Apple hearts O2 - iPhone coming to the UK, 9th November

[Ed]

As expected, Apple has announced the iPhone's launch in the UK - mark down the 9th of November in your iCal as the day you'll be able to get your hands on Apple's revolutionary piece of kit for the not-so-unreasonable sum of £269.

 

Available only from Apple & O2 retail stores and online, and also The Carphone Warehouse, the iPhone will be available on three different monthly plans:

 

£35/month

200 minutes

200 texts

Unlimited data

 

£45/month

600 minutes

500 texts

Unlimited data

 

£55/month

1200 minutes

500 texts

Unlimited data

 

O2 has confirmed that it will be supporting Apple's innovative 'Visual Voicemail' feature. UK iPhone customers will also be able to enjoy use of "The Cloud", the UK's largest single public Wi-Fi network which covers 7,500 cafés, restaurants, pubs and other locations across the country.

[Paranoid Marvin]

Well that sucks.

 

Where's the Pay As You Go option?

 

Need I add that O2 is the worst network in the UK?

 

At least the wi-fi is good though, there are plenty of cloud wi-fi spots around.

 

 

I guess I'll get an iPod touch instead (only £100 to go!)

[sev7en]

I ordered the 16Gb iPod Touch model but I'll await the Italian launch for the iPhone: it's awesome and not so priced but I've already a great phone (n93/JasJar) and I can wait a bit

[Sabr]

So I have to pay £270 to get the iPhone, and then pay an extra ~£40 a month for how long? (2 years?)

 

Most contracts nowadays give you the phone for free...

[benwinship]

At the very least, your gonna pay £899.

 

Which includes the £269, then £35 a month for 18 months, which is the minimum contract length.

 

In my opinion O2 are making a mistake not releasing it on pay as you go.

[Sabr]

At the very least, your gonna pay £899.

 

Which includes the £269, then £35 a month for 18 months, which is the minimum contract length.

 

In my opinion O2 are making a mistake not releasing it on pay as you go.

 

£900?!?! That is absolutely ridiculous. I pay £15 / month (£180 / year) for 500 minutes and 100 texts / month. Ok, it is the iPhone we're talking about here, but a difference of £720 (between my contract and the O2 one) is pretty high... =/

[R2k.]

i really don`t understand why Apple don`t sell iPhones like iPods.

i mean,without any contracts.this way they lose more buyers ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

~R

[benwinship]

£900?!?! That is absolutely ridiculous. I pay £15 / month (£180 / year) for 500 minutes and 100 texts / month. Ok, it is the iPhone we're talking about here, but a difference of £720 (between my contract and the O2 one) is pretty high... =/

 

 

Yeah, its absolutely ridiculous. I doubt ill be getting one unless O2 release a sim free version, or someone figures out how to unlock it, since Apple will definitely have fixed the unlocking issue on the Europe iPhone.

[thegodfaza]

I wish we had more public wifi in the US. Every time an engineer wants to do it the governor says no.

[Ed]

i'm surprised at everyone's comments! Am I the only one here that thinks it's a good krack?

 

Look at it this way, the £269 gets you an iPod Touch of sorts if you look at it like that (plus you can actually create contacts and iCal entries etc. whereas I don't think the iPod Touch does).

 

Then essentially you get the phone bit "free" with the contract (I admit, 18 months minimum is tight). And starting from £35pcm with unlimited data, I couldn't really argue too much.

 

I think it compares ok to other smartphones:

http://www.dophone.co.uk/display.asp?image...amp;hs=xdaorbit

http://www.dophone.co.uk/display.asp?image...t=&hs=m3100

 

^ Gotta pay for the phones plus the contract on those, and yes they are cheaper over the total length of the contract, but lets face it, the iPhone is wwwwaaaaaayy superior.

 

One final point - I wouldn't want a SIM-free iPhone anyway cos I think Visual Voicemail is really really cool and for me personally it's one of the many plus points of the iPhone.

 

...all that said and done, I ain't gettin one, roll on the 3G iPhone

[Paranoid Marvin]

i'm surprised at everyone's comments! Am I the only one here that thinks it's a good krack?

 

Look at it this way, the £269 gets you an iPod Touch of sorts if you look at it like that (plus you can actually create contacts and iCal entries etc. whereas I don't think the iPod Touch does).

 

Then essentially you get the phone bit "free" with the contract (I admit, 18 months minimum is tight). And starting from £35pcm with unlimited data, I couldn't really argue too much.

 

I think it compares ok to other smartphones:

http://www.dophone.co.uk/display.asp?image...amp;hs=xdaorbit

http://www.dophone.co.uk/display.asp?image...t=&hs=m3100

 

^ Gotta pay for the phones plus the contract on those, and yes they are cheaper over the total length of the contract, but lets face it, the iPhone is wwwwaaaaaayy superior.

 

One final point - I wouldn't want a SIM-free iPhone anyway cos I think Visual Voicemail is really really cool and for me personally it's one of the many plus points of the iPhone.

 

...all that said and done, I ain't gettin one, roll on the 3G iPhone

 

Or, you could get a N70 on pay as you go, with 3G, for nothing (c/o dear Father )

[Mebster]

Questions & Answers

Can I surf the web on iPhone without a Wi-Fi connection?

Yes. When a Wi-Fi connection is not available, you can access the Internet using O2’s EDGE data network.

EDGE? Do we even have that in the UK? What happened to 3G? Lamers.

Can I “unlock” iPhone and use it with another wireless carrier?

O2 is the exclusive wireless carrier for iPhone in the United Kingdom. If you currently use another wireless carrier, you can choose to transfer your number when you activate your O2 account.

 

 

I've currently on an O2 contract where I've got a K800i with 500mins for £40 (cashback brings it down to £17) and an Orange contract where I've got a N95 with 500mins for £15 (no cashback needed). Before I got my orange phone I used to use up my O2 minutes quickly but when I got my Orange contract (4 months ago) I noticed they had a Magic Number promotion going on, where you can call one orange number for up to 3 hours a day for free. This is substantially reduced the minutes I use up now, to the point where I'm handing my phone out to family members to use my minutes. Because of magic numbers I was planning on dropping my O2 contract in a month when the contract ends. Now I'm thinking twice about it. But I'm not sure if I can afford a £35 a month tariff (+ my £15 from orange) and also pay £269 for the phone. And also I don't like the idea of a 2 year contract.

 

EDIT:

I like do1 also didn't think it was a bad offer. I mean if you were considering geting an iPod touch (like I was) mainly because of the wif browsing then the paying an extra £69 for the iPhone isn't that much really. But I have to agree £35 for 200min is a little more than crappy. You can get better deals than that almost where ever you look. I think if I was going to pay £35 the least I would expect is 500+mins. I thought the free wifi hotspots provided by the cloud would make up for this (also given the fact I don't really need mins as I would keep my orange contract too) but I don't think 7,500 hotspots all spread over the UK are enough. I mean you would probably need to actually search for a hotspot and then head there. So I'm unsure now... thanks to Sabr.

[Colonel]

So I have to pay £270 to get the iPhone, and then pay an extra ~£40 a month for how long? (2 years?)

 

Most contracts nowadays give you the phone for free...

LOL! You want a free iPhone...

[THEHAWKs]

Still No G3

[Colonel]

Still No G3

The G3's came and went.. we're on Core 2 Duos and Xeons now. Get with the times.

[Paranoid Marvin]

LOL! You want a free iPhone...

 

That's 'cos you can get nearly every phone for free on contract over here.

 

I don't get why were are paying a premium for a phone that is years out of date.

 

I would get an iPhone, but it would be a big step backwards from my N70, network wise. (in fact, even my pear shaped 6630 has 3G!)

[Sabr]

LOL! You want a free iPhone...

 

Haha, when you are paying in excess of £700 just on the contract (which really is not worth £35pm in the first place), then yes - I do want the iPhone for free!

 

I don't get why were are paying a premium for a phone that is years out of date.

 

I would get an iPhone, but it would be a big step backwards from my N70, network wise. (in fact, even my pear shaped 6630 has 3G!)

 

Hehe, I also had a Nokia 6630, then went onto a Nokia N70.

[Colonel]

That's 'cos you can get nearly every phone for free on contract over here.

 

I don't get why were are paying a premium for a phone that is years out of date.

 

I would get an iPhone, but it would be a big step backwards from my N70, network wise. (in fact, even my pear shaped 6630 has 3G!)

OMFGNOWAI!!!! You can get a free phone with a contract here too! Just not a $400 phone.

 

The iPhone is out of date? LOL! What does that make Windows 98... from the stone age?

 

3G is over-rated.. what would you even need it for on an iPhone since it has WiFi in it already that can send data faster than 3G?

[Mebster]

OMFGNOWAI!!!! You can get a free phone with a contract here too! Just not a $400 phone.

 

The iPhone is out of date? LOL! What does that make Windows 98... from the stone age?

 

3G is over-rated.. what would you even need it for on an iPhone since it has WiFi in it already that can send data faster than 3G?

I think you secretly work for apple because most people by now would have seen the light.

 

Yes the phones we normally get for free are at max around £400 (my N95 was around £500) but just the other day I saw O2 advertising the N95 for FREE on a £35 contract. And that's on a 12 month contract too. And you can be on a £55/month contract on the iPhone and STILL be paying £269 for the phone (that just doesn't happen). So you see the huge leap? I'm guessing now.

 

And 3G is over rated? What happens when I can't find a cloud wifi signal (which I'm sure most of the times I won't because of the places I visit)? I should be happy to the crappy EDGE when I've paid £269 for this stupid phone and am still paying £700+ on my contract??? I'm sure you love the sound of that but I personally don't.

 

And old? You remember when the iPhone was announced? So yes it is kinda old by now. I mean, do you see anything new in it since then?

 

Ahhh forget this conversation. I'm off for a busy day of not eating.

[Colonel]

[Mebster]

The British telecommunication watchdog Ofcom is to take back and auction part of the 2G spectrum which was sold to Vodafone and O2 in 1985. The 2G spectrum "is particularly good for long-range wireless broadband, making it ideal for rural areas. It also works well inside buildings. When One2One, now T-Mobile, and Orange were granted their 2G licences in 1991 they were given spectrum in a slightly higher band, which is not so efficient".

 

"It was unclear last night whether the removal of a third of its 2G network capacity would harm O2, but the move is certainly a blow as that is the spectrum over which the iPhone will operate. The mobile phone company, owned by Spain's Telefonica, clinched the high-profile iPhone deal this week, seeing off competition from Orange, T-Mobile and Vodafone."

 

The spectrum is released in 2010.

 

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