Updated: Apple Confirms O2 As Uk Iphone Partner

Apple and O2 announced today that O2, the leading wireless carrier in the UK, will be the exclusive UK carrier for Apple's iPhone when it makes its debut in the UK on November 9. "We're thrilled to be partnering with O2 to offer our revolutionary iPhone to UK customers," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "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."

Pricing & Availability

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 (US$540) - which compares with a US retail price of US$399 for the same model.

Three new iPhone tariffs will be available from O2 starting at £35 (US$70), 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.

Recent reports that O2 offered a huge 40% revenue share, compared to the 10% offered by AT&T in the USA have not been confirmed.

EDGE Support

The handset will still be based on the EDGE system, and will not be able to work on O2's 3G network. O2 is reported to have been upgrading its network to support EDGE over the past couple of months.

However, with rumoured higher royalty payments along with the costs of adding EDGE to a 3G capable network - and the fact that 3G is a cheaper platform to run voice/data calls over - there will be questions asked as to whether O2 is paying too high a price to get hold of, what is still a niche market smartphone.

Posted to the site on 18th September 2007