iPhone與競爭法


同事R告知,iPhone又有新消息,這次Steve Jobs搭上了Vodafone,將於澳洲、紐西蘭、南非、土耳其、捷克、埃及、希臘、意大利、葡萄牙甚至印度推出。香港呢?又再次無份。

有趣的是,Apple跟Vodafone這次的合作,很可能不像過去在AT&T和T-Mobile一樣的獨家代理,因盛傳意大利的Telecom Italia今年底也會推出iPhone,換言之Vodafone得到的應不是獨家合約。

iPhone的歐洲成績一向不好,英國O2、德國T-Mobile及法國Orange先後割價求售。其實歐洲的流動電訊市場跟香港較像,消費者習慣用無鎖手機,其次是他們多用預繳服務。另外,歐洲的3G普及度遠勝美國,消費者有種心態,就是等iPhone推出3G才買。

去年底,Vodafone曾經引用德國競爭法,對T-Mobile提出興訟,指其出售既上鎖又不補貼的iPhone,實屬反競爭行為,幸而最終沒有因此禁止T-Mobile出售iPhone,否則好夢難圓,德國的iPhone粉絲勢必上街示威。

Steve Jobs說過,希望08年售出1000萬部iPhone,新的策略,或許是容許網絡商補貼手機,或者藉上台贈iPhone搶奪對手的客仔。在香港,Vodafone與數碼通co-brand,早陣子又曾傳出疑似iPhone廣告照,我個人認為(期望)今年內就有行貨。

不過,政府正在推銷競爭法立法,內容模糊,像Vodafone和Apple這樣合作推出iPhone,亦很可能已觸犯合謀定價和綑綁銷售。事關我們已經等得太久,為免夜長夢多,思哲建議香港iPhone趕於競爭法真正落實前推出,否則打起官司上來,我們不知又要等到何年何月才有一部iPhone行貨!

《2008手5月9日刊於蘋果日報》

7 thoughts on “iPhone與競爭法

  1. 思哲大. 我想你也是放棄行貨吧. 除非是 CSL 出, 或者 Smartone 放棄 music mx.

    說真, 香港有多少人是正式 apple fans, 不是因為 ipod 潮, 香港又有多少人願比錢聽現在香港 d 歌. 香港又有多少唱片公司 support internet 賣歌.

    iphone 其實是 ipod 加了電話 function, 而不是 電話加 ipod, 要 apple 出 iphone, itune 實是必要. 現在的 iphone 可能會像一點 pda phone, 不過, 要 software 好像 pda. 如 ppc, palm 一樣多, 重要好多時間, 因為個 programming 的 tools 也是出了不久.

    說真, 如何真是 smartone 出, 你更加要用心理只 iphone 的功能大減和不 stable. 原因只要看看 smartone 的 sharp 機就知了.

  2. Apple is very clever when it comes to product launch. They know very well their original business plan/model on iPhone with AT&T is not long-term sustainable, yet there would be people who want the gadget bad enough to pay for it. Not to mention that iPhone comes as-is at the beginning, basically no third party native application is available (with the exception of web-based application).

    Then we can see the iPhone being unlocked and jail-broken among the open source communities. None of these really hurt Apple coz the bottomline is they are making money by selling more iPhones. To achieve their 10 million target, of course they would relax the locking mechanism of the iPhone when the time comes, and also subsidize developers with free SDK to develop software for the iPhone. iPhone is no longer a standalone product, but a network good which benefits from network externalities. Apple can enjoy playing the platform card with 2-side pricing model (unlike Symbian or Android when no one really owns the platform to collect rent from it). That would be their real strategy for growth.

    I would guess imported iPhones are available in Hong Kong for a long time by now, which means the complementary services should be available as well. What would be the disadvantage of buying it now instead of waiting for the official version? Same goes with Wii I suppose?

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