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Jan 26, 08 - 11:57 am Comment from: LorD1776

Not enough?

Note: Multimedia device, not smartphone.

Jan 26, 08 - 12:12 pm Comment from: BiZarRo BaLlmEr

Wait until they get the price reduction the US had, should cause a frenzy in a few months.

Jan 26, 08 - 12:32 pm Comment from: gzero

At the current exchange rate, the iPhone in Germany costs $587 including tax. Recently Apple has started adjusting their retail prices to reflect the weak dollar, so we should (hopefully) start seeing lower Euro prices here soon.

I notice that T-Mobile is calling the iPhone a "multimedia device" rather than a "smartphone". Do they not use that term in Germany, or does T-Mobile not consider the iPhone "smart"?

Jan 26, 08 - 12:54 pm Comment from: HMCIV

So that's vhere ze missing iPhones vent. ZEY VERE CONVISCATED FUR DER FATHERLAND!!!

I know nothing, I see nothing, and I say... nothing! -Sergeant Hans Schultz

I notice that T-Mobile is calling the iPhone a "multimedia device" rather than a "smartphone". Do they not use that term in Germany, or does T-Mobile not consider the iPhone "smart"?

It's because some company just recently got granted a US patent on "smartphones" and immediatly (one minute past midnight even) started suing everyone under the sun, including Apple.

http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/08/01/25/2031214.shtml

The could've sold ten times that many, if T-Mobile's rates were competitively priced. Unfortunately they are NOT!

Its the margins. Not just the volume that count. And remember Vodaphone tried to UBoat torpedo the iPhone for three weeks causing lost time and momentum.

Jan 26, 08 - 04:27 pm Comment from: DogGone

That's over 300,000 a year for Germany. Not too shabby.

Remember that the iPod's success was driven by widespread availability. If the iPhone is available throughout Europe, they could easy sell 4M a year.

This is just early days. Consider that Apple sell 50M iPods a year now. The iPhone could easily follow the same path.

@DogGone "That's over 300,000 a year for Germany. Not too shabby."

Dude, you assume too much.
So there were about a million Christmas Trees sold during a 4 week period, does that mean there will be over 11 million Christmas trees sold in the next 48 weeks of the year?

Phone sales die so quickly---there is something new going to that market of fickle owners.

@Dude

Your example was a bit over-the-top silly, but you make a good point. THere is no way currently to know how long the iPhone will remain an attractive option to consumers. Some phones, like the Chocolate, never really catch on after an initial burst of sales. Others, like the sidekick, or the RAZR seem to have much longer lives. The sidekick is an interesting example because, unlike the RAZR, it was never a comodity phone.

we have to admit: that is very little for a country of 80 million people. at this rate the iPhone only would have sold 350.000 in the last quarter in the US (ca. 60.000 in 2 month means ca. 90.000 in 3 month, in the US live 3.6 times the people of germany: that makes ca. 350.000 phones at this rate) apple is doing something wrong here with price and availabilty. i hope they know what they are doing. i really do.

Jan 27, 08 - 04:07 am Comment from: gzero

Apple faces three big problems in Germany regarding the iPhone:

1. The perceived value of the iPhone is low; people in Germany don't want to pay such a high price for a phone that doesn't at least have UMTS. The media made a really big deal about UMTS (3G) in Germany for many years, so the German consumers have been brainwashed into thinking that UMTS is important on a smartphone.

2. It's ONLY available in T-Mobile shops. If Apple would have allowed T-Mobile to sell the iPhone in other places, like Gravis - Largest Apple reseller in Germany - and Saturn (the Germany equivalent of Best Buy), they would have sold a lot more iPhones a lot faster.

3. Deutsche Telekom has a bad reputation in Germany, their customer service sucks, and they have a history of screwing customers over on plans, much like CIngular in the US.

Having said that, the iPod also had a hard time initially in Germany, but within a year became the top selling player. The Germans are simply a little slow.

European phone companies have choosen to work on the 3G based communication stream... Hopefully next gen iPhone will be adapted and easier to use elsewhere than in the states... Only than iPhone will make a malheur in Europ.

@Gwendo: So true. But then they also took pride in a German article that every iPhone customer spends double the amount of money than the regular customer.
"We're milking them till they squeeze and are proud of it!"

Jan 27, 08 - 09:08 am Comment from: -hh

@gzero:

"Having said that, the iPod also had a hard time initially in Germany, but within a year became the top selling player. The Germans are simply a little slow"

Slow in that they're culturally conservative on new technologies until they've proven themselves. Once that happens, adoption rates can change quite quickly. IIRC, take a look at their recent trends in photovoltaic solar panels.


-hh

89,000,000 people in Germany.
300,000 iphones sold.
Not very good.

Apple marketing in Germany sucks for all its products.

@ trevor forever: 300,000?
No, they have only sold 70,000. Even worse than you thought.
Just got a ad from T-Online - they have cut service price by about 50%. Free weekend calls.
See it here:
http://www.t-mobile.de/iphone/showTariffs.do
(Still too expensive!!!)