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.

The aftermath...

OK, So I was wrong about the new iPhone and they did announce it at WWDC 09. I have to say, they left it so late that I did think they might have missed it!

But it will be with us next week and yes, of course I want one!

Lots of gnashing of teeth and lots of upset people over on twitter about the pricing and lack of upgrade pricing here in the UK.

First off, the tethering pricing is just ridiculous, really. Totally off the wall.

Secondly, there is no subsidised upgrade path for existing users - Ouch!

Basically, you need to pay off your existing contact on the 3G iphone (in my case £245) then buy a new phone and a new 18 month or 12 month contract. That would take the cost of the new 32GB iPhone 3GS to over £500 plus £30 per month.

The problem here is that O2 took the hit with the upgrade for existing users from the 1st Gen iPhone to the 3G. I presume the numbers don't work out to do it a second time, so although it looks horrendous, a contract is a contract and there's not a lot you can do about it. In hindsight, perhaps it would have been better to offer 12 month contracts knowing that a new iPhone would be launched in 2009 (well a pretty safe bet!) Had a 12 month contract been available, I probably would have gone for that.

The experience has influenced what I'll be doing about the new iPhone 3GS.

Of course, I need one for my show (no I do, really), so it's a legitimate business expense (phew!) so I could write off the existing contract and let the business pay for it. It would make it feel better to say it's not actually a phone but my mobile Mac. I'd feel better paying £500 for a state of the art mobile internet device (which really what it is). The thing that really grates is having to take out another 18 month contract for £30 per month. I just don't use the phone that much, and what happens in another 12 months time?

The next iPhone is released with HD support, front facing camera, built in iChat, 802.11n, etc, etc.

So we'll be in the same boat again!

Some figures on the new 32GB iPhone 3GS and my options

Terminate contract and Pay Monthly = £245 + 274.23 + 18 x £29.38 = £1048.07 over 18 months

OMG!!!

Now luckily, I have an escape route.

My lad is off to University in September and will need a decent phone. So he will be the lucky recipient of my iPhone 3G with another 5 months contract left on it. So I won't cancel the contract. Yes, I'll still have to pay the £245 over this time but at least it will be getting used, I'll not be just giving O2 a nice present! This leaves me with two options for buying a new iPhone:

Pay Monthly = £274.23 + 18 x £29.38 = £803.07 over 18 months

Pay As You Go = £538.30 over 12 months

PAYG also includes 12 months unlimited web and Wifi. £25 worth of calls will probably last me a couple of months! There's no visual voicemail or call merging but that's no big deal for me, I hardly use it as a phone. There is also no Internet tethering but at the current prices, who cares.

So in 12 months, when the next phone is available, I'll have no contract and can upgrade with no penalties.

So in my eyes, the PAYG deal is the better deal for me!

What have I missed?

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MacJury Duty

It was late, I was tired....

Well that's my excuse for being a bit quieter than usual on a special episode of MacJury recorded late last night (UK time) following the iPhone 3.0 event.

A veritable cast of thousands and some interesting view points make for a good podcast!

Check it out here:

MacJury #903: Evidence is Heard and Judgement is Passed on the iPhone 3.0 Announcements

Thanks for the invite Chuck!

PS You could always subscribe in iTunes

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Todays the day!

Yup, it's the day of the Apple 3.0 preview and as usual here in the UK, we have a full days work to put in until the event at 5pm GMT (Someone please correct me if I'm wrong!)

I have to admit, until the advent of the iPhone, the whole mobile space space left me completely cold. I've always loved gadgets and technology but mobile phones, nah!

Never even considered getting a smart phone before the iPhone and the last phone I used for business was one of the old Nokias, very efficient, great battery life, did what it said on the tin. When I became self employed, I thought I needed a phone (before the iPhone was a glimmer on the horizon) so I went out and bought a Motorola RAZR phone....

.... errrm yeah, let's just move on at that point.

I've never really had a phone that I fully understood, or was able to confidently say that I knew how to operate all its functions.

I always thought that a phone with a data connection would be a great idea but to be honest, the data plans always seemed so confusing, expensive and well, just plain confusing. I just knew that I'd end up leaving it on and running up a huge bill or such like.

The iPhone changed both these perceptions in one fell swoop by making the UI a delight to use, removing all the complications with the data plan and ensuring that you paid a fixed price each month no matter how much data you consumed (unless you went abroad!).

So the iPhone changed completely my take on the mobile phone and I saw the light on just how powerful mobile technology could be and how important it's likely to be over the next few years.

This afternoons iPhone 3.0 preview should be very interesting in illustrating what Apple intend to do in the light of competition from the Android phone and the Palm Pre. They already have a two year lead on these devices so know they have the opportunity to turn the screw that much more. I'd really hate to be an executive at Palm waiting to see what Apple announce as I think it's pretty well acknowledged that Palm are betting the company on the Pre being successful. Regardless on what features are announced today, it's still only half the story as Apple are most likely lining up to release the 3rd generation iPhone in the summer with new and upgraded hardware features!

Perhaps I should clarify one point though.

To me the iPhone isn't a mobile phone, it's my pocket Mac that just happens to be able to make phone calls. So perhaps I'm still not a mobile phone fan after all.

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iPhone 3.0 OS Event

Well that was a shocker! Mind you, it shouldn't have been. The last big iPhone OS event was in March of 2008. And what a doozy that was. My recollection was that we weren't expecting that much but Apple absolutely nailed it with a whole slew of features to allow developers to take advantage of previously unaccessible bits of the hardware.

You have to wonder if they can come up with a similar range of enhancements to v3.0 of the iPhone OS and SDK, on the understanding that they probably won't be announcing any new versions of the iPhone (yet!), or any release date for the fabled Apple touchscreen 'Netbook"

So what could they include based on the current hardware platform?

Quite a bit probably!

Push notifications seem to have disappeared from view despite being talked about since the middle of last year.

Turn by turn navigation on GPS?

Bluetooth enhancements - Wouldn't it be great to hook up an Apple wireless keyboard ore even wireless syncing with your Mac.

My personal bugbear (?) at the minute and that's the ability to manage your applications from your Mac and by that I mean the arrangement of the apps on the iPhone screens.

I'd also like them to implement some form of text search to find applications. I'm up to several pages now and it's really difficult sometimes to even find an application I don't use that often.

And that's not even looking at any of the enhancements they might have up their collective sleeves for supporting the enterprise, something that figured very heavily in the iPhone 2.0 OS.

So lot's for them to cover but more than likely, most things announced on Tuesday we won't even have considered.

But there could be one tiny thing that would start the bells ringing throughout the land....

Cut & Paste

We shall see!

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