O2 to launch iPhone tomorrow?
UK network operators fight to the death for the iPhone
Apple fan boys may soon discover which UK network provider they must switch to in order to secure an iPhone. An online source has reported that O2 may tomorrow announce a deal with Apple for the much-hyped handset.
Apple's iPhone: would you switch networks to get one?
The deal is thought to be announced at a press event taking place tomorrow at Apple's Regent Street store, London, where a selection of industry hacks have been invited to attend, with the exception of yours truly.
O2 is believed to have clinched the deal right at the last minute, with T-Mobile and Vodafone being its closest rivals. However, it's also claimed that O2 may have to share the limelight with Carphone Warehouse, which may have won the rights to be the sole independent retailer for the handset on O2's behalf and could see the network operator forced to pay a revenue share the store.
CW's name has been absent from iPhone stories of late, but it was among the first European names to be associated with the Apple handset, at the time of the iPhone's June launch.
But will it all be worth it for O2? The Guardian newspaper reckons that O2 will have to hand over around 40 per cent of any revenues it makes from customers' use of the iPhone directly to Apple.
The latest news in the ongoing iPhone saga correlates with information gathered by our moles deep within the O2 network, who have already claimed that the iPhone would be announced by the end of this month, to coincide with the end of parent company Telefonica's current financial quarter.
O2 is also believed to be busily upgrading its network to support Edge, the faster-than-GPRS-but-not-3G data technology. This could point to the arrival of the current version of the iPhone - although, sadly, not a UMTS version.
The next stage in Apple's European roll-out of the handset could be to launch the iPhone with network suppliers in each country day-by-day. For example, it's been reported that an iPhone agreement with T-Mobile German could be unveiled on Wednesday and a similar deal with Orange France on Thursday.
COMMENTS
I don't know ...
... why everyone keeps saying "supposedly" O2 ... They've got adverts out on Google for it !
"The iPhone with O2 - The iPhone is exclusively available on O2 from Nov 9, Pre-register now!"
http://www.o2.co.uk/iPhone/
Used it and thought "meh"
I've used an iPhone for a little while a few weeks back (couldn't use the phone part as it was in the UK) but got to use the rest of it and after the must try it factor I was left thinking, "This isn't really all that."
I won't be buying one, there are better products for less money out there simple as that. The iPhone isn't bad, it's just not as great as the Distortion Field of Cupertino makes out (it might be great in the USA as they don't have the neat phones we have in Europe) or the rashly released reviews that have been knocked up in a hurry on the device's release.
After an hour or so I was bored with it and it probably did less than my w810i does with its Java application support. Multi touch shows promise, and the screen was great but the on screen keyboard... I'm yet to be convinced.
I personally don't rave over this 1st generation product but it's not a disaster by any means either.
iPhone
The iPhone is going to be on O2 in the UK, T-Mobile in Germany and Orange in France. Reports suggest Telefonica have also held advanced talks to range the handset.
Vodafone pulled the plug on negotiations for ranging the iPhone when Apple confirmed it wasn't going to be a 3G device, and they didn't want to be held to ransom by Apple getting a chunk of each users spend - which isn't anywhere near the 40% you stated in the article but 10%. Also Voda didn't like the idea that the phone couldn't be subsidised by the operator.
I certainly won't be getting an iPhone - nostalgia is good sometimes but I don't want to try to download tunes using EDGE, not when I have had a 3G device for a number of years now, can download files quickly, install third party apps, record video to name a few things Steve Jobs abomination lacks. Give me an 8Gb Nokia N95 for £200 less than an iPhone with more modern features and much more versatile.
If a deal's too good to be true...
I wonder why O2 is supposed to have offered the ring, watch and first born in exchange for the iPhone... Because they're desperate?
It's as amusing as hell to see that they paid so much for 3G and they're (probably) going to be using EDGE.
