Apple faithful dial M for mutiny

The iPhone, now named Invention of the Year, hits Britain this week. But a customer backlash could take the shine off the gadget's launch

The disciples have begun to question their faith. 'We suffer so Apple can make a few more bucks, when Apple is clearly not hurting for money,' wrote Wil Shipley, an American software developer, on his blog, Call Me Fishmeal. 'We were there when Apple was hurting, we stuck with it, we nursed her back to health. It's our money she has now, and she's turning on us now that she's rich off it.'

Apple is the maker of the Mac computer, the iPod and now the 'revolutionary' iPhone, which launches in Britain this week, trailing clouds of hype after just being named Time magazine's 'Invention of the Year'. It will go on sale for £269 plus contract at 6.02pm on Friday in the retail and online stores of Apple, Carphone Warehouse and O2. Matthew Key, chief executive of O2's UK business, claimed yesterday that he expected 'a couple of hundred thousand' iPhones to be sold in the first two months.

But after years of near religious devotion to Apple and its high priest, chief executive Steve Jobs, there are signs of a revolt in the blogosphere. A series of controversial decisions by Jobs has tarnished Apple's reputation as an effortlessly cool outfit which was always on the side of the consumer against the Goliath Microsoft. Worst of all, it is now being compared to Microsoft as unexciting and money driven.

The backlash could become all too apparent this week if iPhone buyers defy Apple by 'unlocking' their phone and choosing their own network operator. To add to Apple's long term anxieties in the crowded mobile phone marketplace, tomorrow Google is expected to announce plans for its own phone, dubbed the gPhone, a potentially dangerous rival because of Google's own vast fan base.

Since launching in June, 1.4 million iPhones - a combined iPod, camera, phone and internet device - have been sold in America, with celebrity owners including Tom Cruise, Whoopi Goldberg, Spike Lee, Lindsay Lohan and former presidential political advisor Karl Rove. But the shine began to come off Apple's halo when it slashed $200 off the product less than 10 weeks after launch, angering diehards who had queued overnight for its release and paid top price. They were offered a $100 voucher but that was not enough to silence them.

Wil Shipley, who bought an extraordinary 15 iPhones, calculated that he could have saved $3,000 if he had waited to buy until after the reduction. But on his blog he said it was not so much this that angers him as the iPhone's 'closed' system which prevents third parties adding their own software applications.

He also condemned the once idealistic San Francisco company for exploiting the sale of ringtones as no other phone operator does. Shipley added: 'The generous view would be that Apple's screwing up, and the non-generous view would be that they are just plain getting greedy.'

Such views have been echoed by bloggers dismayed at Apple's ruthlessness now that it is becoming an establishment player. Frustration at the iPhone's partner network, AT&T, prompted a flood of American websites offering software which allows users to insert their existing Sim card into the iPhone and avoid signing the minimum contract.

Some 250,000 of the iPhones sold so far have not been activated to run on AT&T. But in September Apple hit back by issuing a software security update that made some iPhones freeze up and erased some self-installed programs, such as games and instant messaging.

'There is a rise in complaints about Apple's policies and strategic decisions this year, and it seems to be accelerating,' blogger John Gruber told the Pittsburgh Tribune Review, under the headline, 'Something's rotten among Apple's core of fans'. The article noted: 'When they get really mad, they lob an M-bomb - they say Apple is starting to remind them of Microsoft Corp, which in their world is the prototypical soulless, monopolistic machine.'

Apple and O2 now face the threat of 'unlocking' in Britain, with such services publicly advertising in shops on London's Tottenham Court Road and websites such as and

The latter brazenly states: 'We can now offer our customers the only available Apple iPhone 100% full unlocking solution.' It appears that rebellious Apple devotees could now use their mastery of the products against the company.

But Apple has warned that installing one of the unlocking programs could make the phone 'permanently inoperable' when future software updates are released.

O2 is Apple's exclusive network partner in the UK. The iPhone will be sold for £269, but customers must take out contracts with 02 that start at £35 per month. It means the cheapest iPhone deal will cost £899 because the contracts last 18 months - more expensive than in America. Critics have been quick to point out that internet browsing could be slow because the iPhone does not run on a 3G network.

Stephen Pentland, director of Telecoms and Media Strategy at Deloitte, said: 'I don't think it's going to be a huge seller. There are a number of other phones on the market which have similar functions at a significantly lower price.

'There will be some unlocking happening over time,' he added, 'because people won't want to wait for their contract to finish.'