It was not a big surprise: Apple confirmed today at its “Mum is no longer the word” event that the iPhone is headed to the UK and that O2 would be the exclusive carrier. “We’re thrilled to be partnering with O2 to offer our revolutionary iPhone to UK customers,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “US iPhone customer satisfaction is off the charts, and we can’t wait to let UK customers get their hands on it and learn what they think of it.”
The UK iPhone will come with a storage capacity of 8GB and EDGE connectivity and no 3G capabilities. Like in the US, activation will be done through iTunes.
O2 will offer three plans (all featuring unlimited data and visual voicemail):
- £35: 200 minutes and 200 SMS
- £45: 600 minutes and 500 SMS
- £55: 1200 minutes and 500 SMS
The newly announced iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store will be available to UK iPhone customers, suggesting that US customers will soon see the same feature on their iPhones.
The UK iPhone will go on sale on November 9th and will be available for £269 (including VAT) through Apple’s retail and online stores, O2 and The Carphone Warehouse retail stores. An 18 month contract with O2 will be required.
Now we await similar announcements for France through Orange and Germany through T-Mobile.