O2 slashing £100 from 8GB iPhone in UK

The whispers are true, or so it seems. According to Stuff, O2 is getting set to one-up T-Mobile's price cutting affair in Germany by hacking a full £100 from the 8GB iPhone in the UK (bringing it down to £169). Better still, the discount will apply regardless of which contract selection you make, whereas T-Mobile forced users to sign the dotted line on a pricey Complete XL plan. Unfortunately, the lower sticker only applies to the 8GB version -- the 16GB model will remain £329 -- but anyone who sprung for one of the former iterations within the last month will receive an "Ultimate Price Promise" £100 refund voucher. Before you dash out to cash in, it should be noted that the deal is set to expire come June -- and we certainly don't have to remind you what that could mean.

Update: O2 made it official.

[Via Mobile Today, thanks to everyone who sent this in]

[X-BLADE @ Apr 15th 2008 10:37AM]

I still wont get one...

3G is 'round the corner

[Deez @ Apr 15th 2008 10:40AM]

Not to start a big bitchfest, but would it be possible to have the prices in the article? Like, price before cut and price after the cut? That would be convenient...

[Richard Walker @ Apr 15th 2008 10:42AM]

£279 before and I think you can do the math for the rest!

[Deez @ Apr 15th 2008 10:58AM]

Cheers. Sounds alrite, but does this price cut include unlocked phones? (That is, if O2 does it unlocked?). Heres an idea - get an unlocked iphone, get o2's lowest tarriff (£15), bolt on the unlimited data package for £10, and your paying £25, £10 less than the lowest tarriff you can get with o2 iphone contract. I guess it only makes sense if I can get the phone for cheap :( Does it work out cheaper?

[Simon Blackburn @ Apr 15th 2008 10:46AM]

Oh! cheers O2

as a former customer I may have parted with £169 for one.

But not £269.99

to late, happy at T-Mobile UK now :)


And....................Cue 3G/GPS version of the iPhone anyday now.

[Poprerty-Select @ Apr 15th 2008 10:59AM]

sounds like they are trying to move stock in preparation of the 3G iphone. it's about time!!!!

[fred @ Apr 15th 2008 11:14AM]

So when any other company slash prices it means they cant sell the things and they are desperate?

Apple slash prices = OMG 3G IPHONES ARE COMING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[CraigJ @ Apr 15th 2008 12:11PM]

"So when any other company slash prices it means they cant sell the things and they are desperate?"

@fred

Nice straw man. No one said anything about any other company being desperate.

Apple has done this little maneuver many times in the past. It seems pretty clear that they are moving to dump existing stock to make way for new stuff. Most electronics manufactures do the same thing. Motorola did it with the Razr, and if memory serves Sony did it with the Playstation.

Your beloved Microsoft will do the same thing with the Xbox and the Zune when they have the replacements ready...

[golumdocfun @ Apr 15th 2008 11:06AM]

Could this also mean a 32gig iPhone? Why would apple make a an 8gig 3G and 16gig 3G. Why not use the switch to 3G to do a storage upgrade as well, this way you diminish the wrath of people who have been waiting for a 3G, and as soon as they purchase a 3G 16gig iphone, watch as "Bealzejobs" unveils a 32gig 3G iphone made from solid Goooold.

[xB Owner @ Apr 15th 2008 1:01PM]

No 32 GB iPhone until we see a 64 GB iPod Touch. Apple has stated themselves that the iPhone will always max out at half the memory that the Touch is capable of. If and when rumors of the 64 GB Touch start making the rounds, we will know the 32 GB iPhone is right around the corner. Though it is likely both will be announced at the same time without much, if any warning.

[CraigJ @ Apr 15th 2008 12:14PM]

I think that 32GB is a real possibility, but it depends on if the 32GB chips are ready. There is only room in the iPhone for 1 chip, and there is room in the Touch for 2. If they come out with a 32GB 3G iPhone at the same price point as the current 16GB I may have to upgrade.

[FrankTheCrank @ Apr 15th 2008 3:29PM]

This is a good indication that there moving stock to make room for some new models.

I think a sub $300 model is near. Their eating allot of the mobile market up and with a lower price point they will kill.

I just can't see the 8GB model staying at that $399 level forever. Not with the ever falling price of memory.

I had a 4GB model I bought at $299, but dumped it in anticipation of a refreshed model coming in June with more capacity. I misses my iPhone!

[Johnny @ Apr 15th 2008 11:08AM]

I wonder how they got the iTunes icon to hang on the right side like that. The icons usually fall to the left.

[y3k.nik @ Apr 15th 2008 11:12AM]

You have to remember, they drive their cars on the opposite side too.

I think the accelerometer can figure out which side of the road you drive your car and hence, which side of the screen the icons hang to.

[kyle @ Apr 15th 2008 11:14AM]

They drive on the left hand side of the road and their iPhone icons fall to the right, crazy country

[BuddyBoy @ Apr 15th 2008 12:55PM]

that's an old photo ALL iPhones had the store icon on the right until they updated the firmware to allow adding of new icons.

[catachip @ Apr 15th 2008 12:54PM]

That is how the icons looked prior to the firmware update that allowed you to change the home screen icons. It's just an old picture.

[Kizorblade @ Apr 15th 2008 12:55PM]

When it's one icon, they show it to the right, but with two or more, it's to the left

[Grimaldi @ Apr 15th 2008 11:11AM]

Apparently you can also get cash back on O2 contracts if you use quidco and complete the transaction on line. This cash back amounts to £100 and effectively reduces the cost to £69!

[Alfa @ Apr 15th 2008 1:39PM]

Do you mean that you paid 269 and they gave you a 100 voucher or you paid only 169?
Did you have to sign a contract or can you just buy the phone? Because next week I'm going to London and there is still no iPhone in my country... :-(

[Alfa @ Apr 15th 2008 1:40PM]

Sorry, wrong position of my reply...

[bryan @ Apr 15th 2008 11:35AM]

Just got off the phone to O2, its defo coming down £100 and anyone who bought in the last 2 weeks gets a refund.

[Alfa @ Apr 15th 2008 1:41PM]

Do you mean that you paid 269 and they gave you a 100 voucher or you paid only 169?
Did you have to sign a contract or can you just buy the phone? Because next week I'm going to London and there is still no iPhone in my country... :-(

[Steffen Jobbs @ Apr 15th 2008 11:45AM]

ZOMG....This news is right up there with the $5 foot-long hero at Subways. Of course, the hero sandwich tastes better than the iPhone, but I haven't been able to make any phone calls on a hero, either.

I foretold it sometime ago that there would be price cuts on the iPhone in order to dump the useless inventory. Somehow I thought it would come much later in the year during crunch time to make it past the 10 million iPhone sales mark.

Better buy 10 iPhones and sell them in Russia to make some healthy profit.

[snitch @ Apr 15th 2008 11:52AM]

That's still to much if you take in to account how your going to get rape with the callings plans they have. no wonder they're giving the N95 for free & the LG prada just to name a few

[ThePremierAssassin @ Apr 15th 2008 11:53AM]

3G iPhone CONFIRMED!

YESS!

[Eric @ Apr 15th 2008 11:58AM]

If the 8GB iPhone is now 179 quid, does that mean it's... cheaper than the in the US?

179 quid is about 360 dollars.

[Sukhminder @ Apr 15th 2008 5:57PM]

Yup!

I'm tempted to take one home (Canada) when I go home for the summer. £169, that's ~$340. If I can get my VAT refunded, that's another 17.5% off.

[Alex @ Apr 15th 2008 12:01PM]

FAIL

[Alex Oughton @ Apr 15th 2008 12:02PM]

Urgh. Damn comment system. My comment was a reply to ThePremierAssassin's incredibly irrelevant and nonsense-filled post.

[ThePremierAssassin @ Apr 15th 2008 1:46PM]

Alex = EPIC FAIL

And theres nothing wrong with me being happy that the existence of th3G iPhone is that much closer to being proved!

Stop hating and get a life...

[Lance @ Apr 15th 2008 6:53PM]

ThePremierAssasin

Are you an Aussie, it's always aussies that use the word epic to much and make it lose its meaning

I was at maccas the other day and my friend was like "epic burger" and i was like FFS its McDonalds

[Gaz @ Apr 25th 2008 2:42PM]

People who constantly say FAIL need to get a life. You would sound like a complete idiot shouting FAIL in the street!

[Gruff @ Apr 15th 2008 12:27PM]

For non-UK readers, remember that the UK price also includes 17.5% VAT, so the equivalent common prices are:

8GB = (UK£169.00 - UK£25.17 VAT) = UK£143.83
= €178,69
= AU$306.38
= CA$288.18
= US$282.67

16GB = (UK£329.00 - UK£49.00) = UK£280.00
= €347,86
= AU$596.45
= CA$561.01
= US$550.28

[catachip @ Apr 15th 2008 1:01PM]

Converting the price to other currencies doesn't mean that much, because it doesn't take into account the net average income of a UK versus a US consumer, or other economic factors.

[mymaclife @ Apr 15th 2008 4:06PM]

Wow guess who has a calculator?

Now we all sleep, knowing that information.

[j400uk @ Apr 15th 2008 12:34PM]

noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo i just bought one from apple a week ago :( and as i didnt activate they wont give me this £100 voucher

[cruncheeee @ Apr 15th 2008 12:58PM]

you've got 14 days "cooling-off" I think under your statutory rights, so just take it back and say you changed your mind. Then buy a new one. :)

[Slug @ Apr 15th 2008 12:36PM]

Does that price promise thing count if you bought it from apple?

[Julian Bond @ Apr 15th 2008 12:53PM]

So what's the going price for an unlocked item without the contract on eBay? Did that just drop by £100 as well? Forget using it as a cellphone, that's really quite a nice little, good value PDA now.

[Steve-0 @ Apr 15th 2008 12:59PM]

Why would they do that? 169 is cheaper then an 8 gb iPod Touch!?

[Alex @ Apr 15th 2008 1:06PM]

I work for O2 and we got news of this this morning with a load of POS to put up tomorrow, and yes it does look like its coinciding with a new release....

[darkangelpt @ Apr 17th 2008 1:13PM]

Since you work in O2, perhaps you can be the one to finally clarify whether or not do we have to sign the contract in the store at the time of purchase.
This is essential to lots of people!!

[The New Guy @ Apr 15th 2008 1:10PM]

I have a strong feeling a lot of you are going to be disappointed with no 3G in the next iphone. They may include some other stuff like GPS, but i have a strong feeling that 3G will be missing....

But then again, i don't have anything to back this up with...just a gut feeling.

[Dom @ Apr 15th 2008 1:13PM]

So, not wholly related to O2's news, but I'm wondering about VoIP/UMA on an iPhone. Have T-Mobile's @Home Service here in the U.S. on a Blackberry Curve and since I work from home, I love having basically unlimited minutes for those long con calls. That said, for a 3G iPhone with GPS, 32gb and a better camera and I'd cough up serious cash - but I'd love to still be able to use it for those con calls and not burn a ton of minutes.

Anyone doing this right now or know it'll be do-able with the next gen iPhone?

Cheers!

[Leggat @ Apr 15th 2008 4:15PM]

I bought my iPhone from an o2 store a month ago today, will I still get the £100 rebate tomorrow?

[Richard Lai @ Apr 15th 2008 5:40PM]

Time to scream....

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!


And why the same price for the 16GB? Clearing old stock to make space for the 3G version? Smells like it. :D

[Sukhminder @ Apr 15th 2008 5:59PM]

@ ThePremierAssassin

EPIC? Really? No, no it isn't. That word has lost all meaning. Thank you.

[Matthew @ Apr 15th 2008 7:25PM]

@Leggat — Unforunately not, it is only the last 2 weeks. I guess they had to draw the line somewhere. Bad luck.

@The New Guy — AT&T have confirmed a 3G iPhone is coming this year, plus there are loads of other unofficial sources backing this up. Somehow I think that hunch might be a bit out ;-)

[nerdz182 @ Apr 15th 2008 8:12PM]

Do i get £100 back.

i want £100 back.

America got $100 back. Why can't we get £100 back.

i need some new headphones and a DVI - HDMI cable. form apple. grrrr