Buying A 3G iPhone In Ireland

Posted by: | Posted on: July 11th, 2008 | 9 Comments | Posted in: Branding, Engagement, Ireland, Marketing offline, Marketing online, Reputation

Reflections on the product launch of the 3G iPhone by O2 in Ireland.

Well today is the day many of people have been waiting for – the launch of the 3G iPhone in Ireland.

I must declare that I am slightly envious of those people who already have one but the data plan being offered by O2 is just not at a price that I find acceptable at the moment as someone who downloads a lot of data.

Here are some personal reflections on the product launch so far.

Let’s start with the fact that O2 initially did not have a business package in place  though this has apparently now been rectified. Business customers must be a key customer base for O2 and are less fickle about moving accounts. So not to deliver relevant and compelling packages for them is a mistake – unless of course that was for strategic reasons and O2 don’t have enough product to supply business customers.

There does seem to be lack of product. Watching the Qik video that Pat Phelan did from the O2 Cork store this morning where people were queuing to buy an iPhone before 9 am, 30 seem to have been put aside as pre-orders and they only had 37 in total so some people were going to be disappointed. I wonder what those people will say when they talk about their iPhone experience today?

And as Pat then went on to report in his video series, there were just 2 staff on duty in the O2 Cork store – I can’t believe that they weren’t prepared for the fact people would be at their doorstep early today.

The point for me is that when you are launching a product – especially one that has so much anticipation by consumers and customers – it’s not just the product that you have to consider.

Everyone who comes into contact with any touch point of your brand – be that marketing literature, logistics, through to the people in your company – can create an overall brand experience which is buzz worthy – or not – that can be far more effective than investing in traditional advertising.

So what’s your view of how buzz worthy the launch of the 3G iPhone is in Ireland today?

And for those of you who like me would love a 3G  iPhone but aren’t buying one at the moment, you can live vicariously through Pat, thanks to his Qik video’s – just imagine it’s your 3GiPhone you are unwrapping – not quite the same but the best I can do for you!

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  • http://www.patphelan.net Pat Phelan

    Cheers for the link Krishna and the nice messages on twitter :-)
    Its amazing really that in a country which is supposedly in the midst of a recession that people with hard cash were being turned away this morning.
    O2′s main store in Cork had 13 phones to sell, using that assumption I presume there were 100 iPhones for sale in Cork today.
    missed and boat comes to mind.

  • Krishna De

    Pat – you are more than welcome. Your videos have proved interesting for those of us who aspire to a 3G iPhone!

    Yes it’s amazing – in a climate where many people are keeping their wallets sewn into their pockets I wonder what missed opportunities there have been.

    Though reading around the blogosphere of people in my network then things have not been great in Amsterdam or in parts of the UK

    Steve Jobs is no doubt lying in a hammock happy for all the publicity – good or bad – as the issues are down to mobile providers and retailers it seems at the moment.

    Have fun with your phone! And do keep Qiking please.

    And for anyone wanting to see the launch of the 3G iPhone across the globe, twit.tv is doing 24 hours of programming – find out more at http://leoville.com/2008/07/10/1588/ and you can follow them on Twitter at http://twitter.com/twitlive

  • supergirl

    I firmly agree that O2 didn’t have the man power in either their stores or customer care centre however Apple were responsible for the lack of stock in all stores in both Eire and across the globe. I know of some stores who only had between 5-9 devices in stock – Apple released a certain amount of stock country wide and the devices were distributed through the stores.

  • http://www.a-e-c.com.au Annemarie Cross

    Hi Krishna,

    Here in Australia, the Herald Sun (major newspaper) reported that hundreds of hopeful buyers were turned away from stores despite waiting in a queue for hours.

    In fact one poor lad was fourth in line and had camped outside an Optus store since 2am only to be sent away empty handed, being told he had to pre-register and pay a deposit.

    Unfortunately there are many similar stories of disappointed consumers due to the lack of stock.

    I think I’ll stick with my trusted Blackberry for now.

  • Krishna De

    Thanks Supergirl and Annemarie for sharing your knowledge of the 3G iPhone launch.

    I am guessing retailers and Apple alike will have alot to reflect on next week as they review the launch.

    I wonder if they feel it’s met their KPI’s?

  • http://www.beckermanpr.com Rich Klein

    I waited five hours Saturday morning but got one in Manhattan. And even though it was a bit expensive, I’m hoping the productivity gains make the purchase worth it. I’ll let you know once I start using it this week. But so far, very cool device!

  • http://www.intercuts.com HughC

    Hi Krishna,

    Being a long time Apple fan – I’ve pretty much only used their products since the late Eighties – I was appalled at both the price of the iPhone and the tariffs being charged by O2. Much as I’d bought into the meme and seriously wanted one of these, I was absolutely not going to shell out my hand earned cash.

    There are a few points arising:

    Why are we charged what appears to be a premium here in Ireland for Apple products (even taking into consideration differences in VAT and Sales Tax etc)?

    Why was the supply so poor?

    Why on earth did Apple simultaneously launch a bunch of other products and services?

    One of these services, MobileMe, was supposed to be a competitor to Exchange, but pardon my language, it just fell on its arse. Jobs has subsequently been firefighting and I’m sure heads have rolled. The new service caused some users to lose all of their migrated email – years worth of data was lost in some cases.

    I suppose that I was part of that Apple tribe in years gone by, not an extreme advocate but a semi-fanboi nevertheless. Maybe it’s age catching up on me but I’m not as ardent as I used to be and this shambles hasn’t done too much.

    Maybe when the prices drop further and I’m not haemorrhaging cash quite so badly …

  • Krishna De

    Hugh – thanks for taking the time to comment.

    I know there are some people who are ‘raving fans’ as Ken Blanchard describes them of Apple.

    I love my iPod and would love an iPhone but not at the rates that O2 are offering them.

    I am wondering what the revenue split is between O2 and Apple?

    If Apple were to be consistent in expressing it’s brand across the world and with it’s reputation as a product so many people what to access, I am wondering why they don’t manage their relationships with their business partners in such a way that it’s reputation is not blotted with consumers?

    I know that when I was in a company who were global brand owners and worked through JV’s that that would have been one of the things we would have reviewed as a KPI.

    Or may be they do and we just don’t see/hear/experience it?

  • http://www.reverbstudios.ie/blog Leon Quinn

    Hi Krishna, we met in Carrick a few months ago at a talk of yours.

    I’ve just got my iphone 3G thanks to a brief 10 minute sale window on the O2 website on tuesday 5th August and I’m lovin it. Its the first Apple product I’ve bought for myself after resisting their style over substance products for years!

    I think the 45 euros a month price is very reasonable (about the same as my average vodafone bill but with more mins, data and texts) and I’m wondering if anyone knows why or how the unit dropped so dramatically in price since the original iphone!?

    Heres my 3G iphone review for anyone interested – http://www.reverbstudios.ie/blog/iphone-3g-review/


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