Friday, March 07, 2008

Delay for 16GB iPhones in Ireland?

After reading about the last nights iPhone SDK release I decided to give in and preorder an iPhone. I like the iPhone and I liked the plans Apple had for the updates and third party apps. It still seems like Ireland is getting a poor deal when compared to the UK but I figure O2 wont change the package and even if Apple do release a 3G iPhone in June it probably wont reach Ireland until several months after that. So I headed into the nearest O2 store to preorder a 16 GB iPhone.

After a quick chat with the shop assistant I was handing over my credit card to pay the deposit when as a side thought he informed me "Oh by the way we cant take deposits on 16 GB iPhones since we don't know when we'll get them". "What?" I said. "Well, we'll possibly have them on the release day but we may not" he explained. Somewhat puzzled I asked "So do you have any idea when you will certainly have them?" "No, but you can put a deposit on an 8GB iPhone and ask on the release day to upgrade to a 16GB phone. If we have them you can have one, if not you can have an 8GB one or just wait". My credit card went back into my pocket and I said I'd wait.

Thinking that perhaps the problem was that store I went to another and asked again about the 16GB iPhone. They too admitted they did not know when they would get them but they believed it would probably be the release day. I asked when they might know and was told it would be the night before the release when they get the delivery.

What the hell? Are O2 trying to dump 8GB iPhones on the market, sell them off to early adopters and then drop in the 16GB to the people who were willing to wait and see if something better came along? Since their CEO expects to have "Apple Freaks", as she called them, queuing out the door to pick up a iPhone then perhaps she should also consider the fact that those "freaks" she expects to pack her shops on the 14th will want their top spec iPhone and she'd better get them on the shelves if she wants to sell out.

1 comment:

Darran said...

I don't think it will matter which phone will be released on the day, people will still just buy them. It just goes to show how Apple and o2 are giving the finger to Ireland, we are a bunch of suckers who don't know how to complain, so i guess we deserve it.

I will hold out for the iPhone mark 2.