saying the vast majority of 20 somethings who normally flock to the latest macbook or ipod are just not interested in the iphone. The guy indicated that phones such as the new LG are being chosen over the iphone as the plans are much better and the phone is pretty much free.

Interesting that an employee of an Apple Store would (a) know this market info about LG, and (b) volunteer it. If I was his line manager, I'd be scribbling up his P45.

[Darren Wheeler]

Originally posted by mitchja
How is the battery standing up on the iPhone?

I know a couple of people who have given up with N95's as they wheren't even lasting 8 hours between charge cycles [:0]

Regards

This is the only bit of mobile technology that hasn't really moved on in the last 5 years. Life has increased but only due to improvements at the base station end. Having your phone set to 3G if you are in poor/no 3G coverage will eat into the life as it will constantly hunt for a 3G signal.

On my N95 the maps/GPS really hits into the life with web browsing not far behind it. Hopefully then fuel cells finally become available things will improve.

[Scrooge]

The 4400 stores I think refers to the AT&T stores in the US.

Stopped by one today...talked to my tech head sales guy...they aren't selling any now...at first they were sold out (of course) but now people see the price, the fact that you can't use a loyalty credit towards it and the rate plans are just out of line.

In the end I think if they lowered the price a couple of hundred dollars or allowed people to use their loyalty money these things would still be flying of the shelf, but when you can pick up a Pearl for $99 and have a lower monthly bill your average punter isn't going to look twice at the I-Phone.

Which makes me think...back in the day cell phones were for the few, they were expensive and plans included no minutes.

In the race to gain more users companies are now pretty much giving away phones, as a culture is a phone like the I-Phone with it's rate plans ever going to catch on with the main stream ? or will the majority still go for the next to nothing phones ?