Apple iPhone to be sold for Christmas

05/07/2007

Mobile phone operator O2 has beaten rivals including Vodafone to secure the deal to sell the Apple iPhone in the UK.

The phones should be on sale in time for the Christmas party season, but they won’t come cheap: in a market where phones are usually given away to secure contracts, the iPhone is expected to retail for about £300.

O2 is set to sign an exclusive contract shortly, despite Vodafone previously being tipped as the likely winner. Apple’s agreement with O2 reportedly includes Apple receiving a continuing share of the revenue generated for the network operator.

Thousands of UK mobile phone customers are expected to ditch their contracts during the Christmas party season and switch to O2 in order to obtain the coveted iPhone. Over half a million iPhones were sold in the first weekend in the US by AT&T, which has exclusive rights there.

Amongst the features of the fashionable iPhone are a touch-sensitive address book and the ability to select and listen to voicemail messages in any order. The iPhone can automatically sync contacts from a PC, Mac or Internet service.

The iPhone does not use 3G technology; instead it uses a variant of the existing wireless technology called Edge. So far in the UK, only Orange has installed this technology into its network - but O2 is expected to roll out Edge technology in time for the Christmas party season, and in time for the iPhone.