By Stevie Smith Sep 19, 2007, 15:32 GMT
The much talked about confirmation of O2 as the exclusive UK carrier of Apple’s innovative iPhone handset has finally arrived. Following weeks of swirling speculation on the end destination of the iPhone, Telefonica-owned O2 was yesterday unveiled as the device’s official carrier, with the phone set to hit UK retail on November 09, 2007.
A Financial Times report reveals that Apple Inc.’s eagerly anticipated touch-screen, Web-enabled smartphone will cost a rather pocket-busting £899 GBP, factoring in contractual connection fees. Yet, notably, the phone will not be compatible with the high-speed 3G networks that operate throughout Europe. It is expected that similar exclusivity deal with Orange (France) and T-Mobile (Germany) are likely to be confirmed over the course of the next week.
Despite the established success of the iPhone in the United States, where it has already amassed 1 million unit sales since its retail launch on June 29, it is believed that Europe may not prove such a fruitful source of revenue for Apple, not least because European mobile phone users value the enhanced performance provided by 3G.
Specifically, M:Metrics analyst Paul Goode suggests that market traction for the iPhone is, "going to be problematic," because the diminutive handset will not work on speedy 3G networks. "Almost 20 per cent of UK subscribers have a 3G handset, and you will be effectively asking them to downgrade their experience."
Officially unveiled at Apple’s flagship store in central London, company CEO Steve Jobs explained that the iPhone would not include 3G compatibility at launch due to 3G technology drawing too much power from the iPhone’s internal battey and compromising the handset’s operational longevity. By way of filling that network gap, Apple has also revealed that its iPhone customers will be able to use 7,500 The Cloud-operated Wi-Fi hotspots littered nationwide for easy and convenient online access.
Monetarily, the UK iPod will cost £269 GBP for the handset but will come with an exclusive 18-month contract with O2, which will cost users a minimum of £35 GBP per month (rising as high as £55 GBP). The total customer cost across the 18 months, when calculated at a monthly cost of £35 GBP, will see the final figure hitting just shy of £900 GBP, while the £55 GBP fee will see the total cost rising as high as £1,259 GBP.
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