MSE News: Orange dashes hopes of iPhone price war

Steve1982

Steve1982 wrote: »

Does anyone know if on Orange you are able to downgrade after 9months if on an 18month contract? as if not then O2 works out cheaper for me.

Does anyone know the answer to the above, i.e. drop from the £44 price plan after 9 months to the next cheapest one?

HAMMYLIV

You can't downgrade on Orange like you can on O2 either, so if you are already an Orange customer and wanting the 32GB I figure you are better off moving to O2 - getting cashback and the £45 a month contract then downgrading to £35 a month?

gjchester

And even money says Vodafone will be the same costs as O2 and Orange. Looks like once again Apple has fixed the prices like it does for Mac's so theres no discounting to cheapen the brand

eljmayes

gjchester wrote: »

And even money says Vodafone will be the same costs as O2 and Orange. Looks like once again Apple has fixed the prices like it does for Mac's so theres no discounting to cheapen the brand

They can fix the base price of the phone but surely the operators can add value via texts etc. I don't think that Vodafone will be in the position to market their 3G network like Orange so it will be interesting what they do next year.

rachelina_2

Steve1982 - I spoke to Orange earlier and they said that you CAN drop your price plan after your contract is halfway through (i.e. 9 months on an 18 month contract).

I was thinking of being sneaky and signing up for a more expensive tarriff (and free phone) and swapping down after a couple of months, but you're locked in for too long for it to be worth it.

I'm torn now between waiting to see what Quidco does and preordering so I can have it on the day!

stugib

gjchester wrote: »

And even money says Vodafone will be the same costs as O2 and Orange.

When I told Vodafone Retentions on Friday I was leaving because I didn't want to wait for them to get it in January when I could get it on Orange now, they said "it'll be cheaper in January" if I did wait. Can probably read too much into that and more than likely just sales patter to try and keep me, but wait and see.

Mike_Hart

Interesting price plans, but Orange have either shot themselves in the foot or they definitely know something that the rest of us don't.

With the merger of Orange and T-Mobile (so-called 'T'Orange'), I would have thought that both brands would be desperate to demonstrate to both Ofcom and the Monopolies and Mergers Commission that the market was sufficiently aggressive in its competitiveness. Here, they appear to have demonstrated the complete opposite with this 'me too' pricing.

So which is it? Has Orange cocked-up by drawing attention to what appears to be a snug little arrangement, or have they been quietly given the nod that that there will be no regulatory problems and therefore they are free to implement a monopolistic (strictly, oligopolistic) pricing policy?

- Mike H

Jon_01

Of course, it may just be that they simply can not get enough stock to start a war with O2?

Who knows how many units Apple will let the have before Christmas?
If the Orange iPhone is going to be locked, that's a whole production run with a new template.
The very worst thing Orange could do would be to offer better plans than O2 and then not be able to deliver them in the run up to Christmas ?

gjchester

stugib wrote: »

When I told Vodafone Retentions on Friday I was leaving because I didn't want to wait for them to get it in January when I could get it on Orange now, they said "it'll be cheaper in January" if I did wait. Can probably read too much into that and more than likely just sales patter to try and keep me, but wait and see.

I could be wrong but given Orange has an almost carbon copy of o2 doen to minutes, texts and prices for the phone and monthly costs I suspect Apple's telling them what they can sell it for.

TFD_2

I'm sure Apple have fixed the prices. Also remember that Orange will have to give an unusually large cut of the rental back to Apple, so the margin probably doesn't allow for a price war.

If I was Apple, when agreeing to let Orange have the iPhone, I would have wanted reassurance that a price war wouldn't happen. This isn't in the operators interest.