Mobile devices Toolkit

Story: iPhone's price tag deters UK

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Too early to make this call?

I also share these doubts about pricing of the iPhone, but surely it is too early to start making judgement calls about the impact for the future of the iPhone? I doubt whether this research will overly concern O2 or Apple...

Firstly - The iPhone (like the iPod before it) will rely heavily on word of mouth - the buzz created by early adopters who demo the device to friends and colleagues - even just seeing the iPhone in use on the tube or in a meeting will get people talking. It will take time for this to build-up and start to filter through to demand in-store.

Secondly - worth remembering that O2 have set a target of 200k sales by Christmas, over-cautious I agree, but even if they double that target (as analysts have forecast) it will still only need 1% of UK adults to buy one. So some of the data in this report may be exactly what O2 are expecting!

Thirdly - UK consumers are not daft, they will have seen that Apple reduced the price of the iPhone in the US shortly after launch, so many will be playing a wait and see game before committing to buying one.

I look forward to a more realistic update on this data next year...

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