According to iNotes.ro the iPhone 4 will be available at the end of September. So the couple of weeks mentioned by the Orange PR will actually mean more than 3 months. During this whole period there was no official update from Orange. Why?
According to the Orange PR BS, the iPhone 4 was supposed to be available in a couple of weeks after its official launch. We all knew this was impossible as the 2nd round of countries to launch it were announced and Romania wasn’t listed there either.
The real question is: what is worse Orange PR/BS/lies or the journalists offering Orange Romania free advertising?
Following today’s press conference at Apple, it is now confirmed that iPhone 4 will be launched in another 17 countries on July 30. That list doesn’t include Romania, so we can conclude there’s no iPhone 4 in Romania until August. Or knowing Orange Ro, I’d say at least until August
I am quite happy to see this happening considering their crappy strategy (read cheap) and the way they (mis)treat their customers.
This is said to be the easiest way for enabling tethering on the iPhone. The solution is not updated for the version 3.1 and I couldn’t find Orange Ro in the list of carriers though.
I was definitely not the first to hear about the iPhone 3GS offer from Orange Romania, so why not sharing the email I’ve received today (that is 19 days later than the day Orange has made the announcement in the media)
abonament iPhone 19 iPhone 39 iPhone 59 beneficii minute nationale incluse 200 300 500 SMS nationale incluse 100 200 500 MMS nationale incluse 30 60 120 trafic de date inclus (MB) 500 MB 1000 MB 1500 MB taxa lunara (TVA inclus) 19 EUR 39 EUR 59 EUR pret iPhone 3GS
(TVA inclus) cu abonament cu abonament cu abonament pe 24 de luni pe 12 luni pe 24 de luni pe 12 luni pe 24 de luni iPhone 3GS 16 GB 349 EUR 419 EUR 299 EUR 319 EUR 199 EUR iPhone 3GS 32 GB 449 EUR 519 EUR 399 EUR 419 EUR 299 EURiPhone 3GS la pret Orange Thank You
Daca esti client Orange, poti cumpara iPhone 3GS la preturi speciale Orange Thank You, in functie de abonamentul tau.
tip abonament iPhone 3GS 16 GB
(TVA inclus) iPhone 3GS 32 GB
(TVA inclus) abonament abonament pe 12 luni pe 24 de luni pe 12 luni pe 24 de luni < 19 EUR 549 EUR 499 EUR 649 EUR 599 EUR 19 EUR - 38 EUR 539 EUR 399 EUR 639 EUR 499 EUR 39 - 58 EUR 489 EUR 349 EUR 589 EUR 449 EUR > 58 EUR 389 EUR 249 EUR 489 EUR 349 EUR
If you’d be in my position and went through this experience would you still consider this offer?
You have probably heard of the project triangle, the one that says that you can pick only 2 out of the following 3 attributes: Fast, Good and Cheap.
It looks like Orange Romania has picked its strategy: small (ie cheap) and accelerated (ie fast), leaving aside quality. Why would they consider quality on a market where they can easily ignore you customers?
Dear Sir,
I am writing this open letter to you hoping that your new mandate as the CEO of Orange Romania will bring some changes to the company policy related to customer relationship and communication transparency.
In my attempt to keep things short, I will present you some facts that will hopefully prove that customer relationship and communication are areas in which Orange Romania needs improvement.
1. Last month, I have tried to find out more details about the process of becoming an Orange customer (nb at the moment I am a long time Vodafone client), some details about phone number portability, but also details about the launch of the iPhone 3GS mobile. After using the online form to submit my request, I have received an answer 6 days later, a period in which I cannot stop wondering how many new clients would have already changed their minds.
2. On July 3rd, Orange Romania has launched the online page “Fii primul care află oferta iPhone 3G S!”. Leaving aside the fact that the form was buggy (see [1]) and the fact that it was definitely not a pre-order page, as presented in media, this form is collecting client information in exchange of offering the advantage of being among the first to learn about the iPhone 3GS launch.
3. Anyways, it looks like Orange Romania has decided to offer these details to the media already (see [2] and [3]) and by doing so to ignore all those (including myself) that have registered to receive them first. Even if these details are already out for more than 24 hours, until now, I haven’t received any communication from Orange Romania and so I’m asking myself what is the purpose of collecting contact information as long as the promise to be the first to hear was not kept.
I read that as the new CEO of Orange Romania you value the quality of company’s services. I do believe that customer relationship and communication transparency are areas in which Orange Romania could and should improve significantly.
In case you consider that this open letter deserves a reply, you are welcome to contact me either by email, phone or any other means that you consider appropriate.
Respectfully,
Alexandru Popescu
Links:
While the competition has already launched Nokia N97 phone, which according to reports can hardly be considered a competitor for the “reaching for perfection” iPhone 3GS, Orange Romania seems not to be ready yet.
Meanwhile, thanks to the devteam, it looks like we have the ultrasn0w for the iPhone 3GS:
Here’s a brief video demonstration by @planetbeing of the iPhone Dev Team’s ultrasn0w unlock for the new iPhone 3G S. Special thanks to @Oranav for the at+xlog crash — a gift to the community that has kept on giving!
Our ultrasn0w program uses the at+xlog crash as an injection vector of our unlocking payload — and it does so on the 3GS in exactly the same way as on the 3G! But this injection vector will be lost if you update to 3.1 using the official Apple IPSW, which updates the baseband. So stay away from official 3.1 IPSWs until we release the tools that let you update the firmware without updating the baseband.
There are already tons of reactions to this devteam post. Leaving aside the complains and excitements notes, I have found a very interesting one:
The other part of the equation is that it’s just not ready for primetime yet. No easy to use tool exists. We don’t even have a standardized long set of instructions everyone can follow (generating one would take effort as well).
Notice I didn’t show you the process of HOW I jailbroke my particular phone. That’s a ten hour video right there. =P (well, I was still working out all the bugs and caveats as I came across them
Even if Apple has already announced the upcoming iPhone OS 3.1, you must not upgrade to this version yet.
I will continue to monitor the Orange Romania site for the moment the pre-order page will go live. Or is it live already?
Disclaimer: Right now my brain has a small center focused on this launch, but I promise that once I get my iPhone 3GS I’ll get back to my normal posts.
