iPhone in the UK - does it deliver?
Updated on 18 September 2007
The company hopes its new mobile phone will be as revolutionary as the iPod music player.
At last - Britain's Apple fans can now switch from feverishly waiting for the iPhone, to moaning about how expensive it is and how it gets scratched in their pockets.
The Apple boss Steve Jobs visited the company's flagship store on Regent Street to announce the coming of the iPhone's UK incarnation.
Launching on November 9, it will cost £269 from 02, with a minimum 18 month contract priced at anything between £35, £45 or £55 - bringing the minimum spending commitment to just under £900.
The phone has all the features people were expecting, including the Safari web browser, Google Maps, YouTube and a camera.
One feature was missing, though - would-be mobile internet surfers were disappointed by the news that the phone won't come with the super-fast 3G internet connection. Instead, they will have to make do with slower internet connections using a different technology, EDGE.
'There are a few upset girlfriends out there'Steve Jobs, Apple
Steve Jobs explained that the 3G technology is not yet good enough for the iPhone's batteries. "You make a big tradeoff to go to 3G and that is bad battery life."
The deal with 02 was as expected. 02 boss Matthew Key said "This is probably one of the worse kept secrets that we've had."
However, neither he nor Jobs would comment on reports that 02 had to give Apple punitive terms to secure the iPhone deal.
Key also declined to answer whether O2 was aware that Apple was preparing the very similar iPod Touch product while negotiating the iPhone deal with 02. But Jobs denied that the iPod Touch would harm iPhone sales. "You can see it as training wheels for the iPhone," Jobs said.
Jobs jokily admitted that Apple has irritated the UK's other mobile phone networks with the way it handled negotiations for the coveted right to sell the iPhone. "We dated a few people that we didn't get married to," he said. "There are a few upset girlfriends out there."
Apple also annoyed early US customers by slashing the price of the product by a third shortly after launch. But he could not offer reassurances to UK customers that they would not do the same.
"I wish we could [cut prices by a third] but we would be a total philanthropy."
"There are never any guarantees in technology. But if you wait to buy anything looking over the horizon in tech you will never buy anything."
Apple expects to sell 10m iPhones worldwide in 2008 - around 1 per cent of the total market.
