IPHONE NEWS
O2 speaks out on iPhone 3G S upgrade row
'This would be a loss-making deal O2' |
We've been following the
criticism directed at O2 (and other
exclusivity contract holders) regarding existing customer upgrades to the new
iPhone 3G S, which has upset a great many loyal customers and avid users of Apple's handset.
It seems many of these customers are aggravated at the excessive costs of upgrading their device to the recently revealed iPhone 3G S, which is likely to cost in the region of £500 for existing users to end their current contract early and get the new, speedier handset.
In light of the criticisms, O2 has spoken out to defend its pricing scheme.
"Contract and upgrade terms for iPhone are exactly the same as contract and upgrade terms for any other O2 device," O2 general manager Steve Alder
says.
"Having subsidised much - or all, depending on tariff - of the price of a customer's iPhone 3G, we simply cannot justify invalidating that contract and subsidise a second device for the same customer."
That said, O2 points out that its three tiered membership does offer some level of choice in terms of the upgrade.
Platinum membership, for example, allows customers to upgrade a handset six months before their 18 month contract expires.
However, becoming a platinum user involves spending at least £80 per month, in which case the excessive upgrade costs probably don't matter to you anyway.
"Much as we understand the desire of many customers to have the latest version, this would be a loss-making deal for O2 and would be a distinct set of business terms for iPhone customers that don't apply to our other customers," Alder continues.
As annoying as it might be for loyal O2 customers, perhaps some of the blame should be
directed at Apple for instigating a 12 month hardware refresh cycle on a device that's only offered on 18 month or two year contracts.
The iPhone 3G S is scheduled to go on sale on June 19 in the UK, two days after the highly anticipated
3.0 software upgrade.
Joined:
Oct 2006
Post count:
683
it's all about desire. You don't have to upgrade if you don't want to folks!
crsrc | 15 June 2009
Thanks for the clarification splat. And all this time I was under the impression that upgrading was a requirement.
Maybe you meant to say, "you don't have to upgrade if you aren't ready to refinance your house."
Rob | 15 June 2009
No, I don't think he did, crsrc.
Joined:
Jul 2008
Post count:
393
I think much of the problem here is that O2 is dealing with requests for an iPhone upgrade as if they'd already done us a huge favour by selling us the previous model. To the iPhone user, the whole thing looks as though O2 has forgotten who the customer is.
Then again, all it's doing is preventing people from upgrading, rather than making a few extra sales and maintaining customer loyalty. It might regret this one is its exclusivity contract runs out.
rob | 15 June 2009
I have an iphone 3g and my contract runs out next Jan, why do iphone users expect to be treated any differant to other phone users,they signed the 18 month contract and should stick to it.I will upgrade in Jan simply because i would rather have a 32gb phone,The iphone is by far the bext phone out there and users should be happy with that.
HowieD | 15 June 2009
What this shows is exactly how bad our mobile operators are, screwing their customers for every last penny. The really annoying part about this is that they refuse to offer a 12 month contract, how can you blame Apple for that O2? Please offer us a more expensive 12 month contract rather than cheat us out of 6 months of calls we can never use.
How can they justify paying the whole of our contract fees, when these fees include service that will not be used? Does six months of service cost nothing? is my entire contract simply paying the cost of the iPhone?! Of course it isn't!
Stop stealing our money on this and any other phone contract.
Joined:
Apr 2009
Post count:
40
I was disappointed when I heard the news, but after reading many users comments, I tned to agree now. Any lengthy mobile contract is the same, and should be fulfilled. The iPhone is no different to any other costly mobile phone, and we signed a contract for a set term.
Is the iPhone 3GS really that much better and worth the extra hundreds of £ that existing 3G contract customers need to pay to upgrade? It's gives some nice new hardware improvements, but it's the addition commiting to another 18 month "sentence" with O2 that's put me off, as their 3G coverage is poor in my area. I rarely see "3G" reception on my handset.
The extra storage and the video recording is something I've needed for a long time, and jailbroke the phone just to use Cycorder. I don't know why Apple couldn't give existing 3G customers the video recording capability in 3.0 of the O/S. It will be sub-standard to the 3GS because of the hardware of the camera but it can be done, and MMS would be better too, sending short vids.
I've got 7 months left on my 3G contract, and I've thought about upgrading, but can't justify the termination fee, the cost of the phone and another lengthy contract with O2.
If I could raise the cash, I'd do the following:
- Sell my iPhone 3G (they're going for £350 for 8GB models)
- Buy a PAYG 3GS (using the cash from the above sale, plus the equivalent of 7 months x £35 termination fee I would've paid)
- Use it on my existing iPhone contract for the remaining 7 months
- After 7 months (or just before it ends, apply for the cheaper "Simplicity" plan, which only requires 30 days notice to cancel
The above leaves me owning my new phone outright, not tied to any lengthy new O2 contract, and also contract-free so I can upgrade to the next iPhone (or any competitor that tries to beat it) rumoured to be in 12 months time
crsrc | 15 June 2009
@HowieD, this is precisely the problem. Especially coming from the US where AT&T is completely and utterly incapable of providing the service required for the iPhone. Apple is and should be embarrassed for choosing them as the carrier for their home country
Merc | 15 June 2009
The problem is this: I wanted an Iphone so I went to the O2 shop and had a discussion with them. (I work in the telecoms industry so I know about contracts etc). I mentioned the last upgrade and future Iphones, the salesman said that with the Iphone contracts you get to upgrade to the new phones as and when they come out.
The subsidising was mentioned and O2 said that they were happy to subsidise the phone and create a contract where we get the latest phones. I know this is now lies however we are not moaning about length of contracts (ive had so many mobile contracts......!) its just about fairness and O2 changing the goalposts.
HowieD | 15 June 2009
If you sit down and do the maths, O2 is subsidizing the iPhone by approx £15 per month, if they wanted to not piss off their customers, they could easily offer a deal of paying off the remaining amount of contract phone subsidy which if you bought the iPhone 3G at launch would be £90 (at most), hell they could call it £99 to squeeze some extra profit. That would leave a total upgrade cost of approx £270 for a 16gb iPhone 3GS instead of £500! Personally I don't mind paying off my contract as I don't intend to do any further business with O2. They can go fly a kite for all I'm concerned.
