Orange sells 90,000 iPhones, goal of 500K

It's not about whether the iPhone is better than the competition What Apple failed to understand from the getgo is that international customers expect certain features, no matter what, in a phone. Lack of just one of these would be a source of ridicule for hardcore phone users. And anyone who would drop a few hundred pounds or euros on a phone is a hardcore phone user.

First, and most obvious, is that Apple cannot expect to sell locked phones in Europe and Asia. This is so elementary for anyone who has lived outside of the US it's shameful that Apple can't admit it.

Second, are the features that EVERY OTHER HIGH-END CAMERA PHONE OR SMARTPHONE on the market has that Apple doesn't.

MMS Video capture Free games and apps (J2ME, Symbian, Win Mobile) MIDI Ringtones Free ringtone creation (MIDI and MP3) Forwarding of messages Bluetooth file transfer 3G

These are features people actually USE!

If Apple wants to know why the iPhone is not meeting expectations in Europe, they just need to look at the competition, not with regard to what the iPhone does better (web browsing, multi-touch, music, video), but about the simple functions the iPhone is missing that many customers see as deal breakers.

tonton

I don't agree that lack of a certain feature will cause ridicule.

The things you feel are important to you are of no concern whatsoever to me. For me it's about mail and web. With my previous phone on Orange this was a crap experience, and expensive to boot, because of the Orange data plans at the time (they may have since improved).

The iPhone unlimited data and the simplicity of mail and web ticked the boxes I needed ticking.

I had reservations about the iPhone 2.5G, but what has suprised me is how well it works, it actually feels faster than 3G on my previous Orange Sony Ericsson.

At some point in the future you may find the must have feature to be a easy to use interface...

I don't see a new cell phone manufacturer selling 3-4 million phones in well under a year as an indication that the phone lacks features and therefore is not selling well.

Due to the strong Euro, many Europeans go to the US and buy unlocked iPhones.