Cheapest iPhone discussion

rodman

Streeet wrote: »

I'd hold off if your on Orange:
http://newsroom.orange.co.uk/2009/09...-iphone-in-uk/

(Thanks to the others who found this)

does it mean that iPhone PAYG prices may go down?

Streeet

I think the new competition can only make the price go south..

The only caveate to that is short term where demand may continue to exceed supply. A lot of Orange customers, previously locked out of this option will want this phone and Orange will no doubt make the most of it.

The real price falls will come next year when people who upgraded to the 3G on O2 come to the end of their contracts and want the 3GS.. O2 will want to retain and Orange gain..

Edgar_Prates

generally its always better to pay up for the iphone and get a sim only deal if u can afford it

dvs

adammada wrote: »

The O2 iPhone contract began in June 2007, so to say that a 2 year contract is up in october is a blatant lie (I mean, how can a contract that is 30 month old be for 2 year?). The truth of the matter is, is that Vodafone and Orange have been telling customers for years that the iPhone would soon be available, without anything so much as a clue as to when the o2 exclusivity deal is actually up. The details of the o2/iPhone contract has never been made public, so for some nobody on the end of a vodafone call centre phone to claim to know more than the hundreds and thousands of Apple analysts out there is sheer rubbish.

Tbh I wouldnt hold out any hope of the o2/iPhone monopoly changing any time soon, at least not until a reasonable amount of contractual time is up (3 years sounds more believable than 2 and a half years for any exclusivity deal). That would take things up to next June for possibilities opening up.

dvs wrote: »

Actually, O2 didn't start selling the iPhone until November 2007. The original contract involved revenue sharing with Apple. The was revised for the launch of the iPhone 3G, which allowed Apple to charge more for the handsets and for O2 to subsidise them. Apple and O2 have only ever stated that it is a multi-year agreement (which could mean just more than one year) and there is no confirmation that a longer period would be exclusive (only that O2 will be able to sell the device).

It is very possible that the exclusive contract with O2 will end shortly so I wouldn't dismiss this as rubbish. Most in the industry believe this will happen and signs in the US appear to indicate the same. It's not a matter of if but when.

Have to say... told you so!

Joking aside, this is good news for consumers in terms of choice but we'll have to wait to see how competitive Orange choose to be, and how O2 react to new competition. Orange may just want to take advantage of people who simply don't like O2 and have been waiting for another network to offer the iPhone. I hope that they introduce better tariffs to gain market share and create competion but I wouldn't get your hopes up. Orange haven't been that competitive of late but they'll have to offer something new if they want to gain new customers. Guess we'll know in the next few weeks.

Edgar_Prates

best place to buy an iphone 3gs 16gb/32gb black offline?

eljmayes

rodman wrote: »

does it mean that iPhone PAYG prices may go down?

I would almost certainly say yes, I could see the price of a 3G going below 300 quid on PAYG before Christmas now. Interesting news that Orange/T-Mobile have also got the rights to the 3GS as well, O2 may need to rethink their strategy regarding pricing and marketing.

sporedude

Or not if Orange is told to sell it at the same price....It can happen, Dont get your hopes up.

eljmayes

sporedude wrote: »

Or not if Orange is told to sell it at the same price....It can happen, Dont get your hopes up.

Looks like Orange haven't got the same type of deal as O2- http://!!!!!!/vfPSF. Plus also O2/Orange can't be seen to be colluding in anyway to keep prices up.

sporedude

In the end Apple has the final say

TRADESIZE

the only countries in europe selling factory unlocked iphones are:

1)cheque republic (sorry spelling!)
2)belgium
3) Italy

so the answer is go to one of those, walk into a phone store and buy one. You will be able to go on any sim only (cheap) deal then.

My friend just did this and as he is an existing virgin cable tele customer he s 300 mins 300 texts vigin sim only £10 a month. Its 30p a day net access if yo dont find a wifi connection, but even if you used 30p everyday thats only another tenner so £20 a month. A 16gb 3gs iphone in belguim is £525, but thats way cheaper than play.com the only place to buy a factory unlocked version. dont buy a jailbroken one you wont be able to easily update it.
Anyone fancy a trip to belguim? you could be there and back in a day easy! nice day out too.

you lot may alreday know this butthought i'd post that anyway just in case. by the way thats a 3yr guarantee on a iphone from belguim not a poxy 1 year guarantee

cleary this is what all the peeps on e bay are doing by selling factory unlocked and making £100 plus profit per phone on e bay. i'm not greedy i only want 1! hence the post