Apple and O2 announced today that O2, the leading wireless carrier in the UK, will be the exclusive UK carrier for Apple’s revolutionary iPhone when it makes its debut in the UK on November 9. iPhone combines three devices into one-a mobile phone, a widescreen iPod, and the best mobile Internet device ever-all based on Apple’s revolutionary multi-touch interface and pioneering software that allows users to control iPhone with just a tap, flick or pinch of their fingers. Apple sold its one millionth iPhone just 74 days after it went on sale in the US on June 29.
“We’re thrilled to be partnering with O2 to offer our revolutionary iPhone to UK customers,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO, in the press release. “US iPhone customer satisfaction is off the charts, and we can’t wait to let UK customers get their hands on it and learn what they think of it.”
“Our strategy at O2 is to bring our customers the best products and experiences,” said Matthew Key, CEO, O2 UK, in the press release. “The iPhone is a breakthrough that is changing the way people use their mobiles forever, and we’re thrilled to have it exclusively for O2 customers in the UK.”
iPhone users in the UK will be able to activate their new iPhones using Apple’s iTunes software running on a Mac or PC in the comfort and privacy of their own home or office, without having to wait in a store while their phone is activated. Activating iPhone takes only minutes as iTunes guides the user through simple steps to choose their tariff, undertake a credit check and activate their iPhone. Once iPhone is activated, users can then easily sync all of their phone numbers and other contact information, calendars, email accounts, web browser bookmarks, music, photos, podcasts and TV shows just like they do when they sync their iPods with iTunes.
In addition to all the revolutionary features that made iPhone so popular in the US, iPhone users in the UK will have access to Apple’s latest music offerings on iPhone including the recently launched iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store. The iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store offers customers the ability to browse, search, preview, purchase and download songs and albums from iTunes over the built-in Wi-Fi on their iPhone. No computer is required and when the customer connects their iPhone back with their PC or Mac, their music automatically syncs back into their iTunes library.
iPhone is scheduled to go on sale on November 9 and will be sold exclusively in the UK through Apple’s retail and online stores, O2 and The Carphone Warehouse’s retail and online stores. iPhone will be available in an 8GB model for 269 pounds sterling (inc VAT, US$542) and will work with either a PC or Mac. Three new iPhone tariffs will be available from O2 starting at 35 pounds, which all include unlimited anytime, anywhere mobile data usage and, in a market first, free unlimited use of the UK’s largest single public Wi-Fi network, covering over 7,500 cafes, restaurants, airport lounges, pubs and other locations across the UK.
iPhone activation will require an Internet connection; an iTunes Store account or a major credit card; the latest version of iTunes and a Mac or PC with a USB 2.0 port and one of the following operating systems: Mac OS X v10.4.10 or later; Windows XP Home or Professional with Service Pack 2 or later; or Windows Vista Home Premium, Business, Enterprise or Ultimate Edition. iPhone requires a new 18-month contract with O2. Existing O2 customers will have the option of keeping their existing phone number and upgrading their account to work with iPhone while new customers can also simply and easily transfer their current mobile number to O2.
Misleading: unlimited data is not unlimited, it will be limted to 1,400 pages a day.
Edge…ulp.
Wi-fi is faster….yeah, sure, try finding free wi.fi locations in Europe…
Sigh! no 3G… £35, 45, 55 LOL! pft!!!!!!
269 pounds, that’s like US$550 … ouch! How do they explain the difference? Perhaps they are just saying that to throw off competitors, when Nov comes, they’ll offer it at a lower price … or else it wont fly.
Everything is more expensive in the UK because they have higher wages, etc. They often moan about it but fail to realise that they earn twice the average of the counterparts in other countries.
Taxes (VAT) makes a big difference
I love mac to death but wont pay that much for a phone……
Will take up Orange on an upgade instead….
The price is the same as the €399 purported for the rest of Europe. Please mind that prices quoted include sales tax, which can be as high as 19%. Suddenly, it’s $460. Plus, European warranty rules apply, and O2’s customer base is smaller than AT&T;’s.
Still, a more aggressive pricing would help create the demand. Like £240/€350. That would be slightly higher than US prices, but acceptable.
£900 for 18 months on up to £1260!!! to much money for people that don’t have that sort of cash to throw at a phone.
Cost is £229 plus VAT so equates roughly to $458. So $60 above US price, to allow for currency fluctuations.
1400 pages a day is pretty much unlimited data by anyone’s measure.
£35/month data plan plus phone price is £689 for first year, which is cheaper combined price than I can get the N95 from my current supplier, Orange.
Seems like a reasonable deal to me.
Price is £229 excluding VAT, or about $458. So only $60/£30 difference to US price.
I currently pay Orange around £30 month for fewer minutes and no data. These plans seem broadly fair.
John:
We’ve got higher wages in the UK? Which Bizarro-Parallel-Universe-Evil-Twin-Clone UK do you mean there, exactly?
Wages are comparable to the rest of (Western) Europe. Prices ARE higher, though. Just because we’re on an island, and can’t run away.
“Everything is more expensive in the UK because they have higher wages, etc. They often moan about it but fail to realise that they earn twice the average of the counterparts in other countries.”
What??? I have no idea where you heard that from, but it’s total rubbish. The UK has some of the highest prices, work longer hours with fewer holidays than the rest of Europe yet don’t earn much more, if at all. Some jobs will earn more, some less, but we’re certainly not all rolling around in big piles of cash. Besides, even if it was true, why should that mean we pay more? If something is worth X amount, it’s worth X amount – that shouldn’t change based on ability to pay. If it did, the US would be paying $1000 a pop for iPhones!
After the PS3 fiasco (at one point, it was only £100 more to fly to Hong Kong and buy one than buy an official one!), it’s just another case of the UK getting stiffed.
Seems like a pretty good deal… wonder if it’s possible to get a US iPhone and just buy an O2 sim card?
£35 is very reasonable for unlimited data…
£270 is about what I expected to pay really. Follows the US->UK ipod pricing strategy.
Guess I’ll have to find £269 somewhere in the sofa then!
John,
I live in the USA and travel to the UK frequently on business. We have a business unit in the UK and trust me, for the same Engineering / Program Management job function, the salary over there is equal to about half of what we make in my company in the states.
Noooo.. That means that the rest of the Europe slips to the year 2008. That is not good news!
You don´t have to buy an iPhone if you don´t like it. Your money your decision. I will buy mine when I get the possibility. iPhone is very well priced compared to Nokia. O2 prices are also very fair. I like that WI-FI hotspot deal very much. That is the way to go.
Basically you can´t get anything comparable to iPhone with that amount of money.
You can get something cheaper but you do not get the same functionality.
In my profession wages are twice in the UK than here in Spain. Stop moaning. You turn up here with your overvalued currency and buy cheap houses. Even your pensions are twice the Spanish average. You cant have it both ways. The UK is one of the richest countries in the world.
Unlimited data is not unlimited. If I want to download a big file there is a limit on it. That is false advertising.
Apple is starting to get greedy,
Does anyone know if this means o2 will also be the carrier here in Ireland??? Tbh I think Apple should nt have limited it to one carrier per country. It will seriously p*ss people off imo. I’m sure it will change in the future but I cant think of a good reason for them to do this.
I cant even begin to tell you how dissapointed I am. No 3G and outrageous prices..I mean wtf? I am putting my purchase on hold for sure.
UK busineses do not re-locate their call centres outside the UK for no reason – they do it because the wages are so high there. Ditto car manufacturers, etc. Not to mention the UK ego is much bigger than the rest of Europe! Pay for it suckers.
The plans seem pretty normal without the cost of the phone. I noticed at Car Phone Warehouse you can get free smartphones and they throw in a nintendo wii.
(oh and not so sure about that higher wages thing, first London is one of the most expensive places to live, & the UK is far below the USA on income per capita. We don’t moan, it really is more expensive to live here, but it’s all relative, it probably looks cheap to the Swiss.)
As an American expat living in the UK, I have observed that the British generally don’t realize just how high their standard of living is.
The prices for iPhone UK seem mostly comparable to US prices, but I wonder if sales might be affected by some kind of “early adopters’ potential pre-price-drop preemptive remorse…”
£269
I never thought I’d say this but Steve Ballmer was right, it has got to be the most expensive phone ever in the UK.
I think I’ll hold out till next year when the price drops.
@Jim
Steve Ballmer is never right.
How come the Nokia N95 is showing at £299 on the Orange website, then?
@John
Breathe deeply, count to ten. We’re sorry that so many British people buy houses in Spain.
@Bert
I was being facetious, I know he’s never right.
Just a bit taken aback. I also don’t like 18 month contracts… that’s a long time to have one contract and one phone.
@Jim
No, I know. Sorry.
Personally I’m ok with the price of the phone, as it’s the monthly charges that really cost in the end anyway. What does rather stick in the throat is the comparison with AT&T;’s monthly charges: for $60, the Americans get 450 minutes, 200 texts and 5000 minutes at the weekends and evenings. Perhaps O2 are trying to recover that 40%?
@Bert
Yeh I guess you’re right. I was going to buy an iPod touch instead and keep my k800i for now.
I might just wait till my contract is up in February and see what is on offer then. Hopefully will drop the price after the Christmas rush.
I was actually hoping Steve would announce Leopard release date, maybe bringing it to London so Jonathan Ive feels at home :-0
“it has got to be the most expensive phone ever in the UK.”
just wait 60 days. price drops by 30%
£299. for both iPHONE and iPOD touch16GB. in UK
$399 for both iPHONE and iPOD touch16GB. in US.
As agressive as possible in UK too.
I am very happy living in US.
“As an American expat living in the UK, I have observed that the British generally don’t realize just how high their standard of living is.
The prices for iPhone UK seem mostly comparable to US prices, but I wonder if sales might be affected by some kind of “early adopters’ potential pre-price-drop preemptive remorse…”
I agree 100%. British citizans don’t realize how goo dthey have it here moneywise. I’m from Portugal, and u get less than £300 for a minima wage. I earn about the same as my mom in here, she works full time, has been a teacher for 30 years. I work 10 hours a week. What does that tell you. Where did u get the idea that in Europe they work fewer hours…lol. It’s true that things here I much more expensive, but by far…the standart of leaving is higher, much, much higher. I go back to europe quite often, I know what I’m talking about.
Why do you think the UK is the target of immigrants in Europe. The Iphone is more expensive here, but I don’t think that is simply because Apple is greedy…it will be the same price in Germany (€400).
Excellent News!
Im in the que on 9th November!
What’s all the shake up with how we normally buy phones in the UK. What’s wrong with the good old ‘sign up for X tariff with Y amount of free minutes, texts and media – and get your desired phone completely free!’ – plus we only sign up on a 12 month contract and upgrade every year!
If this is the American way – it sucks!
I’m waiting for iPhone 2.0, cheaper tariffs and one year / 18 month contract!
What kind of data network will it be using? Is there EDGE in Britain?
O2 are having to upgrade their network at the moment to implement EDGE – possibly one reason for the increased cost of the iPhone in the UK. I think most people are going to hang back and wait for the 3G version though – it makes more sense – I know I am!
Why did you EXPECT Apple to do the things the way everyone else does them? Furthermore, yes, the way ONE company does something is the way ALL AMERICAN companies do things. *shaking head* Thank goodness I know all Brits aren’t as stupid as you are, but if I used your logic I would have to conclude that.
AT&T;should have included their hotspot network for iPhone customers. AT&T;DSL customers can get unlimited access to AT&T;WiFi hotspots (which include McDonalds and many other locations nationwide) for only $2/mo. But no such subsidy/deal for iPhone or cell phone customers. 🙁
The thing to consider – especially for those people who may be getting an iPhone Touch as well as their existing phone – is that on this basis the extras of the iPhone are coming out at £70. For a combined device doing what it does, I don’t think that’s bad. It’s the data plans that get me. I’m someone who only uses a mobile for real emergencies. I’m not someone who is constantly wanting to talk to people, chat, text etc. If I do during the day then I use my work phone. At home I have a home phone. I already pay for broadband, I can’t see myself adding £35 for effectively another internet connection one – a slow one at that.
The 1400 pages a day is ok by me, even if you were on the net 16 hours a day that’s about 1.5 pages a minute.
Bitch and moan, bitch and moan.
Apple didn’t give the phone away free with a handjob, so Apple sucks and Jobs is a greedy SOB.
What a bunch of spoiled, bratty asses you are. If you don’t like the deal don’t buy the damn thing and shut up.
The overall package is OK, especially with unlimnited Cloud data access.
Cheaper than the Nokia crap for sure, and Cloud wifi is everywhere in the UK these days.
Apple are going to clean up, just watch!
Funny how it is that the…
“it’s the most expensive phone in the world posts”
…all come from Internet Explorer browsers!?!?!??
);
Ive never needed 3g and never wiil.
I use a phone as a ‘phone’ ( now there is an original idea – making calls on a mobile phone!) and not some portable ‘does everything device’.
So im getting an iPhone in November.
3g is usless as far as im concerned, and its not a deal breaker – especially as wifi is built into the iphone anyway – WHICH IS ALOT FASTER THAN 3G.
Just wait, in 74 days the price will drop by 100 pounds.
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The Beatles don’t REALLY exists. they’re just an urban legend.
There were just as many posts in America saying the iPhone was overpriced and wouldn’t sell. Then on June 29th the iPhone hit the streets and Apple has sold more than a million in the very short interim. No mobile phone has sold as well. And I’ve not met or heard from an iPhone owner who, after having enjoyed the iPhone for some time, thought he or she overpaid. The iPhone is not cheap, but it is not overpriced. It is a joy to use, and you can’t say that about many mobiles.
399 US equals 200 sterling. Add 17.5% VAT gives you 235 sterling. So the additional cost in 64 pounds. Remember in the US you typically add sales tax onto the price where it applies. So in California you would pay an extra 8.25% which would be 33 bucks (or 15 pounds). So that takes the difference down to 50 pounds.
I bought a Prius here in California and it cost me 26K. The same vehicle cost around 20K sterling when I last checked. That is a larger markup by far compared to the iPhone.
Overall, doesn’t seem too bad a pricing.
With this announcement I’m starting to think that, aside from us Canadians being a way smaller market, Rogers is not willing to provide/add-on unlimited data. At 10$/10MB Rogers has a cash cow they’re not wanting to slaughter.
For all those whinging about the price…
Unlimited data plans from Orange cost £50.00 per month on their own without any voice minutes attached, so getting “fair-use” unlimited for £35.00/month plus access to The Cloud’s relatively large hot-spot network and 200 minutes & SMS messages is a saving of £600.00 per annum and £900 over the life of the contract.
For some people, that saving would allow them to purchase an iPhone for themselves and a partner and allow them to buy an iPod Classic and a nano to boot.
Two things always amaze me:
1. People, for some unfathomable reason, expected Apple to redesign the iPhone to include 3G chips just a few months after its initial introduction; and
2. People bitch about how much a two year contract will cost them in total money. What, like you’re not going to have mobile phone service anyway?
The iPhone plans are pretty well priced when compared, feature to feature, with other data/voice plans, and actually are often better. Hmmm, much like a Mac v. Windows machine – initially you have seen better prices, but when you really look at what you get, the Mac is a better deal, even disregarding the fact that you don’t have to mess with Windows.
“The Beatles don’t REALLY exists. they’re just an urban legend.”
I’d like to think they’re at least an urbane legend by now.
at least it’s released pretty much unlocked.
small price to pay considering the mark up UK always gets from apple
that’ll show you how to get free games and ringtons
it’s the best iphone hack tutorial i’ve seen yet
Regarding higher prices in the UK, I really love the iTunes store pricing for the UK. More expensive than continental Europe but then, maybe the UK should have considered joining the Euro zone.
I need the 35 quid package like a hole in the head. Let’s see if the SIM FREE hack app for UK arrives before Xmas.
They’re getting a MUCH better deal than we are.
200 minutes in Europe = 400 minutes in the U.S., or more, since European carriers do not (1) charge for both ends of a call (if you get called, you don’t pay for it), or (2) bill in entire-minute increments (which drove up U.S. carriers’ revenue a whopping 15% once they started doing it; it should be illegal).
They also get free access to 7,500 hotspots in a geographically small country–which is better than free access to the equivalent of Boingo or the Starbucks T-Mobile network (and not just to buy things on the iTunes Store with, either!).
They are only paying £35 a month, which in terms of the rest of U.K. pricing is psychologically and practically the equivalent not of $70–that ‘translation’ of the value of the pound is simply an artifact of the dollar’s current pitifully feeble state–but of about $52.50. They’re paying less than we are for a better deal.
Finally, their contracts are 25% shorter–only 18 months, instead of two whole years.
We better be pretty happy that we got to use the iPhone for . . . what? Four months longer than they did? Because that’s the only benefit we’re deriving.
We are getting robbed by the U.S. cell phone oligopoly, and this deal only spells it out, in painful detail. Ouch. It rocks to be a European consumer, or an American corporation.
I cannot believe the amount of bitching and outright xenophobia on here! Calm down everyone…
I personally think that the iphone is great just for the simple reason that Apple seem to be one of the very few companies who really ‘get it’ as far as real usability is concerned. It is by no means perfect from what I can see, but it promises to really shake things up.
I’m not an Apple fanboy, so I won’t be getting one until 3G is added, but I do look forward to that day…
Right now, I have an UMPC with a HSDPA 3G USB modem (£10 per month for 1GB from ‘3’) and a regular mobile phone. I need the UMPC not only for browsing, but also for quite a number of other apps, and it weights a lot less than 1 kg and is tiny – perfect for me.
So, to all those who will get an iphone on 9th Nov – have fun. It seems like a great device, and I look forward to getting one when a few of the niggles have been ironed out.
more whinging from the english as usual, youre the first country get the iPhone after the US and all you do is whinge that its too expensive. Ive worked in the uk for about 2 years and the wages are higher than anywhere else i know. its the living expenses that eats it all up, and uk have very high tax (for next to useless medical care i might add), blame the government for such high taxes rather than apple.
No way am I getting an iPhone, and no i’m not anti-apple or a windows troll, I use Macbook and iPod nano, but I don’t want a iPhone. I will be getting a iPod Touch!
I don’t think the iPhone will do well with teens in the uk, as most use pay-as-you-go sim cards rather than contract!
why can’t we get free wi-fi access here in the states…they shoulda gone with t-mobile if that was something being offered.
105% of the people owns a mobile telephone here. Apple could experience the sale up to 600 000 units of the more than 2 000 000 sold every year. Finland is the homeland for THE NOKIA. Brind it here if you can
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MDN magic work: subject
You are what people say about you Pommies. Bloody whingers!!!!!!!!!!
Un!@#$ing believable.
All new products will be more expensive the moment they are put into the market place. Then after a while prices come down. Normal market behaviour. STOP COMPLAINING if things are more expensive in one country or the other. Ever tried to buy a german car in the Netherlands. Same car in Germany 33% cheaper. Work that one out. Tax etc. Any product you buy in another country will not be the same with some currency conversion. Move on people. Here we’re always the last to get things we like. Itunes for instance. Available for a year now. You had that years ago. IPhone will have to wait for at least another six months (announcement let alone available).
Bad luck for us. So buy your freaking IPhone and be happy.
The extra couple of pounds shouldn’t stop you from buying it.
It’s a luxury item. And if it all too much for you whingers. Don’t buy one. Buy someting else or spend it on charity (pff that would be a little too much wouldn’t it).
I pay less than £5/month for my mobile phone calls and feel that people that pay £30+ are being raped.