6 article comments

O2 and Carphone Warehouse to offer iPhone for free

 

LONDON - Mobile phone operator O2 and retailer Carphone Warehouse are to sell Apple's new 3G 8GB iPhone for £99 to users on a £30 a month tariff, but consumers willing to pay a higher tariff will be given the phone for free.

Unusually for electronics items, the UK price is no higher than its US equivalent of $199, the price announced yesterday at the product's launch by Apple.

UK users wishing to pay a £45 or £75 monthly tariff will receive the 8GB 3G iPhone for free. The original handset had been priced at £269 when it first launched, then it was cut in April to £169.

The 16GB 3G iPhone will cost £159 on the £30 tariff and the existing £35 tariff, or £59 on the £45 tariff. It will come free if the user chooses the £75 tariff. The old model was originally priced at £329.

The price reductions are more agressive in the UK than the US, where Apple has reduced the 8GB model from $399 to $199 and the 16GB model from $499 to $299.

The phones will go on sale in the US, UK and 20 other countries on July 11.

At yesterday's product launch, Apple chief executive Steve Jobs admitted that the high price, which resulted in Apple selling just 5.4m iPhones since their June 2007 launch, had been a mistake.

He said: "The number one reason why people didn't buy iPhones is because they just couldn't afford it."

Apple has set a target of 10m global iPhone sales this year. The new model's 3G capability is predicted to lead to much better take-up in Europe.

Jobs revealed that Apple had heavily tested the new model with corporate users and will be making an effort to target them.

The iPhone 3G includes more corporate-friendly software, making company email, calendars and contacts available to users.

Despite the cut in the price of the handset in the US, there were gripes about the requirement for a two-year contract with AT&T, on which monthly charges have been increased from $60 to $70.

Apple is also clamping down on people's ability to buy the handsets and unlock them to use on any network. Phones will now have to be activated in store.

Vodafone has won the contract to sell it in many countries, including Italy, Portugal, Australia and New Zealand.

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All Comments

David Goldie - 10 June 2008

Too rich for my tastes, it is a cracking phone though www.stuff.tv/Review/Apple-iPhone-3G

David Murphy - 10 June 2008

The iPhone 3G will be free on O2 if you are on the right tariff. See story here:

http://www.mobilemarketingmagazine.co.uk/2008/06/iphone-3g-for-f.html

Amanda Harrison

Amanda Harrison - 11 June 2008

I'm switching to 02 from years at Vodafone to get the iPhone

Kim Pham - 11 June 2008

This is funny. I was listening to clips of jobs speaking at the 3G iphone unveiling. People were oohing and aaahing at the fact that it was 3G, better battery life and a standard headphone jack. Yes there are a couple more features BUT, hardly bleeding edge technology. These features (and more) have existed within other phones like the Nokia N95 for a very very long time. The Nokia N96 is even going to feature freeview tv. IMO its not the price that's deterring folk from getting an iphone, there are simply better handsets out there from Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and LG.

joe woollen - 11 June 2008

As someone who has had "bleeding" edge tech phones, they ultimately work poorly. It's not about the technology, but the usability which has always been the key to Apple success. I'm getting one.

Awalla Fa'Shagba

Awalla Fa'Shagba - 13 June 2008

Thank you Kim for making the fact that the N95 already is a better phone even clearer now the N96 is due out :)

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