Vienna - Apple did not understand the mobile phone market, Austria's leading mobile phone provider said on Tuesday, reacting to reports that Apple's iPhone would be launched in Europe only without UMTS technology for surfing the internet. "Apple has a brilliant marketing machinery, its usability is also brilliant, but they still have to learn about telephones," Boris Nemsic, CEO of mobilkom, the country's largest provider said in an interview with Austrian broadcaster ORF.
Nemsic criticized the lack of UMTS, as the basic idea of the iPhone was fast and uncomplicated access to the internet. Contrary to remarks by Apple-boss Steve Jobs at the European launch in Britain last week, products by other companies like Nokia were perfectly capable of achieving this feat without draining their batteries.
The iPhone was a "nice toy for techies," Nemsic said, but still had much potential for improvement. "A telephone? Forget it, that is no phone, but (a gadget) that happens to have a phone function."
Jobs did not understand the European mobile phone market, that was much more advanced than the US-market, the mobilkom CEO pointed out.
Nemsic also voiced veiled criticism of the Apple-strategy of marketing the iPhone only with exclusive partners. In Europe, phones could not be blocked for certain providers.
Should somebody crack an iPhone to use it in his network, he would welcome the user. He was looking forward to a second, improved generation of iPhones and hoped to offer them at some point. "I don't say that we cannot offer them, the question is more when and how."
Mobilkom, with its mobile network A1 is Austria's market leader, with more than 3.8 million customers in the 8-million-inhabitant country.
