Updated O2, who hold the UK exclusive on the iPhone, provides a useful online ordering tool for those looking to get the latest Apple hardware - as long as you're not using Apple's Safari browser.

Everyone else is most welcome: Firefox, Internet Explorer and even Opera Mobile can all connect and apply for a long-term contract. But poor sadsack Safari users are simply told that their browser won't support the appropriate "portlet":

Let that be a lesson to you, stop thinking different!

Perhaps O2 feels that anyone who's used Safari wouldn't want to risk buying an iPhone, so perhaps O2 is just pre-empting that decision.

Thanks to Francis Madeira for the tip. ®

Update: O2 has been on the blower to tell us that despite the fact that we observed the problem for more than half an hour it was, apparently, a "small window of maintenance" and everything is tickety boo now.

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