Comments on: Buying a new iPhone 3G S in twenty minutes

By: freeiphone

freeiphone — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 12:16:03 +0000

All 5 networks in OZ? That is good news for me as I’m moving there in September. I fail to see how in the UK we are still stuck with O2 and their high prices – it seems rather monopoly-like to me.

By: enzos

enzos — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 09:49:28 +0000

It just launched in Oz, on all five networks (unlocked on request), and here’s the pertinent sales comparison…
Mobiles
Most popular mobile phones
1. Apple iPhone 3GS 16GB
2. Apple iPhone 3GS 32GB
3. Apple iPhone 16GB
4. Apple iPhone 8GB
5. Nokia E71

It’s all over Red Rover.
-Enz

By: gus2000

gus2000 — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 06:01:20 +0000

I was in an AT&T store today, and for kicks I asked if they had any 3GS phones available. I was openly and resoundingly mocked.

As for the Apples stores making the “switch” for their payment systems, Daniel covered this subject almost a year ago:

http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2008/08/22/iphone-3g-sales-hampered-by-windows-mobile/

By: hrissan

hrissan — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 14:03:29 +0000

Visited Apple Store for my first time during WWDC. The only ugly thing was that WiMo handheld machine, crashed processing my purchase – no problem, Apple guy just reset it, the second attempt after long boot-up was successful. :) As an engineer I tell you there is absolute no new tech at all at creating payment accessory&app for iPod touch. If there is no inherent problems in interfaces, would say 2 months should be enough for our former team of 6. (my current team is software-only) :(

By: info-dave

info-dave — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 13:02:36 +0000

@lowededwookie: My point is that the back end stuff should largely be in place. The existing WiMo solution needs to have the systems you describe. It would be a huge feather is Apple’s cap if they could use their own equipment.

By: VeoSotano

VeoSotano — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 10:46:21 +0000

The cool thing is, there is already a POS app in the app store, only that it is virtual, like on websites. I think that the major hurdle will be creating a peripherial designed to talk to the iPhone, rather than the app itself.

By: Berend Schotanus

Berend Schotanus — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 09:33:02 +0000

“In its iPhone partnership with AT&T, Apple has learned a few things over the last couple years.”

Did you notice at the WWDC keynote the appearance of a full screen of telecom operators twice without any notice of AT&T?

By: lowededwookie

lowededwookie — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 04:24:40 +0000

Info-Dave I don’t really think you understand just what is involved in creating a Point Of Sale app. It’s not just a simple matter of connecting to a magstrip reader and being done.

You will have to write software to communicate with a server and that software has to tell the server that a transaction is in place and that someone has then paid by EFTPOS or Credit Card. The server then has to communicate with the servers that handle EFTPOS and Credit Card transactions to say “yay” or “nay” to the transaction which then needs to go back to the POS server which then needs to talk to the POS client in this case on the iPhone or iPod Touch.

In other words a full ground up solution would need to be created instead of just a hand held setup.

By: info-dave

info-dave — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 21:12:10 +0000

This is an oversight on Apple’s part. They need to eat their own dog food on this one. If the iPhone SDK is truly that great, why hasn’t this been done? The app should be ready to go, sans mag stripe reader. With the new ability to add external devices, this should be ready to go next week. I’m from Missouri (Michigan, actually), show me.

By: VeoSotano

VeoSotano — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 20:12:41 +0000

So they are still using those flimsy WiMo paying systems… I wonder how long it will take until someone brings to market a payment peripherial for the iPhone, now that the OS can talk to external devices… And if so, lets see if Apple uses them.