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The U.K. iPhone 4 Thread

It wouldn't surprise me if the only subsidy seen on the PAYG versus the Sim free is capped free internet for so long. Possibly a year. And not able to unlock for 6 months or so.
 
-Garry- said:
Do you know what - I still haven't seen a proper description of the word 'subsidising' in this thread so I'll do one myself.

Subsidising is when a third party assists you in making a payment. In that case, the cost of the item is said to be 'subsidised.'

Say the iPhone costs £500. You may purchase it for £500, or you may purchase it for £100 with the other £400 being subsidised by the carrier. The carrier agrees to subsidise the cost only if they believe they will eventually make a profit through PAYG top-ups or via the tariff you choose to take out.

I should point out that PAYG phones are not usually subsidised at all and when they are, it's usually not by very much.
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PAYG phones are subsidised, but yeah, not by much. Going right to the other extreme of the market, the payg phones you can get in ASDA etc for £5 or £10 would cost more than that if they weren't subsidised.

The iPhone4 PAYG prices may well be a bit cheaper than the sim free handset price, but they will be locked to a particular network so that they get your top ups.
 
Bumpers @ £25! Nice profit there for Apple.

Anyway, I was planning on carrying this iPhone without a case at all. My current white 3Gs was treated with kid gloves when I picked it up on launch day last year. I wrapped it in an InvisibleShield and later, when the shield started to peel and turn sickly yellow, I used a thin Incipio Feather case and no screen protector. The phone is still mint.

I wonder if the new phone really needs a case at all. It might be OK without any screen, back or side protection.
 
FINALLY got my order in officially. So I've got a reservation in-store that i may cancel, and one paid for being delivered to work.

Splendid 😀
 
Well now that ive reserved it to collect from the Apple Store on the 24th, and reading that the the Apple store is participating in the o2 Early Upgrade offer for Pay Monthly... ive done my bit now havent I?
Just have to turn up there on the day dont I? Or is there something else I need to do?
 
bodhi77 said:
hate to break it to you guys, but after speaking to a woman at the apple store manchester to confirm my reservation she said that there won't be any difference between the payg and sim free price.

sim free allows you to use any carrier (obviously) so she expects the payg deals to be more competative rather than them subsidise the handset by £50 or so

she did stress that this could change but thats how it stands now 🙁
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I spoke to a woman at the Manchester store about confirming my reservation and all she could tell me was that they didn't actually have a list of people who had reserved an iPhone.
 
Peter Harrison said:
Well, now I can see the items in the store again, but it still won't let me add to basket.
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Scratch that, it just started working. Have to keep refreshing but it got the job done. When I got through to the basket, 15 had gone through and it was going to cost me about £7000 so watch you for that!
 
Boblister said:
It wouldn't surprise me if the only subsidy seen on the PAYG versus the Sim free is capped free internet for so long. Possibly a year. And not able to unlock for 6 months or so.
Click to expand...

That would be pretty good.

I'm actually holding off on ordering an iPhone 4 from the Apple store. Partly because I want to see what freebies (expect capped year-long data plus some BT Openzone use) come in exchange for a SIM-locked phone and what tariffs are available from the non-O2 operators. I also want a white one for my missus.

So that's three reasons not to pre-order the black SIM free now. However all you folks on Simplicity contracts wanting a black iPhone may as well get your orders in now!
 
Finally managed to get into the business store to order mine. Got the 32GB. Now very tempted by the iPad camera connection kit, assuming i can use it to transfer movies and photos from the new iPhone.
 
Thanks to those who replied to my subsidizing question. 🙂
Seems like ive know about it for years, just never knew the correct terminology, haha. Thanks.
 
MikeWilson said:
That would be pretty good.

I'm actually holding off on ordering an iPhone 4 from the Apple store. Partly because I want to see what freebies (expect capped year-long data plus some BT Openzone use) come in exchange for a SIM-locked phone and what tariffs are available from the non-O2 operators. I also want a white one for my missus.

So that's three reasons not to pre-order the black SIM free now. However all you folks on Simplicity contracts wanting a black iPhone may as well get your orders in now!
Click to expand...

I got a white 3GS last year. It's sat in a black case all this time so I am used to black now.
 
Luke Redpath said:
Finally managed to get into the business store to order mine. Got the 32GB. Now very tempted by the iPad camera connection kit, assuming i can use it to transfer movies and photos from the new iPhone.
Click to expand...

There's a business store?

Edit: So there is! iPhone 4 prices still inc. VAT though - no obvious differences here!
 
When do you think will be the latest time I can leave ordering the phone for delivery on June 24th, because I want to see what the networks are going to be doing.
 
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