Absolutely ridiculous reporting from the FT on o2, data and the iPhone

Yesterday I went to the gym.  To the sauna, though.  Not to do any excruciating exercise (that starts again tomorrow).   While I’m here in San Francisco, I’ve made an arrangement of the gym at the Fairmont Hotel.  Very nice, good service, all is good.  I picked up a complimentary copy of the FT as I walked through reception and proceeded down to Club One via the shower and into the sauna.

I am well disposed to the sauna experience — I like the dry heat — plus I do enjoy reading something, anything, whilst I’m in there.

There were two problems with my experience yesterday though.   The first was some absolutely donkey reporting from the Financial Times relating to o2 and the iPhone — the kind of reporting that makes my mouth drop open in shock.  The second problem was the guy who joined me in the sauna.  I don’t have an issue with naked men per se.  However this chap came into the sauna, laid his towel down on the top bench, laid face down upon the towel and … slowly… ever so slowly, proceeded to hump the bench.  Thoroughly off-putting.  An exception, though.  I want to be clear that this isn’t something I witness there regularly.

THANKFULLY I was able to use the FT to avoid the action scenery.

And that’s when I read this piece of joyous nonsense:

Link:  FT.com / Mergermarket – iPhone users raise network hopes

Matthew Key, who becomes chief executive of O2 Europe next month, told the Financial Times that 60 per cent of the company’s iPhone customers in the UK were sending or receiving more than 25 megabytes of data a month, the equivalent of 7,500 e-mails without attachments or 25 YouTube videos.By comparison, less than 2 per cent of O2’s other UK customers on monthly payment contracts use more than 25MB a month.

My problem with the above text?  Well, I nearly yelled ‘OBVIOUSLY’.  (I didn’t want to put off the humper opposite or call unnecessary attention to myself, hence ‘nearly‘).

OBVIOUSLY less than 2% of o2’s other UK customers use more than 25mb a month of data. OBVIOUSLY!  Because they’re WHACKED for FOUR QUID a MEG.

OBVIOUSLY.

So either it’s the reporter who didn’t quite get this.  Or it’s Mr Matthew Key, newly crowned Chief Exec of o2 Europe, who thinks our heads button up the back.  And clearly they do if you’re an FT staffer.

Come on!  The only reason o2 iPhone customers are ABLE to enjoy using the web is because it’s unlimited.  Their other customers — the CHUMPS who’re sat there paying stupid amounts per meg for their data — are trained not to use the internet via their handset because of bill shock.

In fact I don’t quite know if unlimited data is available to non-iPhone customers on o2 as yet.  I think it might be, if you really, really complain to customer services.