Ending months of intense, practically insane speculation, Apple just confirmed its first European carrier for the iPhone: O2 is scoring exclusive UK rights to the hotly contested device, and will be launching it on November 9th for £269 including VAT. Unlimited data comes standard with the £35, £45 and £55 voice plans, which include 200, 600 and 1200 minutes, respectively, and 200 SMS for the cheapest plan, but 500 messages for the other two. Just like the
rumors (finally) predicted, Carphone Warehouse is being pulled in to beef up retail presence for O2, with 1300 retail locations, each with an "expert" on the iPhone. Naturally, Apple's not doing anything fancy here, and is announcing the same old EDGE phone we know and love here in the States -- shattering the 2007 3G pipe dreams of millions of Europeans -- but has made up for it slightly by scoring free WiFi for O2 iPhone users at the 7,500 hotspots serviced by Cloud in the UK. Those hotspots will certainly come in handy when trapesing through O2's EDGE-deficient network -- only 30% of the country will be covered by launch time. Of course, if you aren't keen on Visual Voicemail or Apple's blessing, there are certainly plenty of unlocked iPhones to be had between now and launch.
[Thanks, Josh for the O2 link]
posted September 18th 2007 4:15AM
you guys are all ranting on about the price......face it your all gonna buy the iphone......youve waited too long and you guys will do anything to get it......the price isn't high at all taking on that you get unlimited internet access with your iphone and normally o2 charge £2 a megabyte so stop ranting and raving that apple is ripping you off because they have the right to, they have had you guys on this website everyday for god knows how long trying to find out when the iphone is coming to the uk.......face it yea, when you found out that you had to wait till november to get the iphone i bet the good majority of you screamed, just wait and pay or u aint getting shit....and all this stuff about 3g......who made that rumor up......why would apple make a 3g iphone.......3g is a complete con......speeds are rubbish and video call quality isnt great......remember people this phone isn't a gimmick......its not apples style to put shitty stickers and bad quality cameras on the front of their phones.........apple is about style and class....so all u pc users out there are going to be the sorry ones when your 'zune phone' comes with a pre-packed VIRUS on it and a huge sticker on the back that says'Windows Mobile'............who the hell would want to show off that their phone has windows mobile on it..........anyway back to the iphone, the prices are because of the huge amount of tax that the government puts on imported products like the iphone........everybody knows that all apple products are around 30% cheaper in the states.......bring it, if anyone dares replies cus all u guys just got served
oh yea i forgot to add....you guys just got served by a 16 year old
The iPhone might not be a perfect choice for someone in Derry, I suppose, at the moment, but that's life. When they developed the motor car, for example, the roads were all muddy tracks, rather unsuitable for such vehicles, although fine for horse-drawn carts. How could the car be practical, if it got stuck in muddy country lanes?
But of course, the roads were eventually made suitable for the car and diffiocult for horses and wagons! But I have to say, Ireland was probably not one of the first places they laid the tarmac. No doubt horses and carts were still common in the 1930s out there, and predominantly rural areas, when they were anachronistic in London, Manchester and Brum.
I accept the first embodiment of the iPhone might not tick all the boxes, but it sure beats any other phone for innovation. Those Blackcurrant and Nokia things are as dead as the Edison phonograph and its wax cylinders.
The iPhone might not be a perfect choice for someone in Derry, I suppose, at the moment, but that's life. When they developed the motor car, for example, the roads were all muddy tracks, rather unsuitable for such vehicles, although fine for horse-drawn carts. How could the car be practical, if it got stuck in muddy country lanes?
But of course, the roads were eventually made suitable for the car and diffiocult for horses and wagons! But I have to say, Ireland was probably not one of the first places they laid the tarmac. No doubt horses and carts were still common in the 1930s out there, and predominantly rural areas, when they were anachronistic in London, Manchester and Brum.
I accept the first embodiment of the iPhone might not tick all the boxes, but it sure beats any other phone for innovation. Those Blackcurrant and Nokia things are as dead as the Edison phonograph and its wax cylinders.
On this news, I'll wait at least a year before buying iPhone. £35 a month is too steep for me.
I belive O2 are going to regret this exclusive deal, Apple will be the only winner in the long run. The other networks in the UK know this.
@Alex McKenna
Innovation counts for nothing if a raw real is a raw deal, This is a raw deal for UK customers, End of story.
yeah its way to expensive... but of course people will buy these up like there is no tomorrow, its just the sad truth. It just has that undeniable cool factor, even if it is completely overpriced and not even up to date technology wise.
To be honest, Apple will need a great deal more, both hardware and software-wise than a shiny design and a few good PIM apps to lure me away from this (which is also very competitively priced):
http://www.hidebookmarks.com/?fc4ic6fmaa
HTC do leaps and bounds when it comes to features and ultimately, that's where I want to see my money go.
alex does have a point and at the end of the day... contract tariff prices arent gona cut it for people demanding a considerable amount of talk time and minutes...on top of that im sorry but 3g is a must have feature if iphone is gonna survive in the uk...
doh i find it funny there is now an (iphone 3g) on the way next year.."lol i still cant beleive steve jobs let that slip in his keynote today"..apple's policy for not sharing products before launch date has just gone right out the window..
neway moving on alot of features still need to be implemented to this iphone all though people may want it for innovation and user-experience..id wait and give apple sometime to work out improvments and as technology..becomes cheaper and thinner ...on most days u can expect apple to implement this...(considering they actually keep up to date)..
theyve only come out with this a couple months ago...and everybody is ready to bite there head off for lack of options on there products...doh i agree with some erroneous details in the product...its probably better to wait, even save up if u cant afford it now...so all the relevant updates can be put into play...
moral of this comment is although the tariff price stupidly expensive specially for and 18month contract thats terrible mins & texts not forgetting handset price...like all good products...the market will drop the prices and expand the tariffs after a couple months..so just wait until then to get a good deal and update..instead of wanting to buy it on the first day or otherwise ull regret it for sure
Not at that price, forget it, Apple fan but deserves to fail
£35 a month for unlimited EDGE data (and correct me if i'm wrong, but o2's current unlimited data tarifs expect "reasonable usage" ie 1 GB per month !) in UK? I'm an ex-pat, but UK lags well behind other countries with mobile data. In Sweden, i am paying £19 p.m. for true unlimited data on HSDPA (up to 7.2 Mbps). Come on phone companies, sort out a pan-european standard for mobile data and stop silly roaming charges.
where's the 3G and I hate O2. geez, although i dont hate the stuff I breathe/inhale.
it looks like it's cheaper to buy 1 in the US and unlocked. although i dont want to mess around with apple when they relock it :P
Hi I have heard that everyone who has bought phones from ebay to use in uk will no longer work from 11th November, does anyone anything about it? please let me know. thanks...you can email me on rohit_baba@msn.com
Too much expensive and awful plans, but i love iphone =)