O2 customers take on iPhone upgrade charge

Posted: 22 June 2009

O2 has announced that the opening day of sales for the new Apple iPhone 3G was a major success, outperforming the achievements set out by its predecessor - but not everyone is happy with some of the network's recent actions.

With the carrier announcing that by lunchtime sales had outstripped those attained by the original device when it was launched in 2008, it seemed the firm had another major hit on its hands - but this followed some other numbers the group was probably less pleased to see on paper.

Customers of O2 were apparently outraged at suggestions they would have to buy themselves out of their contract in order to upgrade to the Apple iPhone 3G S and started a 'Twitition' to register this disdain using social networking and micro-blogging website Twitter.

According to a Telegraph report on June 10th, it was not long before the initiative had gathered pace, generating more than 3,000 signatures - a figure that was soon increasing by around 200 per entries every hour.

Emma Barnett, technology and digital media correspondent for the publication, said forums and chat rooms across the UK rapidly filled up with complaints about the having to lay out the extra cost to upgrade to the new faster model - which claims to be twice as quick as its predecessor - as well as the money involved with buying the new model itself.

In response, O2's general manager of devices Steve Alder told TechRadar it was simply not commercially viable for the network to allow people a free trade in on their older iPhone, although he did acknowledge consumers' frustrations.

"Much as we understand the desire of many customers to have the latest version, this would be a loss-making deal for O2 and would be a distinct set of business terms for iPhone customers that don't apply to our other customers," he said.

Another result of the mini-blogging phenomena was on the O2 Twitter account itself, where the carrier saw an extra 2,000 followers join up to keep track of its movements within the 24 hours following Apple's iPhone 3G S announcement at the Worldwide Developers Conference, in San Francisco.

Previously, O2 had provided its customers the opportunity to trade in their second generation iPhone for the original 3G version when it went on sale in 2008 - provided they set up a new 18-month contract. It seems much of the anger comes from the fact that many were expecting a similar deal that never transpired.

Five days after the Telegraph had covered the story, blogstorm noted the figure had reached more than 12,809 and more than 10,000 people had passed on a link - a practice often referred to as re-tweeting - for the Twitition. It said this was "probably the most important milestone yet in terms of viral marketing" and illustrated the strength of feeling that was being seen by the online community.

Web User echoed the comments on the day the Apple iPhone 3G S hit the shelves (June 19th), stating: "Many current iPhone owners have expressed outrage at the lack of free or discounted upgrade deals available and have even set up a petition to demand that O2 'offer existing iPhone customers a reasonable way to upgrade to the iPhone 3G S'."

However, Trusted Reviews angle on the story just a day earlier was a little more positive, suggesting that the level of anger that was being expressed in the US had led AT&T - the exclusive carrier for the handset in North America - answering the consumer backlash with a revised offer.

"Consequently customers will now be able to upgrade from their iPhone 3G to a 3G S for the same $199 (£122) [for the 16 GB version] or $299 [for the 32GB model] cost given to new customers without existing contracts," the article said, but added "the catch" was that this offer would only be available to individuals with high tariff rates and everyone would need to check with the provider to see if they qualify.

"So how could this affect the UK?" the site asked. "In short, who knows? With the official launch tomorrow O2 may elect to remain quiet for now since stock is likely to be limited anyway. We can tell you one thing though - the network has already scored one major own goal - it would be wise to avoid another."

Prior to the Trusted Reviews reports, two other sites said it would be highly unlikely that O2 would backtrack and try to provide users a more affordable option - regardless of the amount of bad publicity it had already seen.

Citing one user on the O2 forum, PC Advisor's Oliver Garnham said it was clear that many people felt as if they had been ripped off by having already signed up to an 18-month under a year ago and were now being told they would have to fork out more money rather than extend it.

"This is so dumb, I was happy to upgrade each time and sign up for another year, not now, if this happens, when my contract's up, I'm unlocking and never coming back," it reported one such user said.

However, today (June 22nd) Apple reports that the popularity of the iPhone is as strong as ever, stating more than one million 3G S units were shifted globally between the opening day of sales and Sunday June 21st. It also notes over six million people have upgraded their old handset with the 3.0 version of the software in the five days it has been available.

The gadget went up against some tough competition last week, going head to head with the Nokia N97 and N86 - which were launched on the same day. But according to Apple chief executive Steve Jobs, the numbers very much seem to speak for themselves - suggesting that no matter how much people want a cheaper option, when it comes to desirability, the handset is as strong as ever.

"Customers are voting and the iPhone is winning," he said. "With over 50,000 applications available from Apple’s revolutionary App Store, iPhone momentum is stronger than ever."



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