Want a 3G iPhone? Rumours now CONFIRMED prices dropping

asininity

Marty_J wrote: »

On the other hand, they pretty much gave the OS market to Microsoft by suing everyone else into oblivion for ripping them off. Apple are one of the main reasons why Microsoft have an effective monopoly. I'm sure they don't want a repeat of that, and unnecessarily stopping Palm competing with Blackberry and the like would be a silly move on their part.

I believe they tried suing M$ as well but were ruled against well apart for the trash anyway. I wonder what would have happened if they'd won, what with them borrowing most of it from Xerox.

Anyway if they did take anyone to court over it they'd be in for a very long case, multi-touch apparently having been around since 1982. Good Read

And like I said they cant own patents for every possible gesture, they courts would rule against them on the basis that there would be no other way of doing it, like the did in the past with certain things when apple took M$ to court.

It also wouldn't be beyond the EU to take them to court as they have M$ over its monopoly. I dont think it would benefit apple as much as apples customers to have devices like the pre on the market.

shaggy

the 3g iphone can be had for around £250 from fleabay. I am very, very tempted, but do i go with my gut instinct and spend £100 and buy from O2 on PAYG or risk fleabay

buglawton

Re: Ebay, am I right in thinking that iPhone / iPod Touch batteries are not user-replaceable, so what will it cost to replace batts in a used device?

ndarby_2

whosforachat wrote: »

My Nokia N95 has free turn-by-turn sat nav, cut and paste, Google Latitude, a decent camera, with flash, video recording and text forwarding. None of these are available on the iPhone.

Wrong....apart from the flash...(Google Latitude is available unofficially)

To "clarify"....I'm not a fan of Apple but I do know a good phone when I see one....hence the fact I owned an N95 followed by an N95 8gb...both very good phones. However, the 3G iPhone is so so much easier and quicker to use.

ndarby_2

nicbates wrote: »

can you port your current number with a turbo sim?

no need to "port" number. Just put your current sim card and continue using it ...

Marty_J

asininity wrote: »

I believe they tried suing M$ as well but were ruled against well apart for the trash anyway. I wonder what would have happened if they'd won, what with them borrowing most of it from Xerox.

Well that's not exactly fair. Steve Jobs did visit Xerox and loved the concept of a GUI for interacting with the computer, but Apple's GUI looked nothing like Xerox's. Microsoft didn't "borrow" Apple's GUI, they licensed large parts of it for use in Windows, and they did look very very similar. The judge ruled that the claimed infringements were mostly (a) already licensed to Microsoft, or (b) far too broad to be protected. Apple claimed for instance, that Microsoft had copied the "feel" of its desktop, which was found to be something that isn't copyrightable.

In the end, Apple dropped it and another case involving Microsoft "borrowing" Quicktime code, after Microsoft threatened to stop developing Office for Mac, and Apple agreed to bundle Internet Explorer for Mac with their new computers, which continued until they developed Safari.

Anyway if they did take anyone to court over it they'd be in for a very long case, multi-touch apparently having been around since 1982. Good Read

And like I said they cant own patents for every possible gesture, they courts would rule against them on the basis that there would be no other way of doing it, like the did in the past with certain things when apple took M$ to court.

Well, they have been granted a patent that is very broad in its reach.

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PTXT&s1=multi-touch&s2=multitouch&OS=multi-touch+AND+multitouch

It's pretty gargantuan. On the flip side, Apple are currently being sued over the iPhone's camera, its ability to wirelessly download things from iTunes and the App Store, and its ability to be used to read eBooks.

It also wouldn't be beyond the EU to take them to court as they have M$ over its monopoly. I dont think it would benefit apple as much as apples customers to have devices like the pre on the market.

Well I think it would be pretty hard to argue that Apple have a monopoly in the mobile phone market. Other companies have a much larger slice of the action.

But, Verizon's market lead in the US being eroded would be regarded as a good thing by Apple, much as they regard Microsoft's lead in the OS market being eroded as a good thing. They aren't just in competition with other phone manufacturers, they are in competition with other carriers too. If someone will only ever use Verizon, then they're never going to buy an iPhone. The less powerful their competitors are, the better it is for them.

asininity

Marty_J wrote: »

Well that's not exactly fair. Steve Jobs did visit Xerox and loved the concept of a GUI for interacting with the computer, but Apple's GUI looked nothing like Xerox's. Microsoft didn't "borrow" Apple's GUI, they licensed large parts of it for use in Windows, and they did look very very similar. The judge ruled that the claimed infringements were mostly (a) already licensed to Microsoft, or (b) far too broad to be protected. Apple claimed for instance, that Microsoft had copied the "feel" of its desktop, which was found to be something that isn't copyrightable.

Xerox did file a suit against them at the time they filed against M$. The reason I mentioned it was because, as with the feel of the desktop, gestures might be too broad to be copyrighted. Apple were a little silly licensing something then trying to sue the person they licensed it to just because they didn't like what was being done to it.

In the end, Apple dropped it and another case involving Microsoft "borrowing" Quicktime code, after Microsoft threatened to stop developing Office for Mac, and Apple agreed to bundle Internet Explorer for Mac with their new computers, which continued until they developed Safari.

They were ruled against and were not given the appeal were they not?

Well, they have been granted a patent that is very broad in its reach.

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PTXT&s1=multi-touch&s2=multitouch&OS=multi-touch+AND+multitouch

It's pretty gargantuan. On the flip side, Apple are currently being sued over the iPhone's camera, its ability to wirelessly download things from iTunes and the App Store, and its ability to be used to read eBooks.

I'm not arguing that they've not got the patents just that its not been tested by the courts and its a US patent, the EU might have other ideas and so might other countries. Its happened in france with them not being able to lock the iphone to one network provider.

Well I think it would be pretty hard to argue that Apple have a monopoly in the mobile phone market. Other companies have a much larger slice of the action.

I'm not talking the mobile market just the monopoly on gestures and multi-touch technology, with touch screens its the equivalent of having a patent on the keyboard or mouse. I've not read the patent but common sense suggests you cant patent gestures as a whole, I'd say its gonna be hard patenting a couple.

What with them not actually being the inventors of it I'd think it'd be a little like the SCO lawsuit against linux.

But, Verizon's market lead in the US being eroded would be regarded as a good thing by Apple, much as they regard Microsoft's lead in the OS market being eroded as a good thing. They aren't just in competition with other phone manufacturers, they are in competition with other carriers too. If someone will only ever use Verizon, then they're never going to buy an iPhone. The less powerful their competitors are, the better it is for them.

Cant comment I dont know enough about the US market.

delicioushotorcold

MSE_Lawrence wrote: »

Strong, though as yet unconfirmed, industry rumours claim that O2 will reduce the cost of the 3G iPhone come May. It's likely the 8GB model will be offered free on the most popular £34.26/month package (it's currently only free on a £44.05 or £73.41/month tariff), and the 16GB model will be free on the £44.05/month package (currently £57.74 on a £44.05/month tariff).

Or you could do what I did: Last year I had a cashback contract on phones4u, which worked out at about £12/month (after cashback) with a free sony ericsson k810i. It was a 12 month contract, and when it was going to end I called to cancel it. They vaguely tried to offer me something new but nothing as good as what I could get on cashback. So I turned down their offers and a week later received a letter in the post saying sorry you decided to cancel etc. if you call this freephone number we'll see if we can offer you something. So I called and was offered an amazing deal, then the guy never called back, I got a worse one, offers changed every day etc but that's another story. I negotiated an 18 month contract with 600 mins unlimited texts, 25mb data and a free HTC touch HD. I had to pay £150 originally for the phone but they took that off my monthly bills so essentially it was free. I sold the HTC on eBay for about £420, and bought a 16GB iPhone for £350 (again on eBay).
Then unlocked my iPhone - plenty of tutorials about that on iClarified.com for example.
So I now have a 16GB iPhone on Orange with 600 mins unlimited texts and 25mb data per month, with an effective cost of £21 per month ALL IN.
How's that for a slice of fried gold?

delicioushotorcold

Oh and can we please give the Apple history discussion a break? Start a new thread probably not on this forum.
There's a film about it and it's in the past, let's all get over it.

shaggy

delicioushotorcold wrote: »

Or you could do what I did: Last year I had a cashback contract on phones4u, which worked out at about £12/month (after cashback) with a free sony ericsson k810i. It was a 12 month contract, and when it was going to end I called to cancel it. They vaguely tried to offer me something new but nothing as good as what I could get on cashback. So I turned down their offers and a week later received a letter in the post saying sorry you decided to cancel etc. if you call this freephone number we'll see if we can offer you something. So I called and was offered an amazing deal, then the guy never called back, I got a worse one, offers changed every day etc but that's another story. I negotiated an 18 month contract with 600 mins unlimited texts, 25mb data and a free HTC touch HD. I had to pay £150 originally for the phone but they took that off my monthly bills so essentially it was free. I sold the HTC on eBay for about £420, and bought a 16GB iPhone for £350 (again on eBay).
Then unlocked my iPhone - plenty of tutorials about that on iClarified.com for example.
So I now have a 16GB iPhone on Orange with 600 mins unlimited texts and 25mb data per month, with an effective cost of £21 per month ALL IN.
How's that for a slice of fried gold?

you got me really really jealous :mad:
I deliberately got a £20 Simplicity SIM on O2 so I can stay away from contracts and get an Iphone on PAYG.Plus its a good deal with minutes and 3G data inclusive. nearly a year after getting the SIM I'm still waiting for the Iphone PAYG to drop in price as I can't justify the £342

Anyone got any ideas on what I should do? How can I get the Iphone 3G cheap ? Ebay is an option, but a risky one at that.