iPhone coming to the UK

Ive only seen something by virgin in terms of releasing the iphone here in the UK, which to be honest is a pretty crappy network to be on. Does anyone know if the phone will be open to other networks too?

Considering that most networks in the UK are GSM, it could be open to all of them if Apple chooses.

They chose Cingular (now AT&T) here in the US because they have the biggest GSM network (and because of Qualcom's draconian licensing policies for CDMA) and GSM is more or less a world wide standard. You guys may end up with multiple GSM providers selling them, unlike here.

ah awesome, ill look forward to it. Do the US phone networks work the same or similar to ours here in the UK? for example i pay £35 a month ($69) for 1000 texts and 500 minutes. Do you have tarrifs similar to this or are your phone contracts done differently?

Most are the same as you mentioned. I pay $150/month for 2000 min and 1000 texts for 4 phones. There are some small carriers that do the "pay as you go" plane. You pay them , say, $100 and your phone works until that $100 runs out.

if the iphone comes out in the uk it will be easily unlocked

You might want to think about what kind of network you think is 'crappy'. AFAIK, virgin actually runs on the t-mobile network, which from 1997 until 2005 when I left the UK, couldn't fairly be described as 'crappy'. What you might want to be concerned about is someone like Vodaphone or Orange getting the contract, because both of those companies like to customise the firmware to make it as difficult as possible to use the phone as you wish, so you're tied into their downloads and features. I can't see Apple allowing that to happen though.

I suspect that Apple's UK partner will be either O2 or Vodaphone.

BTW, on to your other question, UK phone companies are far more generous than they are here in the US in regards to the hardware you get with a contract - so it's entirely possible for the 1st time ever that UK buyers may get a better deal on the iPhone than US consumers,

I am definitely hoping it's on O2, I'm with them now and they've been great - swift fixes on faulty handset, loan phone while being fixed, great coverage etc. And hopefully I can get a nice deal on an upgrade...hope you're right Zoolook

it would be gd if they did. i would buy one if they came down in price.

I wonder how they'll go in Australia as our system is a little different to yours. Anyways I've heard about the virgin think in the UK here in Aussie Newspapers. But they were only speculating though.

One of my mates told me they'd read something that O2 were getting it. I hope so, I'm with them now and there ace.

I can really imagine Orange or Vodafone getting the European market. Simply because they are already based in many countries, and thus Apple is faced with a less complex network of partners. I really hope it's Orange.

I don't see it myself unless they include 3G into the iPhone, there's no way they are going to allow Apple to come in and not include 3G a service which they have pumped millions into and is also got a bigger coverage (As far as I am aware) than Wi-Fi.

So I think they will have to make changes before they include it here, personally I think most Operators will get it especially O2 they seem to be big pushers of the Internet on the Go.

I'm (some might say :S) fortunate enough to work for 02 here in the UK and i don't think we're gonna be seeing the iPhone on the network here, 02 are launching their own music phone, it just wouldn't make sense to take on a product line that could force their own product out of the consumer's view.

As a general industry view, i can't see the iPhone penetrating the market here a huge amount, the mooted price and spec isn't gonna be enough to appeal to a mass market, you'll get the majority of users being disgruntled Mac fans pee'd off with not being able to synch their other phones with their Macs imho

the8thark said:

I wonder how they'll go in Australia as our system is a little different to yours. Anyways I've heard about the virgin think in the UK here in Aussie Newspapers. But they were only speculating though.

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It'll be interesting considering the large amount of prepaid users we have that are on caps and so forth. I think by the time it gets to Australia we'll have fair indication of how it will be offered just by looking at the UK and the US to a lesser degree.

I can't see it being on a 2 year contract in the UK like it is in the States, maybe a subsided price to compensate perhaps, i've seen phones like the Nokia Scirocco go for £700 sim-free so i'd expect to see the iPhone free on most £50 tariffs upwards here in the UK

I was reading an article about two weeks ago that said Apple and Vodafone were sitting down for talks. Offering Vodafone the contract for Europe.... Maybe that has changed. I hope Vodafone don't mess up the Firmware

You can be assured there WILL be some way to unlock the iPhone.

I'm almost certain it wont surface on Pay as you go in Ireland/UK... because most of these networks close ports.

I wouldn't be surprised if Vodafone were to take it on as a supplier, but then funny things happen in the industry and 02 were the first to take the Motorola iTunes phone, so who knows. Its the branding that gets me, the firmware can be changed but not the horrible little Voda logo

KahluaFan said:

I wouldn't be surprised if Vodafone were to take it on as a supplier, but then funny things happen in the industry and 02 were the first to take the Motorola iTunes phone, so who knows. Its the branding that gets me, the firmware can be changed but not the horrible little Voda logo

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Noooo! Don't say that. If they stick there little logo on it I'll barf.

Seriously though I doubt very much Apple Inc. would allow another companies logo onto one of their products.

Well fingers crossed they won't, i've spoken to Apple execs about the possibility of network usage (looked at the iPod and Apple for my uni dissertation a few months back ) and they seem pretty convinced they wouldn't let them brand the product. To me it would lose sense of the brand, something Apple ain't gonna let happen, maybe they'll just force firmware, but then again, Apple have also said they won't let 3rd party development firmware be on there either, so who knows?