2.5G at 30% Coverage? I want 3.5G at 95%. Sorry Apple...

So the big announcement today is that O2 UK have won the exclusive rights to sell the Apple iPhone on it's UK launch come 9th November.

But looking BEHIND the media frenzy and press releases, what does this really mean, and what pitfalls are there?

Well, a couple of MASSIVE ones come to mind straight away, that quite frankly, have me wetting myself laughing, towards all those who will rush out and grab one come launch day.

You see, despite speculation, O2 and Apple have elected to run with the existing hardware model - that is, a 2.5G, or specifically, an EDGE (Enhanced General Packet Radio System) device.

This, in the day when all new devices being released are not even 3G UMTS, but more likely, superfast 3.5G HSDPA. The Nokia N95 is HSDPA, as is the Nokia 6120, and all future mid-range Nokias will likely be 3.5G.

On the Windows Mobile front, my nearly one year old HTC Hermes (T-Mobile Vario 2) is HSDPA 3.5G, and all the new WM devices are coming out as 3.5G devices.

Yet O2 have elected to go with the very old 2.5G EDGE based iPhone simply so that they can steal a march on their rivals?

This is frightening to me this, because it basically means such is the clout of Apple, that in effect they have DICTATED to us the consumer, what we should have, and for once, not the other way round.

Apple fan-boys can comment on this post as they wish, but the simple phrase for what I just described is "stifling innovation".

Now who, even impartial to this debate or Apple, would ever have thought they would see THAT tag labelled on Apple of all people - and how bizarre given the innovations incorporated into the iPhone, that are for nothing given that it's base technology is one from YESTERYEAR!

Now just before I do give you Apple fan-boys free reign to comment willy nilly, let me point out a few home truths...

EDGE is (or obviously now it would be correct to say WAS) classed so much as a YESTERYEAR technology by O2, prior to this Apple deal, that they had absolutely no real plans in rolling out an EDGE network, unlike some other UK Nets who have done so AS A FALL BACK ONLY.

Yes, that's true - O2 felt that EDGE was so yesteryear, that they were not even going to roll it out, and instead would concentrate on 3G/3.5G (O2 were the first to test a true 3.5G through their tests with Manx Telecom etc).

Only when the iPhone came out Stateside as an EDGE only device, did things start to change a bit for O2 - no doubt when they realised during negotiations with Apple that Apple would NOT be doing a 3G device for the European market at launch - back to the point I made about Apple dictating to US, not the other way round).

So much so, that a point I must flag up for prospective O2 iPhone owners come 9th November...

...That O2 were so against an old fashioned 2.5G rollout, that NOW, as I type this, and after a massive drive to get up and running for the iPhone launch, O2 only have around 15-20% network coverage at EDGE speeds.

And even on LAUNCH DAY, only around 30% coverage is expected.

Eventually the entire current O2 network is expected to be EDGE covered, as after all, EDGE is basically a SOFTWARE upgrade to the network, not a hardware/mast based one.

But that in itself, MUST dispel the Apple fan-boys from claiming I am making this all up (which amounts to public knowledge anyway, it's no secret). That even though EDGE is a software only update, so minded against a backward, yesteryear technology were O2 before the iPhone deal, that even for a software only upgrade, that come launch day itself, which is still nearly TWO MONTHS off, O2 will still only have 30% coverage.

So having cleared that up, let me ask you, IMPARTIALLY...

What do you really think about paying so much money, for a device limited to only 2.5G speeds, that come launch day itself, will still even then only have coverage of this slower speed network at only 30%...?

That to me has to be the statement of the day. Incredible, but it's a true reflection of where things are nonetheless.

Furthermore, for those (as I have seen lots in the media about EDGE being more than fast enough - especially Mr Jobs saying this, referring to Email on the Blackberry etc), let me just mention a few more things honestly, truthfully, and impartially...

As a fairly LONG TERM user of 3G data, if you can call the year or so it has been around long term, then let me tell you some real home truths.

3G itself is oft far too slow for many of the things you would like to do with the mobile web. Put this into context in terms of the things a device like the iPhone can do, and you are SERIOUSLY going to have issues in the UK.

In the last year, I have been on an unlimited data plan with T-Mobile's Web n Walk (1GB fair use limit).

And during that time, I have browsed, emailed, MSN'd (which is not strictly part of my allowance as it has now been amended to, but I was an early adopter of WnW), regularly posted images to my blog. I have downloaded software stright to my phone, and indeed done just about any data-centric web task that can be imagined, on devices such as the Hermes, or a Symbian Smartphone.

Having done so, using both 3G only device such as the MDA Pro (HTC Universal), and Nokia N80, or Sony Ericsson K800i, as well as newer 3.5G devices, then trust me, real world, real as it is statement-wise, 3G can often be too slow.

Indeed even now, on my newer N95, and 6120, or HTC Hermes as the devices I use now, I can even say that 3.5G HSDPA is sometimes a little slow for SOME of the things I do, like large emails with attachments etc. (And this is based on me managing to blag HSDPA on my basic WnW Account, or testing using my partner's "3" mobile with X-Series Gold HSDPA).

So all those that claim EDGE will be fast enough, for a device so feature rich as the iPhone unquestionably is, let me just say this to you...

SlingPlayer (watching your own Sky/Sky+) on the mobile phone is a true innovation. But even on rock solid coverage, Turbo3G, as I am lucky enough to have already where we live, (as Three call their new upgraded 3.5G network), then from time to time, skipping occurs while watching, as the network is just not always fast enough (this being Turbo 3G remember).

Now let me ask you, given that the screen on the iPhone just BEGS to be used for something like Mobile TV etc... If 3.5G is not fast enough, never mind 3G, then EDGE is going to be cool enough for you...? As if. Take a beautiful screen like that, then bang in a radio technology that rules it out for ANY streaming video uses??? Then take into account you are tied into an 18 months contract with the iPhone, and contemplate what other Mobile Video advances we will see in that time... Then REALLY ask yourself is EDGE cool?

EDGE wasn't even that cool a YEAR ago in the UK. So TWENTY MONTHS FROM NOW, nearly TWO YEARS (as launch is not for another two months), do you really for one second think that EDGE is not going to be something that is crippling your iPhone... TWO YEARS FROM NOW...?

Get real Mr Jobs. This is the UK, not the US of A.

We already know all about the situation in the USA mobile-phone wise, and thank the Lord on high those things are not something we are subject to. But then you go and do this to us... No way!

Please don't mention that the iPhone has Wi-fi and many people can use this instead for speed... Even with the new Wi-fi Hotspot deal in the new O2 tariffs (which again being impartial, is a great thing in and of itself, but not as a replacement for high speed radio in the phone), then let me remind you the reality of it. Most people want to use their devices in a location of their OWN choosing, NOT be dictated as to where they can go, based on the limits of the device - come on, get real. Wi-fi is great. But it's not meant to dictate where you use a mobile phone - I always thought it was the other way round. Oh, and before you congratulate O2 on such a great idea to include wi-fi free as part of the tariff package... just remember, they have done this as they have HAD to, given the phone's lack of proper high speed internet, not in spite of it.

After a YEAR of using both 3G UMTS and 3.5G HSDPA, and on occasion finding even the faster technology to be limiting, then if you want to kid yourself that EDGE will be fast enough for you, then please... don't let ME be the one to shatter your costly illusion with over a year's real world experience of this. Not at all.

Especially as cost is my next point...

Given that the iPhone will retail for £269 on a minimum contract of £35 for 18 months, then the maths is fairly simple... 18x£35, plus £269, equals £899.

So this 2.5G EDGE device is going to cost you a MINIMUM of £899 over the length of your contract... Rising if you go for a higher price tariff, or make calls, and text etc, over your allowance.

So again, if you want to be the early adopter fan-boys that rush out and buy one of these beautiful looking (I am impartial - I KNOW they look amazing, it's the underlying tech that's the ridiculous deal breaker for me) iPhones, at a total outlay of a minimum of £899, and really believe 2.5G will be fast enough for you despite my year's experience of both 3G and true 3.5G, then please...

...Don't let me spoil the party for you.

I'd much rather reality itself does that for you thereafter, if you are daft enough to fall for the hype.


DISCLAIMER: Any views stated here are entirely my own, not in any way offered Libellous toward Apple, though I am sure having read previous tales that won't stop Apple's legal sods (I mean bods), from sending me threatening letters, because I am not offering undying praise to the Holy One itself.

Additionally, I genuinely am impartial to all this - the device itself is likely to be amazing (though the issues mentioned of texting, MMS, etc all fill me with dread). Nevertheless, a beautiful device like this, running on a 2.5G radio, really is tantamount and akin to a Ferrari F50 with a Smart Car engine plonked in it.

And by O2 agreeing to Apple's demands, it has singularly affected changed for the worse for us in the UK, as it falsely seeks to indicate that EDGE is all we need. Prior to the iPhone, EVERYONE accepted and agreed EDGE was yesteryear - networks, consumers, and business alike. But all of a sudden, the iPhone pops up, oh and what do you know... er, EDGE is cool, honest.

Honest...?

Bullshoot more like.

Thanks Apple. Not a lot.