Lance Wiggs

So the iPhone is in the UK – with O2. The interesting thing is that, like the USA, the iPhone is not coming with any 3G high speed mobile internet. Instead Apple and O2 have signed a deal with The Cloud, giving iPhone users free WiFi access at 7,500 UK locations.

We don’t have that option in New Zealand, so perhaps we’ll have to wait for late 2008 before we get the ‘proper’ 3G iPhone. So you may as well be like the Australians, and buy one.

Sadly Trade Me seems to be lacking iPhones, perhaps because of high scammer potential. Is TM is removing these? If so why? and please stop – there is a real market and I can’t think why we can’t buy them.  Meanwhile eBay has a bunch, but watch for scammers as they are attracted to the latest greatest kit.

Apple is apparently making big dollars from the telcos, who are kicking a decent percentage of their fees for the privilege of being launch operators.

One great thing Apple has done for the UK market is to get O2 to launch ‘all you can eat’ EDGE and WiFi broadband. That seems to be a market first, and hopefully the others’ will follow.

Sadly though Apple appears to have a country by country strategy, so those international roaming charges, especially data charges, will still be an issue. While Apple is shaking up the market structure, how about a global iPhone, or at least a pan-European iPhone?