iPhoneNess » O2

Is iPhone To Blame for AT&T’s Woes?

Ci — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 15:19:37 +0000

AT&T has been an average partner for Apple. It’s true that the company took a chance on iPhone and negotiated with Apple to have the rights to offer iPhone till 2010, but the quality of service offered to iPhone owners has been anything but satisfactory. There are a lot ofÂ iPhone owners who believe they can get a better wireless service with other carriers such as Verizon. We won’t know for certain what percentage of these people are willing to back their word up unless Apple offers iPhone through Verizon.

Many experts believe that Verizon have better capabilities to handle a revolutionary device such as the iPhone. But as CNN reported in its story, Verizon may not be that much better than AT&T when it comes to handling the load that a device such as the iPhone will put on its network:

Unfortunately for AT&T, when it comes to network quality, perception is reality and right now Verizon has a more positive public perception, … If AT&T can continue to show improvement in network throughput, it may blunt some of the impact.

AT&T has learned its lessons the hard way. The future is mobile, and AT&T’s network was not prepared to handle it. The company can address this issue by investing more in its infrastructure and learn from its experience with iPhone. That’s no guarantee that AT&T’s service will get better, but at least the company has something to work with.

AT&T is not the only carrier that is struggling to keep up with all the demands that the iPhone puts on its network. O2 has also been struggling to handle iPhone’s load. Similar to AT&T, O2 has decided to blame its woes on iPhone owners:

Where we haven’t met our own high standards, then there’s no question, we apologize to customers for that fact, But it would be wrong to say O2 has failed its customers en masse

I do believe that the iPhone nation is a forgiving one. A lot of us understand the challenges that such a device brings to the table for carriers such as AT&T and O2. But when these companies start whining about a device that is bringing them lots of subscribers, they start doing their customers a disservice. The iPhone may have been a revolutionary device a couple of years ago, but that’s just a start. Next generation smart-phones will be much more powerful and better capable of handling resource-intensive, highly sophisticated mobile apps. If these carriers can’t handle the iPhone today, can they really expect to handle the next generation smart-phones?

How Bad is O2?

Ci — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 23:34:07 +0000

One would wonder if the issues that Apple is experiencing is due to the plans put forth by O2! I always thought that at&t was the wrong partner to go for a company such as Apple which strives for innovative ideas. I thought they should have made iPhone unlocked, but at the same I understand why they did what they did with at&t. But it’s amazing how poor iPhone sales have been (by Apple’s standards) in the U.K. I wouldn’t put the whole thing on iPhone being an American gadget and not satisfying the taste of Europeans. Of course, O2 is taking some action by making their plans more attractive to users, but why is Apple making all these bad judgment calls when it comes to wireless carriers?

iPhone UK Commercial

Ci — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 02:08:27 +0000

So I had a chance to watch the iPhone commercial before the Mayweather vs. Hatton PPV event, and it was awfully close to what we see in the U.S. It talks about how it is better to have iPhone that has an iPod in your phone. The only difference was at the end where in the U.S. we have “Only on at&t” and here I saw “only on O2.” But believe it or not I thought the accent made the commercial much more interesting. The British accent really fits with the whole iPhone image. I wonder if Apple might play a version of that commercial with a different accent in U.S. I doubt it but it would be awesome if they did.

iPhone U.K. Launch Myth

Ci — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 01:39:32 +0000

As you all know, iPhone launched in U.K and it seems people have a short memory of how things went down in the Kingdom. Of course, O2 announced that iPhone was the fastest-selling smart phone ever put on the shelves, but Weblogs are not reporting that the event was not as big as O2 wants you to believe. Apple has consistently put larger numbers up in the U.S. than in Europe. I don’t even think Steve Jobs believed he could actually get as big an interest as he got for iPhone in the U.S. It’s simply impossible. iPhone rocked the U.S. and it will probably rock the Europe too though there are more legit competitors in Europe it seems. For all that matters, iPhone’s launch was not a total bust, but rather a less than expected success. So why complain?