So, you ever hear of these dicks called O2?

By now you've likely heard the news. iPhone 3G is not out on Pay/Go until the indistinct "Later in the year". Naturally, I'm massively pissed off. For anyone wondering what happened to the 96 Hour coverage, that is. The news I was most interested in came real early and it was bad.

I'm forced to conclude O2 doesn't like customers, or money. Odd tactic, for a business.

The following is an e-mail I sent to O2 regarding this fiasco:

From the iPhone 3G page of your Help site, under Pay & Go:
"Pay & Go will be available later this year."

It's taken you since WWDC back in mid June to finally come out and say those of us who cannot have or do not want iPhones on contracts are being left out in the cold? I'm hugely let down. I've been looking forward to the iPhone 3G launch since the phone was announced, even more since it was confirmed Pay/Go would be an option.

But for weeks, I hear nothing. Then I start to hear from friends and people online that miscellaneous sources are saying no Pay/Go on launch day, some even saying not until the Christmas season. Shortly after, I receive an e-mail from O2...Telling me they're going to send an e-mail. Which I knew. Because I told them to.

And so then we come to today. As has become my custom, I head over to O2's site for news and check my mail. There in my inbox are details of how to buy an iPhone 3G on Contract. Which irks me because I registered my interest on the Pay/Go page and for a reason. Ad on O2's site? After weeks of stringing us along, O2 ordained to reveal Pay/Go customers are being left out in the cold until , well, I still don't know. You've managed to continue to disappoint without even removing the uncertainty.

How difficult would it have been to put some clear information informing us that the iPhone 3G would not be available on Pay/Go until later, or even that the Pay/Go option may have ended up being delayed? You clearly knew it might have been, which is why you have and continue to keep the details from us. It's extremely misleading, and there's a case to be made for it being fraudulent advertising, especially if you used it to gauge consumer interest (Which, to be honest, it was used for).

But then I do know why we're being treated so unfairly.

O2 wants to force me into a Contract. Well I don't appreciate that one bit. I can't have a Contract, it has to be Pay/Go. Even if I could, I wouldn't want it. One of the biggest barriers to iPhone adoption last time around was the lack of Pay/Go. It's clear to me now that either:

A) O2 are somehow unaware of this, leading me to wonder if they listen to their customers at all, and only found out by allowing people to register their interest. I should point out again that the manner in which this was done is in the grey regions of legality.
or
B) The Pay/Go option was pre-announced with the specific intention of announcing it's indistinct delay at a later date and therefore moving some potential Pay/Go-ers to Contracts, specifically early adopters

I feel extremely let down by O2 now. O2, you have some serious sucking up to do to avoid missing out on my sale. Ever heard of the iPod touch? It's waiting in an Apple Store near me, just waiting to eat your lunch.

This is totally unacceptable. I need a new phone. I have my heart set on that phone. I don't want to wait until freaking Christmas - this is supposed to be funded in part by my parents as a treat for the end of exams. Bit bloody late come Christmas.

No, the Christmas season is not an official timeframe, just one CS Reps kept throwing out which now seems likely.

Jens is Pissed

Announcing the 96 Hour iPhone 3G Net-Based Campout

Starting at 8:02 this morning, I will be comprehensively combing the internet for every morsel of information about the iPhone 3G I can find. Everything will be aggregated here and on my Twitter feed.

So primarily, I'm donating my body to the world as a crawler for UK iPhone 3G news for the next 4 days. My main aim is to whittle through all the goddamned BS and try and find something out about the Pay/Go iPhone 3G.

I might even record some video roundups, using Screenflow to capture the internet and myself simultaneously.

So, what will be powering this crazy coverage you ask? The Mac mini will be my primary station and the one from which I follow most of the news and the one I'll be using to post about it, both here and on Twitter. Also lending a hand will be my Eee PC, serving up yet more news and allowing me to continue the quest away from the desk.

My camcorder will be recording me for the video roundups of course, my iPod touch will be handling (Some) of the entertainment I'll need to keep myself from slashing my wrists and, should the iPhone 3G actually be available on Pay/Go this Friday, my RAZR's last job will be Twittering the line at the Carphone Warehouse I'm buying from. Or, from the Cambridge Apple Retail Store (I'll explain in the morning).

That's 96 hours of iPhone coverage. Suck it Laporte :P

In all seriousness though, Leo rocks. I'm looking forward to and may well I may well join Leo's coverage of the worldwide launch if he wants me. For that, I'll take my Eee and use store Wi-Fi.

Wow, I'm gonna have to go sleep soon.

Jens Out

Welcome to Swift Kick in the Nuts

O2 is one of those companies I really want to like. They're like Sega in the Dreamcast days. Wow, this is awesome, I'm gonna use the online aspect...Not working, I'll try again...Again...Again...Baby, why you gotta make me hit you?

With O2, it goes like this:

Ooh, iPhone 3G...It gleams like the eyes of God...Ooh, a classy white one...I hope O2 put this on Pay/Go so I can get it....Ooh, they did, yay O2! Love you! Now to await the details. Waiting. Waiting. Waiting. Waiting. Waiting. Wai...Ooh, e-mail from O2! Oh...All this tells me is that they'lls end me another e-mail and that's the important one. What the fuck is this? It's like a week until launch, where is the Pay/Go info!?

And it goes on. The "leaked" pricing I posted about earlier is probably right, and I'm just about happy with those numbers. Unfortunately, we now believe the Pay/Go iPhone 3G will not launch this coming Friday. Which blows, I want my damn iPhone.

What's worse is that we believe that to be the case. We have no damned idea. O2 refuses to keep their story straight.

And so, the hate is building. It'll probably pass once I'm rocking my 6 months of free data, but I rally am annoyed. I was lookign forward to lining up for the launch of a new product, I've been waiting for years to be able to do it.

And it looks like they're taking that oppurtunity away from me.

Fail O2, just a freaking fail.

Jens Out

PS: My DV-FireWire cable came, my camcorder is now functional as a webcam.

iPhone Europe: O2 accidentally shows its Pay/Go Hand

Well, the cat would seem to be out of the bag. Multiple sites are reporting that O2 posted handset prices, rates and offer details for the iPhone 3G on the Pay/Go tariff to their site, apparently late last night.

The details have since been withdrawn from the site, but are still available to us through various rumour sites and blogs which caught them.

So, how much is the handset gonna set us back? 8GB will be priced at £299.99 and 16GB at £359.99 (MacWorld UK erroneously states £400, however even their cited source disagrees). These represent modest £30.99 price hikes on the elder models.

However, O2 has seen fit to sweeten the deal. Primarily through those "top up £X each month and receive" offers, but more importantly by bundling 6 months of unlimited (3G) data. Naturally, a fair use policy is in place and the offer only applies to phones activated before...December 31st. Some time away at least.
After the bundled data period is over, unlimited data can be added for £10 a month, a neatly non-committed solution, much better than the £30 tariff.

Incidentally, the 6 Months of data is therefore worth £60. I would have been buying it each month anyway, so I like to think of it as a £300 phone (16GB model) with unlimited data at £10 a month, £60 of which is paid upfront.

At these prices, with these deals, I'm definitely going to go ahead and get a 16GB iPhone 3G with a white back. I pretty much have to now. My touch is nearing the limits because I've bought three movies, and I plan to buy at least 2, maybe 3 more.

So, all in all, I'm pretty happy.

Jens Out

iPhone UK: Telefonica's O2 for £269

We at last have closure on iPhone's UK release. It will be out November 9th on Telefonica's O2 Network for £269.

And what about those all-important contracts? Well...

Contracts will last for 18 Months and as listed above feature free Wi-Fi Hotspot access around the UK on The Cloud - the country's biggest network of WiFi hotspots.

So, is this good? Well, It is in my opinion. Yes, the phone is a little steep compared to the N95. But then there are mitigating circumstances. For instance, the N95 is very crap.

As a phone, iPhone's pretty revolutionary. It's not a great deal at those prices, no. But it's not bad.

I myself am unsure. I'm happy to pay the money, but the iPod Touch gives me pause. As such, I've decided that I will wait until after my birthday (For which I'm hoping to receive one of the three new iPods) to decide whether or not to buy the iPhone.

If I end up having an iPod Touch, I will wait for the second iPhone. If it's a Classic or Nano, then I will probably buy the iPhone.

As for it being O2, it was both my wish and my prediction.

Jens Out

Apple Music Event for September 5th: Results

Okay, first things first, let's go through my predictions and see how I did:

• iPod Touch: Yes. Things different from predicted are the use of 8 and 16GB capacities as opposed to my Flash-based guess of 16 and 32GB. Half right on that front. WiFi was indeed included. I didn't dare hhope for that. Rest of the prediciton basically dead on.
• iPod 6: Yes, but manifested named as iPod Nano pricing wrong and ended up with half of predicted capacities.
• iPod Nano 3: See above
• 2GB iPod Shuffle: No such luck. 1 GB and some redone and iffy new colours.
• iTunes 8: Oddly no. iTunes update does have ringtones for iPhone. iTunes 8 may be released alongside Leopard.
• Beatles on iTunes: The long-awaited launch was not this time. It will come.
• New line of games: Sort of. Emphasis placed on free games as opposed to new ones.

And the completely unexpected? Well, there was really just one thing:

iPod Classic. Essentially an 80 and 160GB iPod With Video (iPod 5) but made of all metal. Like Nano 3, it combines anodised aluminum with the traditional stainless steel backplate.

iTunes WiFi Music Store. By songs for same prices as full iTunes over WiFi. Same prices, iPod Touch and iPhone only.

Oh, there's no 4GB iPhone and the 8GB is now cheaper than the 4GB was before it got killed.

Heh. Whoah.

Now then, I must say the following: there is no iPod 6. iPod 6 is, basically, iPod Touch and iPod Classic together. They as a unit are the new top iPod. Classic is the top-end capacity-wise, Touch is the top-end feature-wise.

I know which one I want. Multi-Touch is awesome.

All in all, this was a pretty good event. Although most of the products were either unsurprising or expected, it was good. And iPod Touch starts at £199 - a modest £10 more than iPod 5/30.

September 28th: iPod Touch ships. With over two weeks to spare for that birthday of mine ;)

That said, I could be happy with Nano 3 as well.

Not so sure about Classic. I don't think it was engineered for people like me. Touch and, to some extent, Nano defintiely were.

Jens Out
This post may see updates upon the availability of video from the event.

Upgrades Are Awesome

Seriously, upgrading your stuff is the best thing you can do. I've already told you about my upgrade to Vista, but today, I've done a little hardware upgrading.

First off, there's my new mouse. It's a Trust XpertClick TK-4300p. What's cool is, it's both your standard desktop mouse and a prsenter mouse.

It features a trackball for freehand use which doubles as a scroll ball when in Mouse Mode. Very nice. It also has a laser pointer and rechargeable batteries.

It's like a tiny god.

But, even more like a god is the HP w2207. It's a 22" Widescreen Glossy display running at 1680 by 1050. Damn it all, if it isn't the best screen I have ever seen. Everything on it looks gorgeous - especially Vista's smooth, glassy visual elements.

Other useful features are built-in speakers, reducing desktop clutter, and 2 USB ports which I have a WiFi dongle and (soon) a DTT Tuner hooked into - we're ditching my TV in favour of the HP. The TV in my room is dodgy anyway and this screen is just gorgeous.

As if these things didn't make today seem enough like Christmas, Apple finally added videos to the UK iTunes store. Currently, we have some ABC and Disney Channel hits (As well as Playhouse Disney shows for any of you who have kids) as well as some Nickelodeon, Paramount Comedy and MTV shows.

It's not a huge selection yet, but it's a start. It's £1.89 an episode.

Importantly, this is yet more reason to believe that Apple will be unveiling one or more new Video capable iPods at their event on the fifth.

Here are my picks for that event:

• iPod Touch - A Full-Screen Video iPod with iPhone Similarities. Double current capacities of 5G if HDD or 32GB and 64GB if Flash, same prices
• iPod Nano With Video - Refreshed, OS X-based software which works similarly to current software, but makes more use of artwork (Including CoverFlow) and uses some Leopard/iPhone style visual cues. Double current capacities, same prices.
• Increased Capacity iPod Shuffle, and a (Product) Red version, same price - maybe slightly lower
• iTunes 8 with some crazy new feature and including Beatles on the iTunes Store
  

Jens Out

iPhone Europe: A Credible Finale

Citing a report in the Financial Times, Apple Insider is reporting on what sounds like an entirely believable situation with carriers.

We already know that the iPhone's EU launch this year will only be into a few key markets. The report suggests that these will include (And may be limited to) the UK, France and Germany.

T-Mobile we already know is doing Germany (Despite no confirmation, it's the worst kept secret in the whole affair), France we had been hearing would be on Orange which this report confirms and the UK will be on O2 as I predicted and hoped for.

The announcement is expected to come a the IFA consumer electronics fair in Berlin, which runs August 31st through September 5th. This is a far more likely time frame than Apple's own European event, which is later and which I expect will deal more with iPod and iTunes - specifically, I expect them to finally roll out better video content on European iTunes stores.

Jens Out

At last

In another move to be filed under the "at last" category, Apple has finally updated the UK version of their website with the design previously given to their US site after the Ketnote Presentation at WWDC '07.

I've been getting very agitated waiting for them to get around to this (Because let's face it, the new design is gorgeous) and so I'm delighted they finally did it.

I've looked into buying one of the new keyboards. They're at the price I expected, but the Apple Online Store makes no mention of PC compatibility, which it does with the Mighty Mouse.

I'm slightly concerned. I want that keyboard for my desktop. A lot. But it (My desktop) is a PC.

I'm gonna have to do some more research.

Jens Out

Backwards Compatability

As some of you may know, I plan to get a PLAYSTATION 3 in the new year, once I have an XBOX 360 (The Halo 3 Edition most likely). The reason being, there are a few games I want on it (Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Metal Gear Online and Warhawk) and one movie I simply must own in HD which is going to Blu-Ray Disc (The Simpsons Movie).

Now, you may have guessed from the above games that I like Metal Gear. And I do. A lot. So I went to check the backwards compatibility of a PLAYSTATION 3 with the PS2 entries. Metal Gear Solid 2 will play fine, good. I have both versions of that.

But by far my favourite Metal Gear game of all time is Metal Gear Solid 3. Subsistence will play with "Noticeable Issues".

I have the original, Snake Eater, only. It is not listed.

I'm extremely annoyed. I do not want to have to pull out a PlayStation 2 every time I want to play my favourite entry in one of my favourite series. It may well be that I like Metal Gear Solid 4 better, but it doesn't matter. I will still have a desire to play 3 again, and unless they remake it for another platform (Say, Wii, *hint*hint*) I will have to plug another console into my TV.

Which will be no mean feat. By the time I have a PLAYSTATION 3 (I will by then have a 26" HDTV), I will have the Wii, an XBOX 360, the PLAYSTATION 3 itself and possibly one more product to plug in. The final product is a DVD Recorder into which I can plug the Wii, freeing up one SCART socket...But I can't guarantee the ports will be there - it may be that I use the port on the DVD Recorder for recording FreeView.

I could plug the PlayStation 2 in via Composite, but can you imagine the mess? Cables trailing from all sides of the TV, 5 or 6 Mains plugs...This would all be much simpler if Sony had put a PlayStation 2 inside the PLAYSTATION 3 like they were supposed to.

This went on a fair bit longer than I expected, but it really Grinds my Gears™. Anyway, I'll shut up if Konami put Metal Gear Solid 3 on Wii.

Jens Out.

iPhone Europe: O2 Basically Fails to Deny It

So the UK Hackersphere has found some source code on Carphone Warehouses site which says O2 has the iPhone - essentially. In response, O2's UK CEO (Peter Erskine) has just barely managed to not confirm it without denying it. And I for one am still delighted it's them, even if this is like the fifth time we've heard this rumour and it's getting kind of old and come on Apple and O2 just freaking announce this and put me out of my misery it's supposed to be out by Autumn and you need to start the hype machine in summer if you really want to sell this thing.

Ahem. Sorry. Anyway, the man in question was quoted saying:

"We're excited about this product and we certainly hope to be marketing it later this year when it launches."

Now, whilst he doesn't confirm that O2 has it, he has revealed that he is privy to the fact that it is launching in the UK this year. As a fact. Which is good news, if entirely expected.

And it also points to him being inside the deal.

Source: The Independent

Via: MacDailyNews and CrunchGear

Moore departs, analysts predict Black Hole to form as a result

Microsoft have lost their second gaming bigwig in as many consoles as Peter Moore departs to helm EA Sports, a role which will take him cross platform and have him lead the fight against "upstart" 2KGames.

Microsoft have tapped someone uninteresting to replace him, but this all begs the question: When are they going to swallow their pride, pull J Allard out of the zune and get him back fronting the games division? I'm sure Mattrick is good, but the company needs consistency again. Mattrick leads, J talks? It could work.

In other news, Nintendo look set to be named Best in Show at E3, largely by default. The title would have gone to Sony, but for their PR woes over this PS3 fire sale...Er..."Price Cut".

Microsoft meanwhile had a good show, but not a spectacular one. Good enough, but it could only have one with the expected price cut. Likelihood is, they want to distance the price cut from their recent warranty fiasco. Speaking of, wonder if that has anything to do with Moore's departure..?

And lastamly, a bootnote for my ongoing coverage.

iPhone Europe: T-Mobile all but confirmed for Germany, O2 again linked to UK deal

T-Mobile slipped up and posted info about the - well, the word - iPhone on their German website, making the deal all but certain.

Meanwhile, more sources close to the deal have said O2 have won the UK contract, which has fueled speculation that iPhone Europe must be 3G. O2 aint got no 2.5G son.

iPhone Europe - £329.99

Amazon UK recently cocked up and revealed details of iPhone on their site. The handset was listed for £330 with a release date of December 1st.

If this holds true - with that price applying to the 8GB version - I will be absolutely delighted. That price falls some £20 of the maximum I was willing to pay for an iPhone.

And the date of release puts it at a perfect time for me to grab it near-launch.

Source:
http://www.iphonematters.com/article/amazon_leaks_iphone_uk_info/

Stick with me for extensive coverage of iPhone Europe

iPhone Europe - It Gets Better

It's all over the internet. It's not official, but it is everywhere.

T-Mobile have the iPhone in Germany.

O2 have it here in the UK. Let me be the first to say...Awwwwwwwwwww Yeahhhhhhhhhhhhh. O2 is the carrier I was hoping for, so as far as I'm concerned, this can only be good news.

http://www.iphonematters.com/article/rumor_o2_to_get_the_iphone_in_the_uk535/
http://www.theregister.com/2007/07/05/02_iphone_deal/
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/63efca12-2a6d-11dc-9208-000b5df10621.html

News Wireless are sticking to their Vodafone story, backed up by some generic files in the iPhone as shipped stateside and their own unidentified sources, but owing to the unreliability of some of the other info they've posted, such as dates for the announcements and the unlikely 3G support, we can probably ignore them.

That said, they may be right that "O2" means "Carphone Warehouse" - a virtual network running on O2 is operated by the retail giant - however, even if this is the case, I imagine an O2 version is a must. Since O2 are the ones who'd have to upgrade the systems, I'm going to guess they'll want a piece of the pie.

And O2? Why not throw some iPhone love Tesco Mobile's way?

iPhone Europe - NewsWireless Updates

Apparently, the reason I've yet to hear the slightly dubious, though very good, news about the European iPhone launch from Apple, Vodafone, T-Mobile or Carphone Warehouse is related to legal troubles.

Word is, Vodafone didn't want to sign the contract drafted for T-Mobile under German law (It is, presumably, a 4-way contract). They requested it be rewritten under UK law for them to sign.

So NewsWireless says.

I also got the impression NewsWireless suspected Apple wanted (Or was required to under contract to AT&T I suppose) to sell 1 Million iPhones stateside, or possibly restock AT&T's stores before they made the announcement.

I don't know about that last bit, I didn't pay too much attention after the legal bit.

They say to expect news Thursday.

I'll be waiting.

iPhone Europe - 3G?

Mutterings all over the internets that Apple, Inc will unveil the details of iPhone's European launch on Monday, in partnership with Vodafone, T-Mobile and Carphone Warehouse (As a distributor, in addition to Apple's own stores since there are fewer of them in Europe)

The big news is that Apple is expected to launch iPhone in Europe with 3G. Well, yes, that's big news. But are you surprised? They kind of have to.

It's okay in the States, their mobile phone market is archaic compared to ours. We pretty much skipped 2.5G solutions. These are more common over there. Most EU networks are either 2G or 3G. And there's no way in hell iPhone could launch on 2G standards.

We can safely assume this iPhone is due out by the end of the year in Europe.

But we can speculate that a US version will not be far behind.

http://www.newswireless.net/index.cfm/article/3466

Something's got to be done

Something has got to be done about the enemy of european Nintendo fans. An evil more insidious than a £425 PlayStation. More devious, subversive and misleading than a Redmond based Apple wannabe. I call this enemy: Nintendo of Europe.

It is a widely accepted fact that gamers in PAL territories typically get the royal screw job. However, hopes were high that a Nintendo looking to expand the games market and make it more approachable were finally going to do soemthing worthwile with NoE.

This set the scene for Nintendo's press conference at Leipzig Games Convention 2006. Excitingly, it was titled "Wii prove our promise". An hour after it started, European Nintendo fans were reeling from a mighty blow to the gut.

Wii prove our promise was a DS bonanza with two new Wii games (Neither of which wer eparticularly exciting) and a pink DSLite for Europe. No promises were proved, kept or taken back. But they ended it with "Wii prove our promise".

The exaggerated title led many hopeful gamers, European and otherwise, to believe launch details of some kind would be revealed. This did not happen. What did happen would have been lacklustre even with a more approriate title.

This rings of a greater problem facing european Nintendo fans. NoE is simply not very good at what it does. It's not the same Nintendo as they love. It's bad at marketting, it makes very few games, they are small and not ver exciting and they always screw their territory over.

Hardware and games are almost universally last in Europe. NoE is worse than simply late, they always seem out of touch with NoA and NoJ. Often, gamers will know things long before NoE seems to.

It's not on. Europe, hard as Hitler tried to change that fact, exists. We can't be fobbed off by a warehouse and reusing video from E3. One day soon Nintendo are going to ahve to pull the finger out in Europe. Microsoft have their X05/6 etc. events in Europe, Sony make some of their best games in Europe. Both companies give Europe a smoother ride than Nintendo do (Allbeit still lacklustre compared to Japan and the US).

Mr. Iwata is going to have to come over here and sort this mess out. NoE needs fixing and European gamers need cheering up. Morale is low after the Leipzig disaster. Details on Wii are now expected at an NoA event on September 14th.

And if Europe is getting Wii after a gap bigger than the one between Japan and the US (Assuming there is one. If not, they'll probably allow a week of delay until Europe), the European Nintendo fans might go berserk.

It is time, Nintendo, to look at your globe. Europe wants to be loved too.