Simplicity for the iPhone - O2

Following on from a series of tweets I thought I'd put down what I know here so people have a point of reference (and can also correct me if I'm wrong)

Just discovered my iPhone contract ran out last month although O2 didn't actually tell me or remind me.

I rang them over another botch up where they'd put a Data bolt on to my account as requested for my trip to Blogworld last October. They did say they'd cancel it after a month but didn't. Fairly easy to sort out and a refund is being processed.

However, what to do now my iPhone contract is finished?

Well, it transpires I can move to a new 30 day contract reducing my £35 per month to £20 per month. The contract is called Simplicity for iPhone 20. This includes 600 minutes of calls and 1200 text messages plus unlimited data. The operator didn't mention any change to Visual Voicemail or wifi roaming. 

There is a standard Simplicity 20 plan for other phones but this one is specifically for existing iPhone customers coming off the iPhone plan. The standard simplicity 20 plan does not include data.

If you have any further info or links, feel free to drop in the comments.

The £20 per month is still more than I use but it's better for me. I should really be an iPod touch user for the limited amount of time I actually use the phone part of the iPhone but it's just so handy when I do need it!

Bring on the next iPhone, I'm out of contract and ready ;-) 

Update on Tuesday, January 19, 2010 at 12:06PM by Don McAllister

Following on further tweets saying Visual Voicemail and Wifi roaming are not included, I took the radical step of ring OS again. The lady assures me that the services on Simplicity for iPhone remain exactly the same and do include Visual Voicemail and data roaming. This seems sensible to me? Why would they remove core functionality from the phone. The reduced price is purely to offset the absence of the subsidised component of the hardware which is completed once the original contract is completed.

iPhone App Store: Let the Market Decide

That Wil Shipley has nailed it again: iPhone App Store: Let the Market Decide Not one sentiment in that post that I disagree with!

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Managing the App Store

I recently subscribed to an RSS feed that brings notification of all the recently released iPhone Apps straight into my RSS reader. Pretty neat! If you want to subscribe, you can use this link The only problem is the number of apps being released on a daily basis is getting to the point where I can't keep up and the worst point is the majority of apps are pretty dire I currently have 117 unread entries for new Apps in my RSS reader and I just haven't got the time (or the stomach) to go through them all to see what's interesting and what's dross. My hope is that the best apps will make themselves known via blogs, podcasts and personal recommendations so I won't miss out.

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How Much is a Slot on a WWDC Keynote Worth....

... or why developers are falling over themselves to develop for the iPhone and get into the App store! This post was inspired by a tweet from John Gruber who commented that the indie developer from the UK who developed "Band" and appeared on the WWDC keynote would soon be a Millionaire. I sort of grinned and let that once pass over me but when I did some simple math, he's absolutely right. Although no pricing for "Band" was mentioned in the keynote, let's assume that he releases it for $9.99 in line with the other applications that were priced accordingly. His appearance on the keynote and the impressive (yet fun) demo would probably make most people who saw that demo, get the app even if only to show off the capabilities of the iPhone. Lets go with the current available market of 1st generation iPhones which Steve announced as 6,000,000. We all know that this will surge to a much larger figure once the iPhone 3G is launched, but lets stick with 6,000,000 - the App store will be rolled out to these 6,000,000 iPhones come July and the "Band" application will no doubt be a "featured" app on the App store - as seen on the WWDC keynote. Now obviously, not everyone will buy it, but at an assumed price of $9.99, it's likely to be an impulse buy for a lot of people. They've seen it demo'd so they know what to expect! Lets run the theoretical numbers:

So that's even with a highly pessimistic view of only selling to 1% of the current market, the developer has the potential to earn $419,580 USD (with a healthy $179,820 going to Apple) A potentially more realistic 5% or even 10% sales will generate sales of almost $3,000,000 and $6,000,000 with 70% going direct to the developer (that's $2,097,900 and $4,195,800 respectively). What's even more amazing is that this is pure profit to the developer after Apple have taken their margin! No distribution costs, no marketing costs, no credit card fees, nothing, nada, his job is done - OK, there may be support work or enhancing the application, but the bulk of the work is covered. Apple will just write him a big fat juicy cheque at the end of each month. Now of course, there is no certainty that he will reach those numbers, or even that he will charge $9.99 for his app, so these figures could be well in excess of reality but it's equally uncertain that I've under estimated. The total iPhone market could increase to 18 million within the next 12 months and each iPhone has direct access to the App store and the purchase of the "Band" application is but a single click away for many, many millions of iPhone users. Good luck to him I say! Now obviously not all applications will have this level of take up but there will be killer apps developed for the iPhone and the App store is a perfect delivery mechanism to all developers to get their applications out to a huge potential market Now where's that link to download the SDK?

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Why Are Apple Getting Battered By the Analysts?

Disclaimer: I no nothing of the workings of the Stock Market. That said, I'm amazed at the amount of negativity and spin being heaped on Apple by the Analysts which in turn is depressing Apples stock price to the point of incredulity? Most of the reasons for these attacks seems to be nervousness about the iPod and iPhone sales figures. Don't these highly paid guys get it? The iPhone will canabalise iPod Sales - Duh! Yeah! I'm sure Apple are petrified that Apple will take away it's market leading position. iPod sales are slowing down - Apple are positioning the iPod Touch and the iPhone as a brand new mobile internet platform. They've seen the potential for saturation of the existing music player marketplace and are engineering a whole new class of device as only Apple can. Have you seen the latest iPod touch commercial? What's that - about 5% of the commercial shows the music/movie capabilities of the device. Yes, it's a play by Apple to move current iPod owners into a whole new experience. No 3G iPhone - wah! - OK, so no 3G iphone yet but it's in the works and has been confirmed as being available in 2008. One less thing for the detractors to moan about. No support for the Enterprise User - I've seen plenty of examples of the iPhone being used in business. Let's see what happens once the SDK and Enterprise features are announced on Thursday. Future Growth of the iPhone - Apple have been very careful and calculated on how they've rolled out new features to the iPhone to the point where they've readied the platform (along with the iPod touch) for an explosion of third party apps. The sheer number of amazing web based services tailored specifically for the iPhone give just a glimpse of the potential of these devices. The amazing metrics being touted of how the existing iPhones are utilising Internet traffic and internet searches at up to 50 times more than existing mobile phones even after less that 12 months launch just indicates to me the potency of the device as an internet communicator. Once the SDK is made available and developers can start creating third party applications for personal and business use, the current desirability of the iPhone should expand dramatically. The iPhone Range - The current sales of the iPhone are based on what is essentially a single model albeit with two RAM configurations. Will Apple keep a single model? Of course not, just as now you have an iPod at virtually every price point:

• iPod Shuffle
• iPod Nano
• iPod Classic
• iPod Touch

this has taken several years to get to this point. Apple will eventually do exactly the same with the iPhone, bringing out a range of phones at specific price points with increasing functionality and features. But that's just the phone! The Mac is going from strength to strength and acknowledged as the premium personal computer with the leading Operating System. They have a range of laptops acknowledged as leaders in design and performance, heck, they even run Windows. They have a host of leading software applications from home based to professional level applications. And now they have Apple TV Take 2 with a route into peoples living rooms with video on demand, Movie & TV rentals and access to a whole host of online services. Plus they are the second biggest online music retailer in the US. And yet they still get panned by the Analysts - I just don't get it?

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