iPhone briefly shows up on Amazon UK with price, date

It didn't provide even an inkling of how the ongoing will-they-or-won't-they carrier drama plaguing the iPhone's European adventures will resolve itself, but that certainly doesn't mean it ain't interesting: Amazon's British outpost briefly listed pricing, launch date, and pre-order details for the 8GB iPhone earlier today, pegging the unit at £329 (about $663) on December 1 (it has since been pulled and replaced with a far less informative version). It seems reasonable enough if the price includes tax, though the pre-holiday date might be a bummer for the more impatient among the UK's iPhone hopefuls. Then again, we're thinking the odds are good that both the MSRP and drop date are merely Amazon estimates here and not anything official -- especially since there's no mention of a carrier. Needless to say, iPhone Watch continues east of the pond.

[Via MacNN]

[james stringer @ Jul 6th 2007 5:36PM]

Meh who cares about Europe anyway :-D I wana know when Australasia gets it!

[Leoedin @ Jul 6th 2007 5:41PM]

Oh, you know...the 800 million or so europeans perhaps?

[Dave @ Jul 6th 2007 5:45PM]

Europeans care about Europe.

[ssuk @ Jul 6th 2007 6:58PM]

Sorry, if there's one market no one cares less about than Europe... It's australia. I kinda feel sorry for him. But then remember I'm British and laugh. =)

Still, £329... Hahaha, oh wow. And you watch how people STILL buy this bullshit.

[Homan @ Jul 6th 2007 10:34PM]

He was just kidding guys relax...

Homan, London

[james stringer @ Jul 6th 2007 10:41PM]

Yay Homan Scores 50 Points!

[brendan Sheehan jnr @ Jul 6th 2007 5:50PM]

Apple should abandon the 4GB iPhone, 4GB on such a device it useless. Plus having just the 8GB which 90-95% of people already buy as the only option will make the whole buying an iPhone much simpler. "Can I affford it?" "Yes, then I'm buying" or "No I can't, so I'm not." Similarly when the 20GB PS3 wasn't selling, Sony decided to drop it completely. Apple should do the same.

[Phour ZwanZig @ Jul 6th 2007 11:08PM]

Yeah, I agree...

When the price is only $100 dif for 2wice the space and its a $500 item, yeah if you can afford it to begin with, you'll spring for the more space.. Now if it was say a 20G and a 8G and the price was $600 -vs- $1200 then theres a reason

[abigsmurf @ Jul 6th 2007 5:58PM]

To read too much into this : Amazon don't do contract phones I believe so that would be the PAYG price

[Rahul @ Jul 6th 2007 5:55PM]

well maybe ppl like me (who are waiting for thier contract to end) want to get a CHEAP one because work is a killer (im 16 and paying for a car and an iPhone and its service PLAN yes they should keep the iphone 4gb version because it give people who cant put $600 can put $500 and letting the $100 for the month plan...

[Nomi @ Jul 6th 2007 6:01PM]

You know if you're 16 and don't have money, you don't "need" a car or an iPhone for that matter.

[Rahul @ Jul 6th 2007 6:08PM]

there is something called work... which 16 years old can and do have... and yes i dont need anything (hey you dont need A/C) all u need is shelter (a hut) and food... nothing else correct me if im wrong (dont forget love)

[just a resident cynic @ Jul 6th 2007 6:20PM]

I'm from the UK so I'm curious as to how it works state-side, but can you even get a phone on contract if you are under 18?

[Bee Hatch @ Jul 6th 2007 6:21PM]

I need crack. Crack and my very own hut would be sweet.

[ssuk @ Jul 6th 2007 7:18PM]

How are you maintaining a car when you require to be 17 to drive?

[Brian @ Jul 6th 2007 8:25PM]

He may need the car and phone to impress the chicks.... don't we all

[Rahul @ Jul 8th 2007 4:53PM]

well in florida its 16 to drive

[Dylan @ Jul 6th 2007 6:05PM]

That price is absurd. I know we pay more for product because of our tax etc, but we do not pay more for mobile phones. Our carriers already have 80%+ coverage of the uk and 99%+ coverage of urban areas. This means our carriers pay less money in upkeep and maintenance which means we pay less money for our phones. Look at any other comparable handset in America then the UK and it will be sbstantially cheaper in the UK, there are only a handful of handsets that you cant get for free on contract.

For example I can get a n95 on a 12 month contract for £35 a month, give the phone a chance to be out a month or so more and I can get it for 2/3 of that.

My point is if you are the kind of person to want the latest smartphone in the UK you should be expecting to pay maybe £40 a month, but you'll be expecting to get the handset in the post for free.


p.s. I seriously doubt thats a payg price, whilst £329 is expensive with a service plan, its absurdly cheap on payg. My n70 cost £270 on payg.

[Karl @ Jul 6th 2007 8:04PM]

well, that and the fact that Apple announced there would be no pay-as-you-go iPhone.

Blows, I know. Still, I love the internet on the iPhone, and you'd really need an unlimited data plan with that. I'm a bit torn now: I have a 30GB iPod, but I'd love an iPhone. I couldn't fit enough music on the iPhone, and I'd have wasted so much money. But damn Safari looks good.

[Ty @ Jul 6th 2007 6:06PM]

What I don't understand is why all the secrecy? If you already have a price set what is the harm in letting our European brothers and sisters know what it is? So what it's months off.

[Dylan @ Jul 6th 2007 6:22PM]

Because if you reveal a price long before a release then you remove the custom from people who impulse buy a new product, give somone 6 months to think about the price and you wont make as many sales.

[DaveC @ Jul 6th 2007 7:02PM]

Thanks for posting this Engadget guys!

[eddy123 @ Jul 6th 2007 10:40PM]

its all well and good announcing a Uk price tag, but in my mind its all down to what U.K network apple makes that all important deal with, i doubt i will be willing to pay out the amount of money for the handset, and also pay a mouthly contract with a network provider whos service im not happy with.(and there are many networks i feel unhappy with). If anything the phone sould be free on atleast a £35-£40 contract, like all other high end smartphones are nowerdays.

[Phour ZwanZig @ Jul 6th 2007 11:13PM]

Yeah your 16.. Hell I didnt even have a cell phone for that matter when I was 16.. There is no need for a child to spend $500 on a phone..

And as someone asked, from what I know, you DO need to be 18 to sign into ANY contract.. If I remember right I even needed to get a freakin permit just to work from 15-18, which MY parents had part in..

[Phour ZwanZig @ Jul 6th 2007 11:14PM]

Um, ok.. that was supposed to be a reply to Rahul

[TheWakeUpCall @ Jul 7th 2007 6:57PM]

Everyone i've spoken to in England thinks that the iPhone is over rated. I would agree with this.

I think people in england are fine with phones that are under £200 on PAYG. And as for people on contract, they usually get phones that can do just as much as the iPhone, just not in an apple like way.

[Brumbo @ Jul 8th 2007 7:20AM]

yep, here in UK it's mostly PAYG and most people I know don't want to fork out all that money for a contract, as many carriers give their handsets for free. Apple really need to think about something different in order to enter the EU market, because iPhone mania is not going to happen anytime soon.

[Steve Butler @ Jul 18th 2007 4:14PM]

Well I am a 14 year old from the UK and I go out of my way to read engadget everyday and me and my mates are absolutely obsessed with the iPhone coverage and we all want one soooo bad I mean seriously for a phone this cool that's a perfectly reasonable price! If I walked into school with an iPhone the whole site would go silent XD

I think that obviously in the UK it'll be pay as you go because all the UK phone companies give out free contract handsets and £329 is ridiculously expensive for a contract phone so if it is pay as you go i am going to be the first to buy one XD

Oh yeah and i seriously doubt it'll be 3G because they're already listed as normal on most sites such as Amazon.co.uk and Apple wouldn't bother making a product better in the UK than in the US and also if I'm totally honest nobody really uses 3G it's just an overpriced bad quality way of talking to people! In the UK 3G video calling is like £1 a minute! lol oh well yeah I've gone off the point a bit but i'm just soo excited about the iPhone coming to brittain!

[Ramin @ Jul 27th 2007 9:54AM]

haha...im so excited too..its soooo damn cheap too compared to other things!!!

IM SOOOOOO EXCITED