It's all starting to come together. After getting a general ballpark courtesy of AT&T store employee vacations last week, and a hint of "next month" on Monday, O2's own CEO is promising a 3G iPhone announcement in "the coming weeks." Which, let's face it, doesn't really put us any closer to pinpointing the exact date, but does make us feel a bit better about the 1000 "iPhone 3G in June or life isn't worth living anymore" t-shirts we just bought on CafePress.

The headline kind of says it all, but if you weren't already sure enough that the first gen iPhone's stint in the UK was coming to a close, O2's pushing to make things crystal clear. It's hard to imagine both companies are going to just stop selling such a high profile device for too long, but clearly we're all still in the dark as to when its 3G replacement will officially be out.

[Thanks, Keith]

Update: While European carriers are running out of stock left and right, it seems Apple Stores in the UK and elsewhere still have iPhones -- for now.

Update 2: Okay, and now O2's page is showing that the iPhone is once again available. Temporary glitch or preparatory? Beats us, but if you want a 16GB device, it's apparently still up for grabs.

Conspiracy theorists and Mac rumor-mongerers, start your engines. According to an internal O2 memo we've received, stock of both the 8GB iPod touch and iPhone have run their courses, and have been EOL'd (at least in the UK). The brief letter sent out yesterday evening states that, "Due to the highly successful sales of the Apple 8GB I-Phone [sic], supply chain have today run out of stock & will not be replenishing stock of this product as it has now gone to end of life." Whether this is due to the recent price cuts, the rumored upcoming 2nd generation iPhone, or just a sign that Apple is moving towards higher capacity devices is anyone's guess. All we know is that soon the 8GB iPhone -- at least in the UK -- will become as rare and precious as the Pygmy Three-toed Sloth.

[Via The Register; Thanks Callum M.]

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]

As we expected, Apple just loosed the iPhone into Ireland and Austria. €399 nabs the 8GB model while €499 takes the 16GB unit home. T-Mobile has the honors for Austria as it does in Germany while O2 carries the flag in Ireland as it does in the UK. Interestingly, Irish subscribers are not entitled to Visual Voicemail or free WiFi even though you get both on O2 UK -- neither country offers an unlimited data plan. Tsk tsk. Regardless, early adopters from those countries already had their unlocked iPhones months ago which makes the launch just a formality at this point.

[Via MacRumors]

Read -- Austria
Read -- Ireland

We got wind of this in the early AM, but now it's official: O2 is picking up the iPhone in Ireland, selling the 8 gigger for €399, and the 16GB for €499. Tariffs range from €45 for 175 minutes to €100 for 700 minutes, and all plans include 1GB of data. It sounds like quite the scam compared to O2's iPhone plans in the UK, but we're going to just chalk it up to cultural differences not explored in Colin Farrell's latest masterpiece, "In Bruges."

Update: Some tipsters have pointed out that O2 Ireland makes no mention of Visual Voicemail on its iPhone pages, which is odd considering the fact that O2 UK highlights the feature. It could be a oversight, or it could mean that those unsightly tariffs are, in fact, true highway robbery.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Looks like the iPhone is launching in Ireland with O2 on March 14th, according to Pocket-lint. It's supposed to go for the low, low price of €399 (including VAT) on the 8GB and €499 for the 16GB; we haven't heard anything solid either way, but we'll let you know if we do (and you do the same, would ya?).

[Thanks, John and Ronan]

Sandio's Game O' 3D mouse managed to catch our eye back in May of '06, and now the firm is just getting around to unveiling the successor. Still touting that oh-so-catchy 3D moniker, the 3D Game O2 allows Google Earth / Virtual Earth users to "fly through without dealing with keyboard or on-screen navigation tabs." 'Course, it didn't miss the opportunity to inform Second Life residents that they too can enjoy more realistic flying motions with this here device, and users of CAD software could also find a few obvious benefits. Regarding improvements from the previous version, this one reportedly rocks "improved hardware quality and software usability as well as auto-loading of key 3D application drivers and plug-ins." Best of all, there's no waiting involved in acquiring one -- so long as you're parked in the US, Canada, China or Japan, you can grab one at your convenience for $79.99.

Samsung's M110 "Solid" phone is apparently making its way to the UK soon, bringing with it a ruggedized exterior sure to resist even the most violent attacks (or scratching, at least). Aside from the tough exterior the device, it's actually a fantastically boring GSM phone, featuring EDGE / GPRS data, a 240 x 320 screen, Bluetooth, a VGA camera, FM tuner... and MMS! The Korean electronics-maker claims this phone is the "first ultra durable handset," which is wildly inaccurate, though the device can apparently withstand shocks, water, and hanging out with Tara Reid for a night. Price is expected to hover somewhere near the £59.99 mark (or about $119), and will be available in the UK on the O2 network soon.

The Inquirer is reporting that Vodafone UK's customer service line used for defecting customers is down. In fact, it's been down the entire weekend since the iPhone's Friday launch. Instead, Vodafone customers looking to change their status to O2 customers are being greeted with an automated voice response asking them to try again later. Coincidence? Maybe. It's certainly timely having already witnessed the carrier defection rate following the US launch.

Now why, dear readers, would the Apple store at the Eaton Centre in Ontario, Canada, be hosting an iPhone workshop? Could it be that the iPhone is headed to colder climes in time enough for the holidays? Or is it just a simple mistake? Judge for yourself. We just hope this little mishap doesn't get that Eaton Centre Apple events coordinator fired.

Oh, and that not-so-"unlimited" data the iPhone was getting in the UK on O2? Turns out that apparently the carrier's reversed its decision to cap iPhone users' data at a mere 100-200MB, apparently stating, "There is no limit on the monthly network usage. However if we feel that your activities are so excessive that other customers are detrimentally affected, we may give you a written warning (by email or otherwise)." We're not really sure what the fuss is about, O2's rolling out a legacy EDGE network specifically for the use of iPhone users, why fuss over a device that can't be (easily) tethered to a laptop and has slow-ass EDGE data and quick WiFi?

Read - Apple schedules iPhone workshop in Canada [Thanks, Ethan]
Read - O2 scraps limited-unlimited data [Via TUAW]

When we first got our hands on the UK iPhone back in September, it was already running the 1.1.1 firmware. The same firmware which helpfully bricked a number of hacked iPhones Stateside upon later release. Now T3 is claiming that the UK iPhone -- set for release on November 9th -- is kicking 1.1.2 under the glass. Besides support for French and German keyboard layouts and characters, the other notable change is the shuttering of the TIFF exploit used to jailbreak and then install (and unlock) third party applications on the 1.1.1 iPhone and iPod touch. With the possibility that Apple might release 1.1.2 globally with the UK launch on Friday, consider yourselves warned. It's not like there's a lot of incentive for you to update anyway (remember, it's optional) what with the latest jailbreak simultaneously exploiting and then plugging the TIFF exploit to keep your browsing safe. For whatever it's worth, the February SDK isn't too far away -- perhaps you should wait 'till then to get right with The Steve.

Europeans are pretty used to paying through the nose for usage charges, whether it be by-the-minute charges for local calls in the landline days of yore, or per-KB charges for wireless data. The up side is that there are usually some pretty sweet prices on phones, since wireless companies know they can make it up on the back end, but for heavy users things can get expensive fast. And unfortunately, the glorious promises of "unlimited" data usage tacked onto iPhone plans offered by T-Mobile, O2 and Orange in their respective iPhone-exclusive markets aren't quite the revolution we might've hoped for. T-Mobile just posted its rate plans for the November 9th iPhone launch, though it quickly pulled them from the site. Eagle-eyed observers grabbed a screenshot of the rates (pictured), but what's notable is the fine print: depending on which plan you select -- M, L or XL -- you're limited to 200MB, 1GB or 5GB of data, after which your data speeds are limited to 64Kbps, instead of EDGE's traditional 220Kbps max. O2, whose rates have been up since day one, has a slightly vaguer "fair usage policy" that gives O2 the right to slap you with extra charges or change your rate plan if you exceed 200MB of use, though they claim this rarely happens. Details on Orange's rate plans for the iPhone haven't emerged yet, but Orange France has historically some of the priciest unlimited data rates, and has a standing policy to just go ahead and slap per-KB charges once the limit is crossed. Let's hope it doesn't come to that.

[Thanks, Patrick]

O2 is the first network provider to get the iPhone outside of the US, so what's new on the UK's very own iPhone? Well, it turns out, not much. In simple terms, it's almost identical to the US version, albeit running the 1.1.1 firmware version, features of which we've already seen on the iPod Touch. You'll notice the iTunes WiFi Store icon, and an O2-UK network symbol up top. If you look carefully, you'll see that the E logo for EDGE is missing: we guess that 30% network coverage on O2 doesn't quite stretch inside the Apple Store. Along with the 1.1.1 firmware comes double tap quick access to currently playing songs, options for closed captioning on videos, and rather oddly, user selection options for carrier (we thought this was an exclusive?) There's also support for European language keyboards, and an option for turning off EDGE roaming. All in all, a rather predictable update for the UK.

Yeah, Apple fired a warning shot in Europe with this morning's O2 announcement, but there's sure a lot more on our minds that Apple didn't address at the mini press conference. Here are some of them in convenient bullet point form. The things Apple didn't announce today:

• Which carrier will be carrying the iPhone in France (we hear it's Orange).
  
• Which carrier will be carrying the iPhone in Germany (we hear it's T-Mobile, or maybe Vodafone).
  
• Is O2 seriously paying out 40% of plan revenue for exclusivity?
• Why anyone will pay for flat rate data when only 30% of the UK will be using EDGE.
• 3G iPhone.

Got anything to add? Let it all out in the comments. Rumor is the Germany announcement could come tomorrow, followed by France on Thursday, with T-Mobile and Orange doing the respective honors, but we would've rather gotten all this hashed out today and a little more sleep the rest of this week.