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O2 to Drop UK iPhone Prices in May?

haydn! said:
There could be more to this than just stock clearance. There has been rumors suggesting the iPhone may be moving to Orange for UK customers, and some strong alleged evidence to point to this move are Orange not chasing any of the new smart phone handsets coming out this year, and O2 signing up to sell the new Palm, which is set to be the iPhones biggest competitor handset yet.

This could be good news, as Orange do have a stronger network in the UK, and already sell the iPhone for Apple in most European countries. They also offer better price plans, and customer service in general...
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Since reading your post & others following it, i have been trying to come up with a solution if Orange were the ones to release the new iphone in the UK, i have even emailed O2 asking if i could pac my current mobile number & get a new number with o2 to use on my last few months of contract, of course i didnt mention why, i just asked if it were possible, so i will wait and see. I couldnt take a new mobile contract without my number, i have taken it with me through many networks over the years & its easy for me to remember also & everyone knows it in my family etc. Im an iPhone addict, so i will move heave & earth to get it!!!!
 
Not Sure about Orange,

Not sure about iphone switching to orange. I work for o2 and 3 days ago was at head office having a conversation with a very senior manager who, knowing my love for the iphone, informed me very discreetly that there will be more than 1 model of iphone coming within the next 6 weeks and that the tariffs will be changing.
He wouldn't go into details or specs but this is the same man who informed me of the 3g release 2 months before the official announcement from Apple.

Hopes this helps anyone interested in the new iphone, lol.:)
 
londonmystery said:
Not sure about iphone switching to orange. I work for o2 and 3 days ago was at head office having a conversation with a very senior manager who, knowing my love for the iphone, informed me very discreetly that there will be more than 1 model of iphone coming within the next 6 weeks and that the tariffs will be changing.
He wouldn't go into details or specs but this is the same man who informed me of the 3g release 2 months before the official announcement from Apple.

Hopes this helps anyone interested in the new iphone, lol.:)
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I have 6 months left on my current iPhone contract, what are the chances of O2 offering an upgrade when the new one is released? Im willing to pay a fair amount towards the phone!
 
julianna1973 said:
I have 6 months left on my current iPhone contract, what are the chances of O2 offering an upgrade when the new one is released? Im willing to pay a fair amount towards the phone!
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Not sure at the moment am trying to find out. We have 2 iphone 3g in the house both with 6 months left so am hoping like you guys for an early upgrade.:)
 
londonmystery said:
Not sure at the moment am trying to find out. We have 2 iphone 3g in the house both with 6 months left so am hoping like you guys for an early upgrade.:)
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My hubby thinks O2 will offer upgrades & i agree but i think it will be on the condition of taking another 2 years contract. All well & good but what happens in the summer of 2010 when ANOTHER iphone is likely to be released, what good is a 2 year contract then? Its a never ending cycle!!! AAAARRGHHH
 
I was told by the Customer service people on O2 to wait for the new iphone. New tarrifs etc, that was 2 weeks ago......
 
DoubleU said:
I upgraded from the 1st Gen iPhone to the 3G last year and they just transferred my contract. The 'phone cost about £150 to upgrade on the £35 tariff, it would have been 'free' if I'd changed to a higher tariff.
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I highly doubt that they will do it for the new iPhone as the 3G is already subsidised by O2.

O2 were happy to upgrade people early with the original model because you essentially bought the handset offline yourself and signed up for a separate contract
 
LondonDude89 said:
I highly doubt that they will do it for the new iPhone as the 3G is already subsidised by O2.

O2 were happy to upgrade people early with the original model because you essentially bought the handset offline yourself and signed up for a separate contract
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Yes there is always that possibility but also O2 might decide they would prefer to get iphone customers to commit to another contract, if they do that, there might be a cut off date. Like i upgraded the first day of 3g, so i imagine they might say, people who took the upgrade & or joined them on this date & before sept/oct 2008, can get a new deal? Later susbscribers might lose out.
 
o2 are not allowing us to upgrade early :mad::eek::mad:

Apparently you can end the contract early with the usual penalties to upgrade.

The only other way to go I suppose is buy a payg (32gb is showing as £538 on payg on o2 site (16gb £440)) and use your existing sim.
 
Pay & Go

Just thinking out loud here.

If you have to pay for each month of your contract that you have left on the 35 contract with o2 then:

6*35=210
210+275=485

So £485 and you are stuck in another 18 month contract. So if you got the Pay & Go for £538.30 yeh it's £53.30 more but your not tied into another 18 month contract so when the next upgrade comes around we don't have this problem.

Can anyone see a problem with this? Can I put my Pay Monthly SIM in a Pay & Go device and still get access to everything?

If so then I think I would rather pay the extra £53 and not be stuck in another contract.

Thoughts please!
 
Varo said:
Just thinking out loud here.
So £485 and you are stuck in another 18 month contract. So if you got the Pay & Go for £538.30 yeh it's £53.30 more but your not tied into another 18 month contract so when the next upgrade comes around we don't have this problem.
If so then I think I would rather pay the extra £53 and not be stuck in another contract.

Thoughts please!
Click to expand...

I like your rationale. Where did the £275 come from?

I'm a little annoyed that O2 are not rewarding their loyal customers. My only concern is that even if we upgrade faithfully in 6 months, a newer iPhone may even be in the wings for next June/July 2010 and then we'd have a further 12 months to wait for that one!

I can't see why we couldn't use a PAYGo iPhone with a Pay Monthly card. The best person to ask would be a O2 rep in a O2 store once they have arrived. Or, wait for someone here to post success.

On another note. £14 extra a month for internet tethering (with a 3GB limit) is just ludicrous! Considering they offer 500mb per day for just £2 per day (no strings) on their mobile broadband package. Why are they not offering 3GB for just £6 extra!. I'm sure many more people would sign up if they did. Once again, O2 are heavily penalising the causal tethering user who just wants an easy setup and doesnt want a bag full of cables and usb dongles.
 
ichaddy said:
I like your rationale. Where did the £275 come from?

I'm truly annoyed that O2 are penalising their loyal customers. My only concern is that even if we upgrade faithfully in 6 months, a newer iPhone may even be in the wings for next June/July 2010 and then we'd have a further 12 months to wait for that one!

I can't see why we couldn't use a PAYGo iPhone with a Pay Monthly card. The best person to ask would be a O2 rep in a O2 store once they have arrived. Or, wait for someone here to post success.

On another note. £14 extra a month for internet tethering (with a 3GB limit) is just ludicrous! Considering they offer 500mb per day for just £2 per day (no strings) on their mobile broadband package. Why are they not offering 3GB for just £6 extra!. I'm sure many more people would sign up if they did. Once again, O2 are heavily penalising the causal tethering user who just wants an easy setup and doesnt want a bag full of cables and usb dongles.
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Sorry but in what way are they 'penalising' customers?

You were the one who signed an 18 month contract and it was pretty obvious that a new iPhone was going to launch around this time. Don't blame O2 because you were foolhardy.
 
I'm personally going to get a 24 month contract (my current O2 contract expires 1st July) and then next year will get the Pay As You Go if I want to upgrade, selling my 3GS to offset the cost.

Although I could get an 18 month contract, if apple sticks to Summer refreshes I am unlikely to want to upgrade in 18 months time, rather wait and see what is around the corner, therefore I am better off saving the £100 now and signing up for another 6 months.

Or could this be the first time I actually stick with the phone for the contract length?! Probably not, never done it before and I have had a contract phone since 1996 :)
 
O2 Rip Off

Besides the lack of option to upgrade for current 3G owners, the whole pricing for the 3G S is a rip off.

Compared to last years £159 price for the top model on a £35 contract. What happened to flash memory getting bigger and cheaper. I expected the 32GB to come in at this price.

Compared to the US it's a complete rip-off the 32GB model works out at todays exchange rate as £184 in the US ($299) and we're expected to pay £274!! Get over yourselves O2.

When the last 6 months of my contract is done I'm off to another network. Here's hoping their exclusivity runs out by iPhone version 4 (Jun2010?).

Joining #o2fail

At least 3.0 software is gonna rock!
 
all-in-my-head said:
Besides the lack of option to upgrade for current 3G owners, the whole pricing for the 3G S is a rip off.

Compared to last years £159 price for the top model on a £35 contract. What happened to flash memory getting bigger and cheaper. I expected the 32GB to come in at this price.

Compared to the US it's a complete rip-off the 32GB model works out at todays exchange rate as £184 in the US ($299) and we're expected to pay £274!! Get over yourselves O2.

When the last 6 months of my contract is done I'm off to another network. Here's hoping their exclusivity runs out by iPhone version 4 (Jun2010?).

Joining #o2fail

At least 3.0 software is gonna rock!
Click to expand...

You won't be alone in the mass exodus from O2 once the iphone contract is withdrawn. The tethering charge is the straw that has broekn this camels back. O2 sucks.
 
all-in-my-head said:
Compared to the US it's a complete rip-off the 32GB model works out at todays exchange rate as £184 in the US ($299) and we're expected to pay £274!! Get over yourselves O2.
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Basic math 101:

Compare 24 month contract for O2 with 24 month contract for AT&T.

32 GB iphone 3G S

O2 (£175.19 = $283 US including tax)
AT&T ($299 US excluding tax)

O2 is about $50 cheaper than AT&T.
 
Blah

I sold my 1st Gen iPhone and put the money towards my upgrade fee for the 16Gb 3G which meant that I only had to fork out £50 I think. Even if I could upgrade to a higher spec (i.e. the 32Gb) I would still have to fork out £274.23 on an 18 month contract. Firstly, it's too much to pay when locking yourself into a further 18 months contract and secondly it ain't gonna happen because I have to wait until next year and then pay full price (£274.23) and lock myself into a further 18 month contract and all for a phone that will be close to its shelf life.

Well done O2, cake or death? Better figure out what to do with all those iPhone 3GS that will be lingering in the old O2 towers warehouse this time next year.

p.s. I still enjoy my 3G, will talk to it anyway, have bought a magnifying glass for the lens and will stick a compass on it.

p.p.s. If anyone hears anything official from O2 please post.
 
jamesslittle said:
I sold my 1st Gen iPhone and put the money towards my upgrade fee for the 16Gb 3G which meant that I only had to fork out £50 I think. Even if I could upgrade to a higher spec (i.e. the 32Gb) I would still have to fork out £274.23 on an 18 month contract. Firstly, it's too much to pay when locking yourself into a further 18 months contract and secondly it ain't gonna happen because I have to wait until next year and then pay full price (£274.23) and lock myself into a further 18 month contract and all for a phone that will be close to its shelf life.

Well done O2, cake or death? Better figure out what to do with all those iPhone 3GS that will be lingering in the old O2 towers warehouse this time next year.

p.s. I still enjoy my 3G, will talk to it anyway, have bought a magnifying glass for the lens and will stick a compass on it.

p.p.s. If anyone hears anything official from O2 please post.
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I like your humour..
 
It will be interesting to see how well this sells.

I doubt it will sell like the 3G did, based mainly on the fact the 3G was heavily subsidised and this isn't as much. The majority of UK users will go get a samsung/blackberry free on a cheaper contract. Not to mention 90% of 3G users won't upgrade to it because of the price involved.

We'll see I suppose.
 
I must admit to not being so crazy at O2. The 3Gs looks great and would be a nice upgrade from my 3G but I'm not desperate for it, certainly not to the point of paying a large upgrade fee. The big improvements for me come with OS 3.0 which I get for free - that'll make my 3G feel like a new phone anyway.

I'm interested to see what O2 do though, I'll be out of contact in January and I'd expect them to dangle a carrot to get me to sign up for another period. Several of my friends were given free iPhone 3G handsets recently by O2 to get them to renew their contracts - if they have a glut of 3Gs models lying around they may offer some good deals.

But whatever happens, this is much better than last year. This time I have an iPhone, and 3.0 is on its way :)
 
When you compare O2's 24 month contracts to at&t's closest value contract, the O2 ones are a lot cheaper. Especially when at&t customer's don't get any free texts or internet and have a lot of other hidden mandatory charges.

Apparently, even though Apple announced price cuts on the 3G 8GB, the wholesale price remained the same.
Also, because of the currency fluctuation, the 3GS is actually more expensive than a 3G of the same capacity.
Anyone know any more about this?
 
LondonDude89 said:
When you compare O2's 24 month contracts to at&t's closest value contract, the O2 ones are a lot cheaper. Especially when at&t customer's don't get any free texts or internet and have a lot of other hidden mandatory charges.

Apparently, even though Apple announced price cuts on the 3G 8GB, the wholesale price remained the same.
Also, because of the currency fluctuation, the 3GS is actually more expensive than a 3G of the same capacity.
Anyone know any more about this?
Click to expand...
You can't really compare the O2 contracts with the AT&T ones as the US mobile telecoms market is radically different from the UK one.

What you can compare is the respective handset prices last year compared with this year for the two markets in isolation. In the US the new 3GS is the same price as the 3G was last year (with the same basic AT&T 2 year contract commitment) i.e. $199 and $299. In the UK the 3GS prices have been hiked up by 90% and 75% compared with the 3G prices last year (with the same basic O2 18 month contract commitment).

The currency fluctuation only accounts for about 25% of the price increase. And no, sales tax has no relevence to this discussion before someone brings that old chestnut up! :rolleyes: This is about the difference between this year and last year within the context of the two separate markets, not the actual conversion between $ value and £ value of the handset costs. Nothing of significance has changed in the UK this year compared with the US to suggest why the 3GS is so much more expensive than the 3G here as opposed to the US. A small increase could be understood (due to weaker pound), but not the massive increase we have actually seen.
 
iSimon said:
In the UK the 3GS prices have been hiked up by 90% and 75% compared with the 3G prices last year (with the same basic O2 18 month contract commitment).

The currency fluctuation only accounts for about 25% of the price increase. And no, sales tax has no relevence to this discussion before someone brings that old chestnut up! :rolleyes: This is about the difference between this year and last year within the context of the two separate markets, not the actual conversion between $ value and £ value of the handset costs. Nothing of significance has changed in the UK this year compared with the US to suggest why the 3GS is so much more expensive than the 3G here as opposed to the US. A small increase could be understood (due to weaker pound), but not the massive increase we have actually seen.
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Where is this 75% and 90% figure coming from?

Assuming you have a £35 p/m contract from O2:
The 8GB 3G iPhone is exactly the same price as it has been since the VAT reduction
The 16GB iPhone 3G S is roughly £30 MORE expensive than the 16GB 3G was at the time of the VAT reduction.
The 32GB iPhone 3G S is a brand new model, there is no previous price for it.

If what I've heard is correct, Apple are charging O2 the same price in $ for the phones as they were last year and O2 are expected to bite their tongue and just subsidise the extra. This is why they are focusing on the 24 month contracts this time around
 
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