back to article O2 prices up the latest iPhone

O2 has confirmed its pricing on the new iPhone, and will give away the 3G version of Apple's baby for £45 a month from the 11th of July. Punters who only want to spend £30 a month will have to shell out £99 on the 8GB model, and £159 for 16GB of storage. Even those prepared to spend £45 a month will have to find £59 for 16GB, …

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  1. Andy Kay
    Jobs Horns

    iPhone 2 for £5?

    Didnt Jobs say the iPhone 2.0 will be $9.99 for iPod touch owners? No news from O2 about this?

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    How did O2 spend on boring us with TV advertising...

    Wow - O2 as spent so much money in the UK advertising the iPhone and they may no longer have exclusive selling rights!

    I suspect existing users will have their 18 month contract extended by another 18 months for a free exhange/upgrade. So actually it is a 24 month contract!

  3. This post has been deleted by its author

  4. gautam
    Paris Hilton

    Why Bother?

    Why cant one just buy it off-plan from USA for $199,bring it over, have it unlocked/jailbroken and use it to hearts delight? All this talk abt monthly ripoff plans and onerous conditions make it still an expensive toy and disguting (except fo Jesus fanbois)

    Frankly, passing by the O2 shop the other day, no one gave 2 hoots about the iphone corner and were more interested in the new range of Nokias and Samsungs.

    I can see a flood on Ebay now !

    As I read it somewhere, its not as life changing and momentous event as made out to be.

    Paris because even she can see the absurdity of it all.

  5. Dave Walker
    Jobs Halo

    PAYG

    The interesting thing is that O2 are now offering a pay-as-you-go SIM option for those people who want to upgrade, but not waste a phone...

    Looks like Apple have finally woken up to the real world

    Stevie - cos he's answered all the critics

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    T-Mobile UK...

    ... Please say yes, please say yes, please say yes...

  7. TeeCee Gold badge
    Happy

    O2 honest about performance?

    You'd almost think that they were afraid of something...........

  8. Robert Flatters
    Jobs Horns

    Rip off

    So O2 are going to charge £45 a month for a iphone 8GB, why dont they just reduce it to £35 month they will get alot more punter then, but hay they have to make their money back somehow. I will be waiting for several months, to let the dust to settle before i folk out 100 notes.

  9. Mage Silver badge

    EDGE vs HSDPA

    1.8Mbps or 3.6Mbps HSDPA are 1 person with perfect signal.

    10 simultaneous users on HSDPA and you can be looking at slower than EDGE speeds.

    Honesty about HSDPA performance.

    EDGE can in theory have 1 to 6 people with no change in speed.

  10. Jamie
    Linux

    Free nothing

    First you will have to pay for a phone.

    Then you have to sign up to an 18month contract

    And to top it off you cannot install what you want on your own phone.

    Yeah for free marketplace and the ideas of consumerism.

  11. Mr G Ninja

    The price of selling my soul ....

    is suddenly cheaper than I thought.

    N95 needs upgraded come october. The N96 looked the safe bet until steve pulled this out of his magic khakis last night.

    There was no doubt that iPhone 1 was very beta. Lovely in what it did but sorely lacking in what it didn't.

    iPhone 2 looks spot on though. Can't believe I'm saying that.

  12. Matt Clarke
    Thumb Down

    No prizes for being an early adopter

    I was an early adopter of the first generation iPhone and paid £269 for it on the day of release. I've been spending about £50 a month (based on a £35 contract with insurance) since November, so O2 and Apple have had about £600 from me.

    A month or two back, O2 slashed the price of the iPhone to £169. Now it's been dropped to £99. Some people on contracts over £35 are getting free upgrades, yet those of us who paid £100 more than everyone else are being asked to pay £99! How annoying... it would be nice if O2 could let us all have a free upgrade too.

  13. whitespacephil

    more free storage than they could ever fill with music?

    "more free storage than they could ever fill with music"? Really? So all those iPods with more than 16GB of storage lie unfilled?

    80GB 5th Generation full without even starting on applications.

  14. Darren Coleman
    Jobs Horns

    No more cheap unlocks

    The most significant thing to note is that Apple has ditched it's model of allowing consumers to buy the handset and take it home to unlock, now they're not even going to be selling it in Apple stores at all - you'll have to go to O2 or Carphone Warehouse (CPW) and sign the contract instore.

    On balance therefore unless you're one of the minority of people who are looking to take out a brand new contract with O2 (and pay at least £35 a month, the £30/pm 75 mins/125 txts contract isn't even worth thinking about) you'll end up paying more for this than the first one.

    If you were thinking of buying one to take home and immediately jailbreak/unlock to use on the operators network of your choice are s**t outta luck.

  15. Peter Batten
    Thumb Down

    £30 a month tarff is rubbish

    I must say the new £30 a month tariff is rather rubbish. True it includes "unlimited" data transfer and wi-fi. But the bundled minutes and texts are rather low IMO.

    75mins, and 125 texts. Where as for £5 more you get 600mins, and 500 texts. I really think o2 could of done better here. 100 mins, and 300 texts would make the deal more attractive. But then I guess o2 really don't want people on the £30pm tariff anyway. Consider it more of a stepping stone to the more expensive ones.

  16. Cosmo
    Go

    Almost getting worthit

    I don't use my phone as heavily as I used to.... but if I paid £99 for a £30 18-month contract, then for a shiny new 3G iPhone, that's pretty reasonable! Kudos for Apple not doing the normal $199 = £199 thing.

  17. Wonderkid
    Jobs Halo

    iPhone for all it's wonders is a shopping machine only...

    ...Apple have developed the most technologically advanced and sexy gadget ever - no doubt. But if you pay attention, dear Reg Reader, you'll notice how clever Apple are - as a business: a) No FM radio, so you cannot listen to one second of free music or talk radio - and perhaps even discover some music to purchase on iTunes. And even if there WAS a radio to discover said music on, b) you cannot as yet purchase music on the iPhone, you still need iTunes on a Mac or PC. c) The lack of a removable battery is a major flaw for mission critical applications, where you may need to swap out on the fly. What if the battery fails altogether? (As happened with two in my MacBook?) I type this listening to the radio on my N95 8G after having used the 5MP auto focus camera to take some nice pics that I can upload to Flickr at the click of a button. I so wanted iPhone 2, but it's simply a shopping machine - not a do it all device. Apple? For iPhone 3, I want a) Home/Today screen, like Windows Mobile and Symbian (all your tasks, apps etc on home screen), b) Stereo Bluetooth c) FM radio d) Dock in the box, not an extra! e) 5MP auto-focus camera with dual LED flash f) VGA res video recording g) Front camera so I can video conf when phone is mounted on the dash in the car (with auto switch off of incoming video to avoid distracting driver.) h) Faster wireless, such as 7.2MB HSDPA so I can download content quickly and enjoy faster SatNav operation. Then, I can shop AND have useful device! (Disclaimer: iPhone is brilliant, but not good enough for us one gadget is enough Europeans.) Good Steve because I feel guilty being negative.

  18. Mick Sheppard

    Pay as you go

    Carphone Warehouse hint at the iPhone being available on a pay-as-you-go contract. No hints on pricing and whether its still locked to O2 though.

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    lordy - about time: £ does not equal $

    O2 (no matter what else anyone might say) - thankyou.

    Apple (ditto) - thankyou.

    Thankyou thankyou thankyou.... for actually keeping your word and pricing fairly and to a correct uk/us pricing rate.

    To those deeply irritating people who always respond to Brits who complain about the grossly unfair pricing with "don't buy it then", i do believe this is a case of - we didnt - now watch what happens when you actually price properly.

    You deserve all the success you will get.

    Paris - because even could get that they were ripping us off before.

  20. oxo

    Can you find out -

    How much on Payg? The O2 website says it will be offered.

  21. Richard

    Pay as You Go prices?

    What about O2's pay as you go prices for the handset and tariff ???

    How much data is actually used by the average iphone user a month? 1 Gb, 3 Gb?

    So would it be cheaper to buy an iphone handset on Pay & Go and then swap it for, say, a £10/month for 1Gb of 3G with Three ?? As an existing 3 USB modem user I can currently get another SIM with 1Gb of 3G for only £5/month ! I'm not interested in voice!

    There is also a "SIM unlocker" device which only costs £15 and supposedly works with the original iphone ... so might work with the new iphone as well ... hmm, many possibilities for cheap iphone service me wonders 8-)

  22. RichyS
    Paris Hilton

    HSPDA?

    On the basis that O2 were (or were nearly) fined by Ofcom for not rolling out their 3G network quickly enough, one has to wonder just how much of O2's network runs at HSDPA speeds.

    Maybe they're just beiong truthful about having by far the worst 3G network in the UK.

    Paris, 'cos she's slow too.

  23. Ginger
    Flame

    twice as fast

    I think it's just because different networks have deployed different HSDPA features so while some go to 7.2Mbps (e.g. UK Voda) others will only go to 1.8Mbps. Nowhere have I seen any details on the iPhone capability, so I would assume that it's not particularly quick (1.8 or maybe even 1.2)

  24. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    O2 EDGE x13

    O2's EDGE network is 135Kbps.

    I think Apple say 'twice as fast' because it doesn't make the old iPhone sound so bad as if they said 'thirteen times as fast, which, incidentally, is what a large number of the phones in Europe have been using the whole time...'

  25. Thomas Jerome

    Jesus & Mary Phone

    "...more free storage than they could ever fill with music."

    Boo-locks. My 30GB Creative Zen can barely contain my burgeoning music library. An overpaid 20-something media node needs somewhere to keep all his Slint studio outtakes and This Heat b-sides.

  26. J

    2 year deal?

    I thought it was a 2 year exclusivity agreement?

    Although IIRC, AT&T in the US is a five year agreement

  27. Stuart Cherrington
    Dead Vulture

    Full whack

    I'm on the £35/month fee and I was hoping that O2 would introduce a sliding scale of discounts, but NOOOO. As I'm a cheap skate I have to fork out £99 for the new fone.

    B@stards

    The dead bird as I'd like to kill people at O2 or give them the Bird!

  28. Richard Tobin

    PAYG

    The biggest change is that O2 say they will have a pay-as-you-go option, though they haven't said how much it will cost for either the phone or the data. Jobs supposedly said that the worldwide maximum price for the 8GB iPhone will be $199, but I wouldn't be surprised if they weasel out of that.

  29. Tim
    Thumb Down

    Innovators, all is not lost.

    If you bought your iPhone 1 in the past month, you can get a free (probably with a renewed contract) iPhone 2 replacement. If you've had it longer than that, you might as well get comfortable with it. I'm so glad I went for the n95. So much free software to download and install, accelerometer and gps as standard and a top of the range camera!

  30. Steve

    @Andy Kay

    "Didnt Jobs say the iPhone 2.0 will be $9.99 for iPod touch owners?"

    That's a software upgrade - just gives the touch (or iphone 1.0) the ability to open Works/Office files, improved calculator, better email client etc - it doesn't give you a whole iphone or hardware upgrades for 3G/GPS.

  31. Chad H.
    Unhappy

    @ wonderkid

    you havent needed a of to download music onto the iPhone since frimware 1.1 Itunes has allowed you to download songs with just wifi, and then, if you want, transfer it onto the of from the phone.

    You still need a computer to activate the phone, but once done, never again.

  32. Cathal Gantly
    Thumb Up

    Pay & Go

    iPhone will be available on P&G... it's on the o2 website.

    As an o2 P&G user, this is good news for me. The handset prices are very competitive for P&G customers, who typically have to forget about having the latest and greatest handsets or else pay huge sums of cash to get them... if they are available. I fancied an iPhone Mk.1, but not on the original terms. This will give me the phone I want without paying fortunes to get it.

    Why are they doing this? Well, there will be quite a few older iPhones being upgraded, and this gives them a new lease of life. Secondly, the gold rush is over. Most people who were prepared to pay full whack for an iPhone AND sign up to an expensive contract have done so. Think of the teenage market for this. Sign your kid up to a premium contract and pay £269 for a phone? Eh, no! But for £99 and a P&G sim, happy parents and happy kids. Beats an iPod touch!

    Roll on July 11th...

  33. Anonymous Coward
    Jobs Horns

    @ all you early adopters

    "What about existing iPhone owners?" they wail piteously.

    That's the price you pay... it can hardly come as a surprise that you're being stiffed, so bend over and drop 'em for Stevie.

  34. Anonymous Coward
    Boffin

    @What about existing iPhone owners

    "What about existing iPhone owners" - they could just get a life ..... Glasses cos you should have seen this comming .....

  35. Alastair

    I reckon I'll pick up an iPhone v1

    I'm taking a road trip across the US this summer, and will be in town on July 11th... of course, you've got to sign a 2 year contract to get your grubby mitts on the new phone, so I think I'll keep an eye on eBay and snap up a mark 1 from an Apple fanboy that's upgrading.

    The new model doesn't strike me as that impressive- the GPS isn't really GPS (it's 'assisted'- i.e. using cell towers and the like) and if anything it looks a bit worse than the old model. 3G, sure, but I've only got a limited use for that. EDGE will be enough to download my (text) e-mails and such.

    Now, if it had a better camera with video or something like that, I'd be interested.

  36. Alex Johnson
    Jobs Halo

    @The people who don't read before posting

    By all means have strong opinions, but is it too much to ask that you actually have some idea of the facts?

    @everyone: isn't it better than a kick in the teeth that the iPhone 2.0 is cheaper here than in the US (£99 inc. VAT = $193 ex. sales tax) and the £35 tariff has remained the same while AT&T increased the US one by $10? I know, I'm not leaping from the rooftops either but it is as I say better than a kick in the teeth. O2? You done alright.

    @Andy Kay: it's free for iPhone 1.0 owners. Only iPod Touch users need to pay, if they want it. Why would O2 be bothered?

    @Tim Spence: they did, which was in the article and on O2's website hours earlier.

    @Jamie: what part of the iPhone SDK and being able to add applications, many of which are free, are you struggling with?

    @Matt Clark: you will find that the £100 you're being asked to pay on the £35 tariff works out cheaper than the extra £10 a month you'd need to pay over 18 months to get a "free" phone.

    @Peter Batten: so get the £35 contract! The £30 tariff is new and obviously aimed at people who don't chat but want the email.

    @Wonderkid: a) iTunes STORE has been available on the iPhone for at least 6 months. No PC needed. b) have you noticed how all the battery bleaters shut up? How you are the only person to bring this up in this thread, when last year at the 1.0 announcement this was the most prominent objection? That is because it turned out to be a non-issue. It also makes for a smaller device. c) clearly you want an N95 or N96. Or a Japanese phone. You like phones that tick all the boxes. Fair enough. iPhone fans like phones that are a pleasure to use. Also fair enough. We're in different markets.

    Be a hater if you want but come on, take the 30 seconds to make sure you have your facts straight.

  37. Anonymous Coward
    Gates Halo

    PAYG Prices

    Might be a little clue on the o2 website on PAYG prices. If you look at the business tariffs, there is a Best For Business PAYU, which is a minimum line rental, no minutes type option.

    On this, the phones are 85+VAT and 135 plus VAT (i.e. £99 and £159 inclusive). Here's the sucker punch, though.

    The iPhone "Bolt-On", the data pack which actually makes the thing useful is £15 plus VAT, or £17.63 on top of that.

    I suspect o2 will pull a similar type of stunt on PAYG. I'm guessing £200 or £250 for the phone (the above deal does include 11.91 plus VAT line rental on a 24 month tariff). The killer will be a £15 or £20 pm pack to activate the data, at which point the £35 tariff with 600 mins and 500 texts and a cheaper phone will look quite attractive.

  38. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    @Wonderkid

    "Apple have developed the most technologically advanced and sexy gadget ever - no doubt."

    Err... no. Sexiest maybe- especially compared to anything that Nokia make. But not the most technologically advanced, even for phones. Except in display (and the resultant improvements in UI you couldn't do without multitouch). For introducing multitouch phone displays they should be applauded- but it's not THAT impressive and certainly not a massive leap over similarly sized, similarly specced smartphone PDA things that have been out for a while. Hell, my phone's a little bulkier but it's been out for like 2 years now and it's got everything the iPhone2 has built in*. And I can use it on any network and it's got a built in hardware keyboard!

    *Technically. The GPS chips' aerial pins have been inexplicably shorted to a groundplane on the PCB but it IS there so if I could be bothered I'd probably be able to get it working again! Also, no multitouch. Though you don't need it with the power of click-and-hold and context-sensitive buttons!

    Mines' the one with "Autostereoscopic mobiles phones with eyetracking FTW!" on it in large, incredibly geekiness-enhancing, script.

  39. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    Can't think of one

    #1 - 9.99 is for the software upgrade, not the device!

    16gb "more storage that you'll need for music"? The half of my music library on this PC is 54gb, the rest on the server is double that.

    And, I shall not be buying an iPhone until I can install apps I have written which did not cost me a Mac, ADC membership and other licensing fees. Eclipse FTW.

    Nice to see Apple got off their high-horse and decided to follow the market instead of trying to tell it what was going to happen. Wonder if O2 still have to pay part of the monthly fee to Apple?

  40. geebee

    WRONG

    TO Cathal Gantly

    Sorry, the PAYG Iphone 2.0 will NOT be £99....the price has yet to be finalised but will be at least £250.

    Love my Iphone 1.0, and a jailbroken 2.0 will be fantastic.

    Join #iphone on irc.osx86.hu for all the unlocking/jailbreaking details and news.

  41. Anonymous Coward
    Jobs Halo

    the Apps are better

    at least the Apps are now much more like it. worth another $10 for iTouch users? I think THIS time its worth the $10 for the upgrade. the iPhone 2.0 hardware is much more like it...but as others have said, its still not in the same general gadget league as other devices on the market - it has a big touch screen and thats pretty much it.

    also note, they are restricting, still, what Apps can run on what network - and if you get O2, Orange etc they wont let you throw VOIP willy-nilly on the 3G.

    unlike eg 3 - who let people use the data network.

  42. Stuart Frost

    Early Adopters

    How come early adopters are complaining.

    If you buy any phone on contract, you don't get to terminate the contract early when a new model comes out but because Apple announce a new phone, people criticise them and O2 and think they should be able to upgrade with no penalty.

  43. Tom
    Jobs Halo

    Its exactly what I wanted

    I'm getting one as soon as I can, as are many of the guys at work - the pricing is just too good for a device of that quality. Its a great platform to write apps for (already got a touch), hopefully the jailbreak wont be too long away.

    As for current iphone owners being shafted, how many low-value N95 contract-holders got free upgrades to the N96? People expect too much, if you didn't want to pay early adopter prices and tie yourself to an 18 month contract, then perhaps you shouldn't have. Moaning at O2/Apple for not prostrating themselves infront of you for having the temerity to make a new device is just pathetic.

  44. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    Lucky UK?

    £30 a month and £99

    in Ireland it;s free and all you have to do is sign up to a €100 (£79) a month 18 month contract.

    My next phone is a dial sim Unlocked smart phone with built in qwerty keyboard and analog TV tuner on eBay from Hong Kong

    Hand in pocket cos yet again the Mobile companies screw the little guy.

  45. Joe K
    Dead Vulture

    You forgot something

    PAYG is £259

  46. Marc Lawrence
    Joke

    But no-one spotted the typo

    [Quote]You might need the caculator[/quote].

    Yep nothing better for the Jesus Phone 2.0. ;-)

  47. Alex McKenna

    Applications Anonymous

    The whole world is waiting for the applications "Anonymous Coward" has written on his PC ! Like hell they are.

    Get a life, get a Mac.

    Alex, Manchester, UK

  48. Richard
    Thumb Up

    @ Alex Johnson

    Many thanks Alex. I thought I was going to have to collate all the points you so accurately covered. Thanks for saving me the effort. I don't get why some folk will go to the effort of posting a daft point or question without the most cursory of reading around the topic.

  49. Bruce Robinson
    Unhappy

    O2 HSPDA Coverage

    Before we all jump up and down with joy about 3G access, take quick look at the coverage you'll actually be getting........it isn't much to write home about especially if you live outside of London.

    http://www.webmap.o2.co.uk/

  50. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Global Launch??

    Didnt bother with the first one, as i'm not an apple fan......

    ... a little more interested in the V2 tho.

    Here in the Uk it's due to be released on July 11th. Anyone know the release date in the USA??? (i'm off there in a few weeks, and would give me a chance to at least play with it... :) )

    Paul

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