Appletell

It seems o2 are blaming Apple for a shortage of UK iPhone 3G stock. In an e-mail response to an inquiring customer, Steve Shurrock, sales director of o2 had the following to say,

“We have been working continuously with them [Apple] to get as much stock for the UK as possible. Unfortunately, they have only been able to supply a small proportion of the number of phones we asked for, because they are launching simultaneously in 22 countries.“

Shurrock goes onto say that he is confident that the volume of iPhones will increase over time and become sufficient for customer demand.

More after the break.

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I was awoken this morning by a text message from o2, which read, “iPhone 3G is here. The iPhone you have been waiting to early upgrade to. Order from 8am today.“

Yup! If you’re an o2 customer/wannabe customer, you can now pre-order the iPhone 3G at o2’s website! o2 say that pre-orders are on a first-come, first-served basis, and if you order sooner, there’s a bigger chance it will arrive on July the 11th via courier!

If you’re going through the upgrade route, you will need to visit the o2 iPhone upgrade page where you will be asked to type in your iPhone mobile number. You will then receive a text message with an upgrade code, which you must then enter before the upgrade process can continue.

The website is acting extremely erratically (at time of writing), whether this is due to traffic or o2 not getting their web page up in time is unknown. The upgrade site currently throws me between being able to order the phone and a maintenance page (8 a.m., ey’ o2?).

No word on how new customers are getting on, but I have a feeling they might not be having as much trouble. I haven’t as yet been able to pre-order my 3G iPhone. Come on o2, fix your website!

Happy iPhone 3G pre-ordering UK o2 customers.

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O2 has done a great job of bringing the iPhone’s monthly tarriffs down in price, and now they’re about to give iPhone users free access to BT OpenZone and The Cloud. For those of you outside the UK, or who don’t know, BT Openzone and The Cloud are the two major Wi-Fi hotspot providers in the UK. Almost every restaurant, Starbucks, train station and airport has access to either one of these networks, and iPhone users will have the privilege of accessing them for free.

This addition from O2 brings the number of Wi-Fi hotspots available to UK iPhone users to 9,500. All of these hotspots will be usable by July 11th, when the iPhone 3G is launched worldwide. UK customers can find out more information about the iPhone 3G at O2’s website.

Via [Macworld]

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The Times has said that the 3G iPhone being released by Apple soon could cost as little as £100 in the UK. Analysts have predicted the drop in price due to ineffective marketing strategies such as “network exclusivity deals” in Europe.

Apple had estimated that the iPhone would sell between 500,000 and 600,000 units across the UK and France, but that they have failed to meet this target with just 330,000 sold. Apple could be scrapping the exclusivity deals across Europe and introducing more tempting pricing to try and reach that “10 million iphones sold” goal. So far, the iPhone has only had incredible success in America, with Europe lagging on behind, hence the predictions.

Although analysts say that the iPhone could be sold for as little as €99 across mainland Europe, the slightly higher price for the UK iPhone is due to a two-year-long exclusivity with UK network O2, thereby lacking incentive for competitive pricing. Unlike when the 2.5G iPhone was released, the 3G version is expected to be released to 3G-iPhone-hungry “United Kingdomers” very shortly after the American version is released.

The 3G iPhone is expected to be unveiled during the World Wide Developers Conference on June the 9th, Keep your fingers crossed ... although it’s almost a given.

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Apple US Online Store - reads: “Ships: Currently Unavailable”

iPhones have been in high demand recently and the lack of stock in both US and UK Apple stores is not helping the problem. The iPhone is one of the most sought-after devices of the year and both retail and online stores are having their supplies dry up. Many believe this is due to Apple’s expected announcement of the 3G iPhone next month.

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Universal is now distributing its TV shows through the iTunes Store in the UK. Universal’s content was added to the store last night (UK time). Their decision to bring shows to iTunes in the UK is interesting, because of the recent disputes between Apple and NBC Universal; its content had been removed from the iTunes US Store, but remained on Microsoft’s Zune store for the same price.

Universal is bringing some well-known hit TV shows that are currently airing on UK television, including: Heroes (Season Two), House, Eureka, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and The Incredible Hulk. All of the shows are priced at the regular £1.89 - which is still quite a bit more than US users would pay, due to the exchange rate and other excuses Apple makes for overcharging us. Interestingly, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and The Incredible Hulk are available for just £1.19 each - this could be because these are the less popular shows, and may gain more exposure from lower prices.

Via [Macworld UK]

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Apple is now threatening legal action against 11 UK e-tailers, unless they agree to stop selling iPods imported from outside the UK. Apple has complained to many well-known online retailers which were buying iPods in the United States (where they sell for £15 less than in the UK), and then selling them at a lower price to customers.

The lawsuit issued by Bird & Bird, a London law firm, demand e-tailers to stop selling what they described as “Grey iPods” anywhere in Europe. The Cupertino-based law firm also threatened to sue any e-tailer that “infringes” Apple’s rights.

Apple also requested that the details of suppliers who provided the “Grey iPods” be given to the law firm. Companies which have cooperated must now also pay a sum to cover Apple’s legal expenses and damages.

A Bird & Bird spokesman announced that the firm was unable to comment on details of the lawsuit because it is a “sensitive, ongoing legal matter.“

Via [Channel Register]

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Apple is getting sick of all the iPhone clones overseas and is beginning to crack down on sellers of the devices.  It is known that the most clones are showing up in China, where Apple’s iPhone is too expensive for most of the consumers.  For example, Apple has began to pursue legal action against such sellers as Digital Playworld.  According to Playworld’s managing director, they had to remove all the clones from their website, promise to not sell any more clones, and tell Apple who supplied them with the products and how much was payed for them.  This was done to avoid a harsh lawsuit against the company.

In their letter to the company, Apple stated that the clone “looks very like the iPhone.“  It appears that Apple has had enough and is no longer ignoring the issue.  Hopefully these clones help Apple realize that they need to drop the price if they really want the phone to succeed.  Despite all this, Apple has reported in its second quarter press release that 1,703,000 iPhones have been sold in this quarter.

Via [MacNN]

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ITV PLC, the U.K.‘s largest free-to-air commercial broadcaster according to sales, announced on Tuesday that a selection of its programming is now available to buy or download from Apple’s U.K. iTunes store. The shows offered cost from £1.89 an episode and may be bought as a complete series, ITV said. The programs offered include Lewis and Cold Feet, Brideshead Revisited, and Captain Scarlet. Additional programming will become available in the UK iTunes store throughout the year.

ITV’s managing director of global content, Dawn Airey, said that the partnership with Apple shows that ITV is delivering on its strategy of making content available on multiple platforms. Airey, who was hired from British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC last May, is in charge of doubling sales of ITV programs and intellectual property to the international market by 2012. ITV’s global content division brings together all of ITV’s U.K. and international production and distribution businesses.

ITV’s broadband service has delivered 38 million videos since August of last year, according to ITV, and it also signed a partnership with online community Bebo to deliver premium ITV content to its 40 million users worldwide.

Via [guardian.co.uk]

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iPhone sales appear to be rapidly increasing, thanks to the £100 price cut on the 8GB model. A report claims that last week’s price cut has led to the 8GB model selling out in the UK. Both Carphone Warehouse and O2 are reporting themselves to be out of stock on the low-cost model of the iPhone. Mobile Today cites one Carphone Warehouse employees who reportedly said sales have “doubled” since the announcement of this £100 price drop last week.

This leaves the 16GB iPhone behind at an extremely pricey £329. If O2 would do the same price reduction on the 16GB model, I may just get an iPhone. The price cut has proven a good marketing choice on O2’s behalf, bringing many more iPhone customers. I can’t help but think this price cut is only because a new iPhone is coming very soon.

Via [Macworld UK]

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