The apple iphone seems to be taking shape ready to be unleashed on the consumer.  Apple could have made a serious mistake restricting the phone just to O2 on contract, lets face it, if you want a lot of sales of a new mobile then why restrict this to one network only.  Dealers don’t want to sell on O2 generally as the commissions are very bad, and if O2 think they are going to make a killing,  then they have missed the boat. 

There is now a serious demand for the consumer for unlocked iPhones, as one consumer put it, “why should I want O2 I want to choose who I connect with”  Fair point which is why there is now steadily a stream of unlocked mobiles.

O2 and iphone could find themselves not having the monopoly on sales, and Apple could be forced away from their updates after the results of the latest case in the USA, in California when Sprint lost the case of locking phones as it was deemed a barrier to competition.  In fact with another case being filed against apple for the same thing, then if that is the case, will someone challenge the uk networks in this country who lock their phones to their network? 

Will someone come up with the same argument in court that it is a barrier to competition and a detriment to the consumer?  Who at the end of the contract or even during it, must either pay to get the phone unlocked or buy another mobile on a different network, bearing in mind that not all mobiles are given free, and they may have paid a certain amount towards it.  The only problem with that is that it will hit the many companies that make a living unlocking mobiles, and I am not sure that it would be a good thing.

Will the iphone take off?  Maybe it’s the “I want one of those” phones at the moment although the reviews have not made this the all singing and dancing phone it was made out to be.

Congratulations to 3 networks for their long awaited Mix and match tariffs.  The consumers like it and so do dealers, and at last consumers have a choice in addition to T-Mobiles Flext, it’s the freshest thing on the market and at last 3 has done something useful, and it will be interesting to see if other networks come up with something similar, now that would give the consumer a great choice.

We all know for a long time that Orange commissions on upgrades have been reduced, especially to reduce the large amount done by call centres.  But now that Orange has banned the use of call centres for upgrades,  we would ask Orange if they could increase commission at least on the lower bands, so that at least existing customers coming into shops can be offered something.  The commissions are so low, you would be lucky to offer a Jaffa cake let along a low end mobile to upgrade.  We can understand the move to dump call centres doing upgrades, but shop owners are now very disadvantaged as a result.  Perhaps the network will at least look at this for next month in the run up to Christmas and at least give shop owners some Christmas cheer this year, come on Orange at least tell us you will consider it.