I have my iPhone at last!

iPod Touch vs iPhone ?

Since I can't buy an iPhone in Turkey (legally) for now I considered iPod Touch as an alternative. Though without a phone and a camera it seemed a good choice. It's hard disk capacity is (iPod Touch is 16 GB; iPhone is 8 GB) double for the same price (399$ USA price - Prices in Turkey is double: 778$).

But then I found a few comparisons that tell screen qualities are not the same:

Gizmodo.com , iLounge.com , arstechnica.com

Türkiye'de iPhone

Türkiye'de Apple'ın düşündüğünden çok fazla iPhone kullanıcısı var. Türkiye'de iPhone almanın yolları:

gittigidiyor.com
telefon dükkanları (Doğubank)
ABD/İngiltere/Almanya/Fransa'dan gelen bir arkadaşa getirtmek

Fiyat aralığı: 800 YTL - 1300 YTL (690$ - 1120$)

iPhone in Turkey

There are a lot more iPhone users in Turkey than Apple might think. There are a few ways to get an iPhone in Turkey:

gittigidiyor.com (ebay's Turkish site)
phone shops (imported or second hand)
tell a friend coming from USA/UK/Germany or France to bring you one

Price range : Depends on the firmware and locked /unlocked condition
800 YTL - 1300 YTL (690$ - 1120$)

Turkish mobile phone users tend to change their phones more rapidly than the Europeans.

European mobile phone users use their phones 2 years in average but in Turkey users change their phones every 6 months or 1 year at most.

http://www.ntvmsnbc.com/news/408304.asp (Turkish)

Türkiye'de cep telefonu değiştirme sıklığı

Avrupa’da cep telefonları ortalama 2 yıl kullanılırken, Türkiye’de kullanıcıların yaklaşık yüzde 20’si 6 ayda ya da en geç bir yıl içinde cep telefonunu değiştiriyor.


http://www.ntvmsnbc.com/news/408304.asp

Türkiye'de cep telefonu kullanıcıları / Mobile phone users in Turkey

Mobile Operators in Turkey / Türkiye'de Mobil Operatörler

Turkcell 34,8 million (1)
Vodafone 14,9 million (2)
Avea 8,0 million (3)



(1) (as of September 30, 2007 source: Turkcell web site -Turkish )
(2) (as of June 2007 source: Teknoloji Haber -Turkish )
(3) (as of December 2006 source: Ntvmsnbc - Turkish )

Locked / Unlocked iPhone

iPhone is sold in France with versions operator locked (SIM locked) and operator unlocked (SIM free) with different prices. iPhone is sold in Germany and England with locked version.

Kilitli / Kilitsiz iPhone

iPhone Fransa'da SIM kilitli ve SIM kilitsiz olmak üzere iki versiyonda farklı fiyatlarla satışa sunuldu. Almanya ve İngiltere'de ise operatör kilitli (2 yıl) olarak satılıyor.

Which European countries iPhone is sold?

England, France and Germany are countries in Europe that iPhone is legally being sold. Apple made exclusive deals with mobile operators Orange in France, O2 in England and T-Mobile in Germany.

iPhone Avrupa'da hangi ülkelerde satılıyor?

iPhone Almanya, İngiltere ve Fransa'da satılmaya başlandı. Apple Almanya'da T-Mobile, İngiltere'de O2, Fransa'da Orange operatörleri ile anlaştı.

Where is Turkey? / Türkiye nerede?

An open letter to Steve Jobs...

(I actually sent this mail to several mail addresses I thougt that they may belong to Steve. I got no response and I don't even know if he read it. So I decided to publish it here.)

To: Steve Jobs

Hi Steve!

I am a long time fan of Apple. My first computer was a Macintosh Plus. I switched to back and forth several times and I now use PC's in my work and home but I still continue to be an Apple fan.

I keep track of your iPhone lately. And I will definitely plan to buy one if it is legally available in my country.

I want to add a few questions about Apple in my country. (Since I once worked for them I cannot criticise you and them more deeply.) Do you plan to sell iPhone in Turkey? Do you plan to open your iTunes Store here?

I know ipods are very popular here. Turkey is an economically low profile country I agree but mobile phone usage very wide and people spend a lot for their phones. (Maybe you don't know our population is about 70 m and there are more than 40 m mobile phone users.) Maybe bill (call durations) amounts may not be as high as you might expect but it is getting better since our economy gets better. (And also 1-2 yr contracts are not a very common practice here in Turkey but maybe you can change that who knows.)

Finally I keep looking forward owning an iPhone legally here in Turkey.

Regards...

Niçin?

Çünkü ülkemde (Türkiye) iPhone satılmıyor. (Türkiye'de iTunes Apple Store da yok ama o başka bir hikaye.) Apple Türkiye'de henüz iPhone satmaya başlamadı. Bu blog Apple'ı Türkiye'de iPhone satmaya ikna etmeyi amaçlıyor.

Yandaki ankete tıklayarak beni destekleyebilirsiniz.

Why?

Because in my country (Turkey) iPhone is not sold. (There is no iTunes Apple Store in my country neither but that is another story.) Apple did not start selling it. This blog aims to persuade Apple to sell iPhone in my country.

You can support me by voting on the poll top right side.