News for Sunday, 27 January 2008

T-Mobile has revealed the figures. Only 70 000 iPhone contracts were subscribed during the first 11 weeks that the iPhone was on the market in Germany.
Maybe these numbers confirm the lack of passion of the iPhone in Europe compared to the United States, however one can find at least an explanation in Germany. In this country, and it was the only one, the marketing was accompanied by a legal battle concerning the contract of exclusivity. Vodaphone had succeeded with a temporary court order to oblige T-Mobile to sell it without subscription (999 €) and also to unlock the phones already sold. This legal intrigue caused a blur which interrupted two weeks of sales and disturbed the well oiled marketing machine of Apple.
However this should not be used to conceal other factors that have also slowed down marketing in Europe:
- the delay in introducing iPhone to Europe after the American introduction, this blunted the innovation effect and allowed the other competing European operators to furbish their weapons and to better react.
- the economic model of Apple obliged the operators to transfer a large percentage to them, forcing them to propose basic tariffs at high prices.
- the closed nature of the iPhone itself: the constant battle against the installation of third party applications and against unlocking the iPhone.
- denigration campaigns skilfully orchestrated primarily around the absence of 3G and impossibility of sending MMS, two things only used in a marginal way by the customers (to the regret of the operators),but systematically quoted by those who do not like the iPhone, and more seriously, by those who do not know the apparatus and never had one in their hands.
Apple no longer is the type that is happy playing second fiddle, thus all will be redone. One will certainly need an iPhone 2 and the model of absolute control needs to be revised downwards.