MSE News: Orange dashes hopes of iPhone price war

HAMMYLIV

rachelina wrote: »

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!

Strange, I phoned Orange today and they said that you couldn't drop your plan after 9 months - you could only raise it. Looks like one of us has been told the wrong info. I have been on Orange for 5-6 years and the only option I have been given is to up my contract rather than downgrade it.


I don't think that Vodaphone will be able to offer a different contract either - Apple won't drop the prices of the iphones - they keep them expensive to keep the demand going and the demand is still strong! I would be very surprised if the prices of the phones or contracts change - the nextworks may stop adding 'extras' on top to try and compete.

moonkee

I've been with Orange for years and have always downgraded after 9months no problem. I only go up £5 with each contract to get a good phone, I'll be doing the same on the 10th when I can upgrade.

gjchester

HAMMYLIV wrote: »

Apple won't drop the prices of the iphones - they keep them expensive to keep the demand going and the demand is still strong!

As I understand it Apple have done it to ensure it does not affect iPod sales. If Iphones were cheap on a cheap contract people would just get one of those than buy an iPod. Apple set the proces so they did't cut into ipod sales.

thedaz22

Just got off the phone from orange, ordered the 16g 3 gs black, same deal as 02,£34.26, 24 month, 600 min 500 txt unlim web and wifi, still get free internet to the house pc, orange wed, they said the phone would be sent after the 10th nov, the guy in the call centre said the place was going into meltdown with all the new orders comming in, also stated that the tarrifs may change depending what o2 and vodaphone do.:money:

poppy10_2

Oh come on. Who actually expected anything more from Apple, the kings of selling overpriced shiny shiny to gullible punters, and the experts at price fixing.

Try finding any 'deals' on current generation iPods - there's virtually no competition, the price at discount retailers is the same as Apple's own website. They don't allow anyone to drop the price. Same goes for macbooks and all their other products. It's always been the same way - they control prices so tightly.

Gullible mactards will always be willing to pay extra for products that have less features than equivalent non-Apple products - just look at the way they pay for "upgrades" to the iPhone that unlock basic features like copy/paste and MMS, which other phones have had since the year 2000. And the way they are willing to pay $200 extra for a macbook to have it in black plastic rather than white.

If you buy Apple, you are the very opposite of a Moneysaver - you are throwing your money away, at the altar of the "ooh it looks so purdy" Steve Jobs crowd. Wait for the Droid, which will blow iPhone away.

legoman

just a quicky, i'm looking to go to orange as i have a pac code from o2 and a month to use it. i am in an IVA to. will this affect my chances of getting a contract with orange? it's just that i read here somewhere that some people have had credit checks and they want a £100 deposit returnable in 6 months.

this did happen to me when i signed up to BT 4 months ago and after 6 months, providing i don't miss a payment they will credit it to my account. Only BT was £50 i can't afford a £100 fo a deposit!

jamesbrownontheroad

poppy10 wrote: »

If you buy Apple, you are the very opposite of a Moneysaver - you are throwing your money away, at the altar of the "ooh it looks so purdy" Steve Jobs crowd. Wait for the Droid, which will blow iPhone away.

I disagree. As someone trained in a design discipline, I yearn for an iPhone (and a few other Apple products) because finally a company has put some real thought into how a mobile device should look and feel. Other machines may have a better spec, but frankly who gives a toss about the precise spec of a mobile phone. Day in day out, I want a phone / laptop / whatever that doesn't give me grief. Apple are one of the few companies making those products.

If it raises the bar, then fine, I'll look elsewhere and the price for that standard will fall. But having seen what a massive disappointment the Palm Pre is, I don't hold out much hope for the Droid or any other future mobile device.

Still, all of the above posters have a point. We were naïve to think there would be a price war, Apple's Chinese partners still cant manufacture them quick enough for the demand that already exists!

Mic2904

SO, I am (still) looking for someone who would like my HTC Hero for an Orange Iphone :T

Anyone interested in a straight swap? :beer:

lindsaygalaxy

i just spoke to orange as I want the iphone but contract isnt up yet, and they said for the iphone they are changing their rules slightly and you can pay off your contract and upgrade without having to get a new contract.

legoman

jamesbrownontheroad wrote: »

Day in day out, I want a phone / laptop / whatever that doesn't give me grief. Apple are one of the few companies making those products.!

i agree.

i have a client who uses an old mac book. it has under 700mb of internal memory left on it, can't even burn a disc yet it still runs faster than my pc laptop.

apple have that sorta way with things. you want to do something you go the obvious route and ta daa, it does it. with a pc it's more, i want to do this... let's crash first and restart then we'll blame the user... YOU had an internal error, there was a problem, YOU didn't save your file etc. YOU need to update that before YOU can do that.

i'm not saying that apple are reasonable and yes, they overprice things, but at leaset from what i can see, they do it well and if there is a problem from all the people i know that have had apple stuff they sort it very very quickly.