iPhone UK: 9th Nov: £269 + VAT: Tariff £35+
September 18th, 2007 by 
matt
The iPhone is due for release on November 9th and will be available for £269 including VAT from O2 and Carphone Warehouse stores which will make for over 1300 distribution points for the iPhone and every store will allegedly have an expert on the iPhone (I can’t wait to test this theory out based on the Apple Experts that PC World allegedly had).
Visual Voicemail is enabled so getting your voicemail won’t be the current distraction it is based on having to remember the number commands for the menus. If you do decide to go for a hacked/unlocked iPhone then this will be one feature you miss out on. you’ll also be stuck with GSM data. Blechhhh! They describe the unlocking a bit like decryption of DRM’ed music - a cat and mouse game. This tells me Apple and their carriers will be breaking unl;ocks with every software update to keep hackers busy.
‘Unlimited’ Data will be available on all tariffs over £35 a month (that’s the £35, £45 and £55 tariffs). They’ve also created agreements with WiFi providers, The Cloud which will allow roaming and they’ve sidegraded their wireless network to provide EDGE services (2.5G as opposed to 3G data). It’s available on an 18 month contract and ‘unlimited’ really means around 1400 pages per day (so, like every other instance of doublespeak from mobile carriers it’s not actually unlimited at all.)
Only about 30% of O2’s network will be EDGE at launch. That’s disappointing. So you’ll be stuck on GPRS and GSM data if you can’t find a wireless hotspot. Which means, in Northern Ireland, you’ll be on GSM data most of the time and paying for WiFi via BTOpenzone.
TheCloud are a big WiFi provider (7000 hotspots) in mainland UK though they have no presence in Northern Ireland which makes that particular feature absolutely worthless to us. Maybe they’ll pull their finger out and make it work locally. I’ve emailed them to ask!
From 1st October, O2 will be rolling out ‘Unlimited’ data packages to all of their tariffs, not just for people who bought iPhones. Half of me says “about time, playing catchup to some providers out there” while the other half of me says “this will likely make other companies perk up and be competitive!”
I’m not inspired by this development. So watch this space.
[UPDATE: Apple and O2 Press Release on the iPhone]
September 18th, 2007 at 5:56 am
[…] I’ve posted the announcement from Apple on the release of the iPhone on the Mac-Sys blog. It’s a mix of good news and bad. […]
September 26th, 2007 at 6:41 pm
Did you get any response to your e-mail about local wi-fi coverage? I’ve e-mailed them to ask but they told me to ‘phone their network coverage team which I haven’t done yet, as I’m not sure if they’ll know anything!
October 1st, 2007 at 7:25 am
They’ve said they have no coverage. But…you can roam from BTOpenzone.
Details not forthcoming.
October 10th, 2007 at 10:07 am
It’s disappointing to hear about the free WiFi access in Northern Ireland as this was ultimately the one feature I was looking forward to the most.
I emailed O2 myself to ask about the iPhone, regarding the outright cost of £269 as well as a monthly tariff. As you know with all other tariffs a phone handset is usually free and the cost is paid off over the minimum contract. I take it that this doesn’t include the iPhone and we’re going to have to fork out an initial £269 and then another £35/£45/£55 for the first month.
Also, since I’m kind of loyal to O2 anyway I was looking at their new Broadband service but it seems that this is going to be another rip off. O2 Ireland offer wireless broadband without the need for any landlines. It seems O2 UK require your BT landline when registering. The other question I put to O2 was whether the iPhone would work as modem to connect to my MacBook to work in tandem with their O2 Broadband service. Would it be worth my while to get the iPhone AND a broadband provider?
I got a very unhelpful generic reply for O2 which regurgitated the information on their site and which didn’t answer any of the questions I put to them.
October 26th, 2007 at 7:30 am
What a shame it’s only on o2. I bought myself out of my last 18 month contact with them as the coverage was “patchy” to say the least. If only it was on Vodafone……..
October 30th, 2007 at 9:50 am
I emailed O2’s CEO about a month ago regarding the wifi coverage in N. Ireland, and finally got a reply on October 26th. The rep who replied said they’d been finalising details with The Cloud, that 50 hotspots would be available at iPhone launch in Northern Ireland, and they’d be trying to expand that further as quickly as possible. One hotspot is showing up on their site now (Esporta in Holywood).