While Apple hasn't released official numbers on early sales of its iPhone in the UK, new reports suggest the company may face difficulty replicating the level of success it experienced with the US launch of the handset back in June.
"Carphone Warehouse, the main retail outlet for Apple's hot item [in the UK], had taken stock of 50,000 iPhones, but had only managed to shift around 11,000 in the first weekend," the report states. "O2 has over 400 stores and Apple just 12 in the UK. Phone industry sources estimated that 25,000 units might have shifted in that first weekend - but that now seems optimistic."
The Register observes that the number of activations may not actually represent the number of iPhones sold, as some may have been set away as gifts and have not yet been activated. Still, the publication said, "the gross is unlikely to be significantly higher."
One factor potentially limiting the adoption of iPhone in the UK may be the handset's steep price of 269 pounds. Market research firm GfK Group recently polled 500 people across the country and found that, outside of "Apple cult" fans, uptake in the wider public is likely to be limited due to the unusually high cost of the device.
Of those surveyed, a large 72 percent said that they would not buy one due to the price. This includes 26 percent who said they like the look of the iPhone but found it too expensive, in addition to another 46 percent who said they were "never going to buy it at that price."
Only 2 percent of respondents to the survey said they were even considering adding the Apple handset to their Christmas list, indicating that the package on offer has not hit the spot for UK consumers.
"Appleâs history proves that it has the magic touch when it comes to product development and marketing, however the iPhone has yet to capture the imagination of the UK public," said Richard Jameson, a representative for GfK NOP. "We must take into account that the UK mobile marketâs success has been down to subsidised handsets, therefore the iPhoneâs price really stands out and consumers are not used to paying in excess of 200 pounds for a phone."
Jameson added that "Apple needs more than cuttingâedge design to penetrate this market and will have to work much harder in the UK than it did in the US to make iPhone a mass-market proposition."
Still, iPhone topped GfK NOP's rankings in brand awareness for specific features, with 78 percent of survey respondents associating the iPhone with music and 65 percent mentioning it in accordance with email and web surfing.
86 Comments
Crap network at a crap price. Why aren't they getting this?
The Poll...
http://www.gfknop.com/customresearch.../index.en.html
IMHO Apple has done a poor job of educating consumers that the price of iPhone with its service plan is actually less than the so-called competition. Furthermore, the average consumer doesn't need mobile Internet so badly that they will pay the higher service fees associated with unlimited data, but for people who do need mobile Internet (and Internet applications that actually work), the iPhone works best and costs less. Only the initial cost for iPhone is higher than for most (but not all) smart phones.
Crap network at a crap price. Why aren't they getting this?
The whole system actually works well, unlike the so-called competition.
IMHO Apple has done a poor job of educating consumers that the price of iPhone with its service plan is actually less than the so-called competition. Furthermore, the average consumer doesn't need mobile Internet so badly that they will pay the higher service fees associated with unlimited data, but for people who do need mobile Internet (and Internet applications that actually work), the iPhone works best and costs less. Only the initial cost for iPhone is higher than for most (but not all) smart phones.
It's not cheaper than the competition. Not by a long shot.