Because geek is cool and clever

I want a new iPhone but…. June 10, 2009

I watched the Apple announcement of the new iPhone 3GS at the Dev Conference and decided that I’d be getting one.

I like my iPhone more than any other on the market so it makes sense that I would upgrade to the newest model when it came along.

The 3GS is more evolution than revolution but the improved camera and processor on a device I use numerous times throughout the day was the deal maker for me.

Unlike last year when the 3G phone first appeared, this time around it seems like O2 won’t be letting me upgrade for nothing. Last summer all I had to do was walk into a Carphone Warehouse, tell them I wanted to upgrade my iPhone that was still under a contract and they handed me a shiny new model, no questions asked and no money changing hands – all I had to do was sign a new 18 month contract.
This time around, they won’t do that. If I want a new phone I must buy out of my contract which still has another six months to go.

While this makes me mad and initially seems unfair, it isn’t and here’s why.

When I bought the first iPhone, it was unsubsidised – I paid full whack for it. By the time the 3G came around, Apple realised that not everyone would stump up the large outlay so they reached a deal with O2 and other carriers that they would subsidise the phone in exchange for 18 months of a contract plan.
So O2 were more than happy to let me break my first contract because there was no subsidy involved.

It’s different this time around.

I don’t like O2. Their iPhone tariff price is bloated, their coverage can be weak and they’re stiffing us with new stuff like tethering options (bandwidth on the iPhone is free as part of the contract but pass that bandwidth off to a tethered laptop and you’ll pay handsomely), but I do have to say that in the case of this contract, they are right, despite all the protests.

What does seem unfair (if not technically unfair then certainly not rewarding loyalty) is that I will have to pay the same price for a new iPhone 3GS as entirely new customers to O2. Sure, there’s no legal reason for O2 to offer me a discount but you’d just imagine that as I’ve stuck with their frankly poor service for the past couple of years, they might offer me a small carrot for my loyalty.

They won’t – and that sticks in my throat.

So what choices am I left with? A few, as it turns out…

• Pony up the money for a new phone. That’ll be around £300 to get out of contract and then almost another ton for the new 16GB phone
• Stick with current iPhone until my contract runs out in six months and then buy a new iPhone
• Stick with current iPhone and then stick it to Apple and O2 when my contract runs out and buy a different phone on a better network

And therein lies the dilemma. To revisit the first paragraph of this comment, I love my iPhone and I WANT A NEW ONE. Call me shallow, call me an Apple fanboi, call me foolish (actually, don’t call me that) but I don’t want a Palm Pre, a Blackberry or a Nokia.

So I’ve decided. Unless O2 make some goodwill gesture (which they might – there are a lot of pissed off people out there, however unreasonable that might be), I’ll wait.

Come December when my contract runs out, I’ll be in the O2 shop ordering myself a nice new Christmas present.

Of course, I run the very likely risk of another new version of the iPhone showing up next summer and then I’ll be really stuffed as I’ll have not six months but a full year of contract to run.
I think that for once I need to be content with being some way off the bleeding edge that I normally live on.

It’ll be tough but I… can… do… it…