iPhone UK – Everything you need to know about the UK iPhone
July 31st, 2007
The UK iPhone went on sale on November the 9th, and the it costs £269, plus a contract with O2.
The plans will be unlimited data, costing £35, £45 and £55 per month, and the iPhone will also come with free Wi-Fi with access to over 7000 Wi-Fi hotspots around the UK.
You will have to sign up for an 18 months contract. There is a limit: 1,400 internet pages as part of fair usage agreement.
So lets have a look at what this revolutionary mobile device will cost us.
First of there is the £269 purchase price, next you have to sign up to an 18 month contract with O2.
The cheapest one available is £35 per month, so the total cost of the contract over the 18 months is £630, add on your £269 purchase price and the total cost of iPhone ownership in the UK is £899.
That is a lot for a mobile phone, especially since mobiles in the UK are usually free or at low cost, but this is no ordinary mobile phone.
Is the iPhone UK worth the investment ? that remains to be seen, it has had amazing reviews in the US so far, lets hope that they don’t drop the price here in the UK as soon as they did in the US, leaving a lot of the early iPhone adopters unhappy.
Updated 11/11/2007
I would recommend if you are buying an iPhone in the UK you do not buy it from the Carphone Warehouse, I have written about my experience with buying it from them here.
Posted in Apple, Technology News, iPhone | 
Tags: application, Gadgets, iPhone, mobile, mobile phone, PDA, phone, watch
Wonder if they’re still saying you can have it on vodafone too now that it seems O2 have been announced as the network for it in the UK?
i don’t think this is accurate as you said, its more likely that mobileshop.com are just taking pre-orders and being safe on the release date (as not to annoy anyone) and also generating a bit of press at the same time
can you buy an iphone in usa and use it uk with uk sim etc?
would it be any cheaper?
I think by the time you get it back to the UK, it will cost you more, as it is about $400 (about £200) in the US at the moment, then you have the shipping which will probably cost $50 (£25) then you need to get it unlocked to use on any network.
with it being on O2 for the uk launch, i assume it will accept any O2 sim then, does that mean i could use my O2 pay and go sim?
or will it accept the sim but not allow me to make or recieve calls?
Hi Kane
I am not sure to be honest, lets hope that it will be compatible with any O2 sim, but I suspect you will have to sign up to their 18 month contract, otherwise you could just buy the iPhone, and then just use it with your existing sim card.
I hope it will work with any o2 sim, as I don’t really want to sign up to an 18 month contract myself, especially with the possibility of a 3G iPhone coming in the future.
I am debating whether to get mine unlocked when i buy it, and then just maybe buy an o2 sim so I am not tied into a long contract.
For people with existing contracts with O2, here is some information which you may find useful, as there is very little on the O2 pages and on the Apple website that goes into people with current contracts.
From:
To: Key Matthew
Subject: iPhone for existinng O2 Customers?
Hi Matthew,
I was very impressed with your presentation at Apple’s Regent Street Store last Tuesday morning. There was a question that yourself and Steve Jobs didn’t cover though and that I can’t find a clear answer for on the O2 website: I am an existing O2 customer about 6 months into an 18 month contract. I currently pay £35 a month and have an O2 XDA phone (which I love by the way, great product). I wish to purchase an iPhone when it is released on November 9th, can I simply swap from my existing contract onto one of the new iPhone contracts? It says on the O2 website that existing customers can keep their numbers but it doesn’t make it clear if that is for customers whose contracts have expired or those who are halfway through a contract.
Congratulations on bringing the iPhone to O2 and thank you for providing a great mobile phone service, I have always had excellent customer service when I have needed it and get excellent coverage throughout the UK.
Regards,
This is a reply off Mark Stevenson, O2 Marketing Dept.
Pointer,
Hello, as Matthew says the top level answer is Yes.
To clarify if you were an existing O2 customer before we announced the iPhone – only on O2 deal – so before the 18th September, you will be able to exit your existing contract and take your current mobile phone number (mpn) ontto a new iPhone contract, without any termination charges on your existing contract, irrespective where you are, in the tenure of that contract.
However, you will not be able to move your existing contract onto the iPhone – you have to start a new 18 month contract, on one of the new unique O2 iPhone tariffs – that combine great value minute and text allownaces with unlimited bundles of Data and Wifi included in the monthly subscription.
There are 3 O2 iPhone tariffs – £35, £45 & £55, which I am sure you have already seen on the internet.
Hope this helps, .
Best
Mark
Just got my iPhone, I thought I would test out the site on it and it looks good.
I will not be purchasing an iPhone until such time as it is available across networks. I have been a faithful customer of Apple products since 1984 when Apple launched the 512 Mac, and have used Apple Mac exclusively ever since, both at home and at work.
I find it worrying that Apple now seem to be following in the footsteps of Microsoft.
Although I really like the iPhone and appreciate it’s revolutionary design and interface, I will not buy on until it is available on my Orange network. I do not like the way that Apple has closed the market with its exclusive deal with O2, and I do not like O2 as a service provider, not least because the have poor coverage where I live.
If Apple is starting to go down this closed route with its products (think iTunes) then it could be facing, and deservedly so, negative profiling in the public eye, as well as losing the support of its faithful customer base that has helped it ride out almost being wiped out by Microsoft in the past.
Let’s hope Steve Jobs wakes up on this one and realises that Apple’s long term success and survival has been built on its being different in attitude to its competitors, by offering and open choice in the marketplace, not closing off options in order attain a better bottom-line each year. But, beware. Apple’s current attitude may bring short-term reward, but over time will change the public perception of the company to one of ‘just another greedy market player’. Another Microsoft.
Another point. Since the USDollar is plummeting against the UKPound, why are we not seeing this reflected in the price of the iPhone and Apple products in general? Apple always had a fair pricing policy that meant that its products worldwide were sold at roughly the same price, once local tax was taken in account.
As a long term customer I am very disappointed.