Queue for the launch of iPhone 4.0 in Brighton
Clearly not everybody knows about ‘The Apple Effect’. While I was taking this picture outside the O2 shop in Brighton, a bystander asked me what the queue was for. I told him it was for the new Apple iPhone 4.0, which is launched today in the UK. ‘So is that free or what?’ was his incredulous reply.
Er, no. There is no free lunch – not this year anyway – as George Osbourne, the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer was at pains to tell us this Tuesday, though perhaps not in so many words. In tune with the new spirit of austerity and restraint we also learned recently that O2 is putting a cap on data downloads, replacing its previous ‘unlimited’ data contracts, for all new and renewed iPhone contracts. Though the download limits are fairly generous, those eager early adopters queuing up for their new iPhone’s will be getting a marginally less good deal than iPhone users have enjoyed previously. Although they will of course enjoy a more richly-featured handset.
O2, the first network operator to have offered the iPhone in the UK has introduced the measure following serious overload problems in 2009 that brought the network to its knees, necessitating a costly emergency upgrade.
It seems that the runaway success of smartphones and smartphone apps is putting serious strains on network infrastructure. And the situation is only going to get worse, with sales of smartphones, internet-enabled mobile devices and mobile apps all on steep upward sales curves.
If O2′s data cap catches on with other network operators it could be one to watch. Together with the Digital Economy Act’s punitive measures on illicit downloading, which if they remain unaltered look likely to seriously curtail the spread of wi-fi coverage, limits to mobile data could seriously slow the growth of the mobile internet, which is currently forecast to pass internet access from desktop computing as early as 2013.
I’m on 3 with an “unlimited” internet package which is, in reality, limited at 1GB per month. From what I’ve read, it looks like O2′s packages will be limited to 500MB to 1GB per month depending on the contract you’re on, which in this day and age is way too low for regular mobile internet users.
The recent increase in mobile internet usage shouldn’t be any surprise to mobile operators – WAP and GPRS have been around since the late 1990′s and the majority of innovations in infrastructure technology have been based around mobile internet. How a mobile network can be brought to it’s knees smacks of bad planning and lack of investment.
I have no idea what gets discussed in O2′s boardroom(s), but it wouldn’t surprise me if it went something like this: “Look at them, using up all our bandwidth; Yes, I know we said unlimited, but we meant a couple of megabytes! What more do they expect for a measly £50 a month?”
Sadly I think you’re probably right about that, Brent.