An Expensive Gadget

Marcus Eckstein is the editor for the mobile phone section of Connect magazine in Stuttgart.

DW-WORLD.DE: The Apple iPhone is being released with much fanfare. Will the demand in Germany be as big as it was in the US?

Markus Eckstein: There is a strong Apple fan base here that will be going to the T-Mobile shop along with the guys we call the "leading edge," people who need to always have the newest phone with the most features. But the euphoria that surrounded the release of the iPhone in the US is not happening here since it has been all over the Internet for months.

Germans are traditionally more skeptical when it comes to gadgets. There will be people who once they see the phone being used in real life decide that they want one. I think there will be strong demand for the phone.

One of the biggest criticisms of the iPhone in the US is the slow speed of the network it uses and the high cost of the service. Will this also be the case for T-Mobile?

T-Mobile has a lot of WiFi hotspots and their Edge Network [mobile Internet service] is quite good. But I think a lot of people will be hesitant to buy the phone because of the high cost of the T-Mobile contract.

Will there be a lot of people buying the iPhone in order to "unlock" it and use it on other mobile networks?

I think the situation is different in Germany. In the US you can buy the phone before you sign any contract. Here you do not get the phone until you sign a contract. Plus the phone is only being sold at T-Mobile stores. If you want to try and unlock the phone, you are better off trying to find a US version on Ebay.

Will the device live up to expectations?

If you compare the iPhone to other phones then I would say yes. What is really new and different is the user interface -- especially the large touch screen. The user-friendly interface of the phone opens up a lot of new features -- browsing the Internet or watching YouTube videos -- for a broader audience.

In many ways it is really an American product. There are some functions that Europeans are used to that the iPhone does not have like being able to design a ringtone for groups of contacts like your family so you know when they are calling or sending out a contact via Bluetooth or SMS. These are things that many consumers here are used to.

Is the iPhone, and its user-friendly interface, going to influence others in the mobile phone industry to change their products?

This is really the first time that a newcomer has come into the market with such a hit product that is getting so much attention.

You can already see the first signs that things are changing. For example, Nokia just announced that they are going to be changing their user system next year. Like Apple, they do not usually announce changes like this so far in advance.