[3GScottishUser]

Mobile phone operator O2 is reported to have won the sought-after deal to sell Apple's iPhone in the UK.

Press reports said that O2 is set to sign an exclusive contract shortly and should have the new phones on sale in time for Christmas.

A spokesman for O2, which is owned by Spain's Telefonica, declined to comment on the reports.

More than 500,000 iPhones were sold in the first weekend in the US by AT&T, which has exclusive rights there.

Vodafone had previously been tipped as the likely winner of the contract.

The agreement with O2 is reported to include Apple receiving a continuing share of the revenue generated for the network operator.

The handsets are expected to be sold for about £300 and O2 will be hoping that the lure of the fashionable phone is enough to win customers from rival networks.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6272226.stm

[Ben]

Plausible, for sure, but I'm not sure where the BBC and the Guardian are getting this from.

The Guardian suggests that O2 will roll out EDGE in time for the launch. If it really were prepared to do that, I could understand how O2 could clinch the deal.

However, the US iPhone already has Vodafone and T-Mobile images in the OS software. That suggests that the handset has at least been tested on these networks and gives a pretty big wink to them as the prospective networks of choice.

Time will tell! Personally I'm hoping it wont go to O2, I'd prefer T-Mobile or Vodafone in terms of pricing and network quality respectively to land the deal.

Edit: Here's the source http://www.ft.com/cms/s/63efca12-2a6d-11dc-9208-000b5df10621.html - Vodafone's share price already taking a beating, just on the speculation! :o

[gorilla]

Maybe, just maybe, O2 will get the 3g version of the iphone and their 3g network will show off its capabilities. Oh wait a minute....O2 + data = network failure, device malfunction.

Seriously though O2's existing 2g network will allow users to make phone calls and send sms. What more will an iphone user demand? Honestly now.

Let's not pretend that O2 will unleash a great data tariff in conjuction with the iphone. Just exactly how much data can you download over 'EDGE' if they even have it by lanuch?

From what I can see, the iphone will be more effective over wifi, so is the network that important?

(waiting to be flamed now!)

[3GScottishUser]

If this comes to pass it'll be a very shrewd move by 02 as the i-phone will be perceived as much more than a mobile phone. In one leap 02 could become the market leader delivering content direct to i-phones.

It looks like it's going to be a hybrid that will drive the demand for mobile content and the tortoise network now appears to have a supercharged advantage, regardless of the technology employed.

Amazing how things can change in such a short space of time. 02 won't have to sell the concept of downloads either as Apple and the i-pod have made that easy for customers to understand. I suspect il'll be a hard struggle for the others to compete with the simplicity and branding of the i-phone concept. Perhaps it'll fall to Nokia or others to develop a simple service to compete with the i-phone.

[miffed]

hmm , I'd rather it were on T-mobile, but it could have been a lot worse I suppose (i.e vodafone or Orange)

Hopefully , O2 will launch some kind of Unlimited Data package to co-incide with the iPhone
I get the impression that the iPhone will encourage data over wi-fi rather than via the network , which IMO defeats the object a little , but thats life

The general feeling I am getting from nosing around on the net , is that people are generally disappointed with the iPhone

(here is some exclusive research I conducted )

http://www.googlefight.com/index.php?lang=en_GB&word1=iphone+disappointment&word2=iphone+contentment+
Shame , but I can see this being a flop in the UK , OK ,so o2 don't have the greatest Data capabilities , but then neither does the iPhone !

[Ben]

Oh, I think the iPhone is going down pretty well stateside. There's disappointment elsewhere in the world, to be sure, and for US customers with rubbish AT&T coverage, but those that have iPhone's seem to be responding well.

If they really have sold half a million already then I see no reason why over here, where we're far more mobile evolved, the phenomenon wont be repeated.

This development could really launch the new O2 after years of separating itself from BT and finally finding itself a suitor to carry it forward. With 'The O2' and the iPhone they'd be in an enviable position of gaining and retaining the 'younger', more tech-savvy generation of mobile users/music lovers.

The most shocking thing that all the papers should be writing about is that I would end up with an O2 contract - how the fook did that happen! :)

[Hands0n]

(waiting to be flamed now!)

Errr, that simply does not happen on Talk3G, ever. :) We're way too nice and cuddly to allow that to happen.

[Hands0n]

In all seriousness - I will simply not countenance the thought of an iPhone on an O2 contract. If it means I have to do without then so be it, much as I'd like otherwise. My recent experiences with O2's network did nothing to enthuse me, and we simply could not get off their contract quickly enough.

I'll be damned if I'm spending £300 on a mobile phone only to have my enjoyment of it sabbotaged by O2's notwork. :(

[Hands0n]

Gawd, I'm depressed :( Now I know how Marvin feels :o This week's rumours have done nothing to improve my humour :mad: The thought that it could even be true :eek: does nothing for me at all.

So reading this on El Reg made the week complete ..... crap ;)



Speculation was rife this week that O2 was about to sign a deal for UK distribution of the hypefest which is the Apple iPhone, though on Monday it seemed that Vodafone would be getting the deal, and prior to that those in the know were saying Carphone Warehouse was a dead cert.

Make no mistake; Apple will be talking to all those people, as well as the other operators, and indeed anyone who will listen to their pitch that previous business models are dead, and the iPhone represents the future.

Right now any UK deal is not beyond the round-of-golf stage; possibly being discussed in a few boardrooms, but nothing more than that. Part of the problem is the iPhone's lack of 3G capability which, in the UK, is a political problem as much as a technical one.

Network operators spent billions rolling out 3G, and even now are spending millions more deploying HSDPA, so to turn round and say that EDGE is basically good enough would be something of a slap in the face to the shareholders who are funding those deployments. Which leaves the British waiting for the promised 3G version of the iPhone; possibly this year, but more likely 2008.

The only possible exception to this would be Carphone Warehouse, or one of the other MVNOs; who don't have the legacy of an investment in 3G, though few have the retail infrastructure that Apple would want.

The idea that any UK network operator has agreed a launch date, and retail price, for the iPhone is pure fantasy. Such things won't be sorted out until much closer to any launch, and will depend on market conditions at that time, but it's much more fun to speculate and if you can report such details as fact (as some news services have done) then all the better.

Article Source: The Register (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/07/06/iphone_not_coming_to_uk/)



Oh well, I suppose there's always next week ....... and the week after that .... and ...... and ......... and I can't help feeling that the closing comments are bit of "pot, kettle, black".