- Provider: O2. Appears to be no pay-as-you-go option, unlike the States. Also unlike the States, a fair usage plan – however, O2’s reference to “1400 web pages a day” indicates a pretty decent daily cap, especially since it’s still EDGE.
- Price: £269, plus £35/£45/£55 a month plan including said ‘unlimited’ data. Does include free access to The Cloud’s wi-fi points, however. Comparing to the US prices: our plans are over-expensive as normal, but if you remove VAT and then convert,
£269/1.175 = £228.94 = $461.49
which is really pretty acceptable on the usual rip-off Britain scale, especially when compared with that of the PS3 (US PS3 price, $499=£247.54; UK price still £425, albeit with an extra controller and one of those copies of the giant enemy crab game Sony are trying desperately to get rid of.)
- Phone: Exactly the same as the US iPhone, only with the new firmware so iTunes Wi-Fi Store included. EDGE and Wi-Fi. To be honest, since hardly anyone with a 3G phone actually uses any of the 3G features on their phones, Apple’s use of a 2G/EDGE/Wi-Fi combination as a battery-saving measure is little short of genius. No doubt a UMTS/HSDPA iPhone will come out eventually, however, once smart people at electronics companies finally work out how to reduce its energy consumption.
- Contract: 18 months. Again, fairly normal. That month-on-month cost is pretty hefty, however, although it does include unlimited data (not common here, excepting T-Mobile.)
- Overall: Let’s wait and see if anything interesting happens in France or Germany, or other European areas where unlocked phones are a bit more common. If you want one and you don’t mind O2, however, then there’s no reason you shouldn’t go for it.
iPhone UK launch, deconstructed
F L I C K E R I N G / F R A M E 