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No 3G For The iPhone In The UK

By Robert | September 20, 2007

It hardly was a surprise that Apple brought the iPhone to the UK as many journalists and bloggers were already sure that this was what was going to happen at the company’s press conference event in London. Unfortunately, although the actual launch of the iPhone was not a surprise, a big surprise was that the mobile phone still runs on EDGE and not on the highly awaited 3G technology.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs said that the 3G chipsets are “power hogs” and that they do not allow enough battery life for the iPhone to be considered enough. The current version of the mobile phone showcases up to 8 hours of talk time. The introduction of 3G would mean a drastic cut in that battery life time and Apple does not want this. Jobs also claimed that he expects 3G technology to allow sufficient battery life only next year. Once again, this statement was no surprise. The same answer was given in the US as well.

On the other hand, Europe is much more advanced when it comes to 3G technology when we compare it to the US. O2, the carrier that partnered with Apple for iPhone sales, only holds 30 percent of its network on EDGE. Most UK carriers already have large 3G networks set up and this might be an interesting problem for iPhone. If the mobile phone/iPod does not quickly switch to 3G, specialists consider that it will not be as successful in UK or Europe as it is in US. Apple must thus rely on the iPhone’s interface and design as the lack of 3G is the main reason why many individuals will not even consider the iPhone as a possibility. We have to wait and see how everything develops and it will be interesting to see how iPhone sales will go in UK and soon in Germany as Apple is said to unveil their mobile phone there as well in the near future.

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