iPhone coming to Jersey

We’ve been waiting a whlie - although some of us have already got one from the UK or France and unlocked it - but the iPhone is finally, officially coming to Jersey.

The provider: Jersey Telecom and Sure - although neither ‘official, Apple branded retailers’. The islands state owned telco and the Cable and Wireless owned plucky upstart have announced that they will be selling the Apple iPhone - the new 3G version complete with all features.

But JT will only have a very limited number of handsets - so if you want to make sure you get one you’ll have to call JT and register your interest.

Sure have said they should have plenty and so will be selling them in their shop within the next few weeks - apparently.

Interestingly - the handsets sold in Jersey, as with all other phones sold in the island will be available unlocked - so you can buy them through Jersey Telecom or Sure and then put another networks sim card in them.

This is because both of those networks are selling the iPhone curtosy of the European provider who is selling stock to the Jersey networks for them to sell on.

You’ll need to sign up to an 18 month contract to get the phone - don’t have the Sure prices yet but for JT the cheapest iPhone contract set at £35.99 - that will get you the phone for £199.99.

I imagine Sure will offer it on their 800 contract which comes in at £75 per month.

You can also get the phone for just £49.99 with JT but that will cost you nearly £60 per month.

At the moment though, and this is a bit of a downside given the main selling point of the iPhone is data, is that there’s no unlimited data plan for the iPhone deal with JT in Jersey.

You will have to pay 10p/MB for all data you use - apparently JT are looking at unlimited options, or even limited options for an extra monthly cost - similar to their Blackberry deal - but don’t have anything concrete yet.

Sure do offer a unlimited data but it’s only 800kb on their 800 plan - but you could get a booster which is about £10 per month for 1gb of data.

The other interesting side to this story is Airtel-Vodafone. The Bharti Telecom and Vodafone joint Channel Island network.

They’ve told me they WILL be offering the iPhone - eventually - and are currently in talks with Apple and Bharti to offer it as the official Jersey network - with visual voicemail and everything.

But not sure when that’s coming or what it will cost.

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An iPhone in Six Months

I wrote yesterday about why I don’t intend to get an iPhone - several reasons but most to do with the nonsense cost difference between the UK and US versions.

But having spoken to an Apple expert this morning I’m thinking of changing my mind - in six months time.

Let me explain. The iPhone goes on sale in France on 29 November 2007 through Orange. Under French law mobile operators have to make a phone available unlocked, or provide a way to unlock the phone within six months of it going on sale.

So in France the iPhone can only stay locked for six months - this doesn’t mean Orange won’t still be the sole, official, retailer in six months time, they’ll still have exclusivity to sell the phone - but you will be legally allowed to put another operators sim card in your iPhone.

So in six months, on 29 May 2008 I should be able to go to France, buy an iPhone without a contract, bring it home and put my Sure Telecom sim card in it.

Alternatively - O2 in England will notice an increase in underground iPhone sales through eBay etc and decide to make the iPhone available unlocked as well - but also make a heavily subsidised version available with a contract.

So if that happens I could go to England in six months and sign up for a contract with O2 (£35 per month) and get an iPhone for something like £80 - that would bring it in line with most of the rest of mobiles sold in the UK.

Either way - good things come to those who wait.

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Not getting an iPhone

I’ve been on holiday for the past two weeks or so and haven’t fell the desire or pull of the blogosphere, not so much because I’ve had a thrilling time - but more because I went with my wife and two small children and was too stressed to blog.

Fortunately I’m now home again and can get back to my real holiday, the one that lasts for 47 weeks a year - work.

While away in England I saw posters, adverts and signs everywhere proclaiming the iPhone being on the way - it wasn’t as manic as the original iPhone release in Americaland but it was pretty heavy duty.

This annoyed me - mainly because I live in Jersey and the chance of one of the islands operators being allowed to sell the iPhone is pretty slim - but also because of the cost.

I visited the o2 site to find out just how much an iPhone would cost to buy and what the monthly rental would be - thinking maybe I could get one with a contract in the UK - I don’t make many phone calls so am not that bothered about the roaming costs.

I currently pay £25 per month for my mobile contract and that gives me something like 120 free minutes, 120 text messages and a few other bits I never use.

The cheapest o2 iPhone subscription is £35 per month for 200 minutes, 200 SMS and unlimited data (with a fair use policy). It also gives you free access to over 7500 WiFi Hotspots and visual voicemail.

This isn’t bad - it provides about the same level of extras as a mid tarriff for about the same price as most mid tarriffs but those tarriffs would also normally provide you with a free smart phone.

In this case you’d also have to pay £269 for the iPhone - this isn’t an awful price on its own, for a top iPod with phone functionality but with the £35 per month as well - it’s a bit much.

If I could pay £269 for the iPhone and then just use it on a Pay as you go contract it would be fab value - but with a £35 a month contract - it’s a bit steep.

That’s one reason why I’ve decided to get an ordinary phone and buy an iPod Touch instead - but there are other reasons.

£269 doesn’t sound too bad when you first look at it - it’s comparable with other similar products but if you take a look at the cost of the iPhone in the USA our price starts to get a bit on the steep side.

The price for the same iPhone in the USA is $399 dollars - at the current exchange rate that is £191 or £78 less than buying the same product in the UK. Even counting for VAT thats still a LOT more.

So I’m sticking to my current phone, getting an iPod Touch and holding out for the first phone with the Google Stack software.

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iPhone in Jersey?

As I have little more to pass time and occupy my mind than browse the internet on the slowest connection in the world in a browser with NO TABS - I thought I’d blog about something I saw the other day and forgot about.

I was just reading a story on the The Register about the iPhone coming to the UK very soon and probably through O2 - which is nice for people living in England who happen to want to use O2.

I’m sure I’d switch to O2 in a second if I lived in England to get the iPhone - after all British mobile companies are all pretty much the same.

But I live in Jersey - my choice is between Jersey Telecom (expensive but reliable), Sure (cheaper but patchy coverage) and Airtel-Vodafone (new, massive company, cheap but not overly great coverage).

At the moment I’m with Sure - I switched about a year ago just after they launched (until then Jersey only had a single mobile operator) but am thinking about switching again in the new year.

This will co-incide with my need for a new iPod - I’ve been holding out on buying a new one (I currently have a Gen One Nano) until a Touch iPod comes out - well now it has and I’ve agreed to wait until Christmas with my wife.

But Christmas is about the same time my current mobile contract runs out and the other day I noticed Jersey Telecom have a BIG iPhone display - shouting about the fact that it will be coming soon and offering DEMOS of the phone to anyone asking.

So this means it’s more than likely JT will be the Jersey iPhone retailer and provider - so do I switch to JT in January, pay a slightly higher monthly rate for a fewer free minutes and text messages but get an iPhone!

Or do I got to Airtel who currently offer the cheapest rate, free minutes that include UK mobile and landlines, a rapidly improving coverage and the backing of two massive mobile companies (Bharti and Vodafone) - but stick with a different phone.

The JT option gives me a device with everything built in (and data calls are FREE with JT) but with the Airtel option I can get a cheaper phone and buy an iPod Touch so have two seperate devices (something I’m used to) and have to pay data rates.

What would you do?

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