O2 Pay & Go iPhones start at £299, make data optional
Apple's exclusive iPhone carrier in the UK announced Wednesday that its Pay & Go customers can purchase a new iPhone 3G without a monthly contract for just 299 euro, but that data use isn't guaranteed with the plans.
"The new 3G 8GB iPhone for Pay & Go will be available for £299.99 and 16GB for £359.99," O2 said in a statement on its tariffs website, with normal calls costing 5p per minute.
Those who spend a minimum amount filling their accounts with call times can also choose from any one of several plans that add "free" features on top of their normal calls. Customers spending between £10 to £14 per month can add 500 minutes of bonus calling time whenever they call from a registered postcode, such as their homes or offices; they can alternately choose a text package that adds 300 SMS messages within the UK, an evenings and weekends package that adds 50 minutes regardless of area, an unlimited O2-to-O2 SMS package, or 100 minutes of international calling from the UK.
Those spending more get additional time, culminating in a £30 minimum that either gives unlimited calls from a specific location and between O2 users, unlimited UK messages, 300 evening and weekend minutes, and 200 international minutes. Most of the plans are only available through O2's online store.
Those prices include unlimited browsing and Wi-Fi for the first six months after customers activate the phone, but are discontinued after the initial period. Customers will afterwards need to spend an extra £10 per month beyond their prepaid voice to maintain the unlimited data access.
At the end of the six months, O2 says it will notify customers at the end of the six month period by text, which will allow them to easily unsubscribe if they choose to do so. Data roaming is allowed but costs as much as £3 per megabyte in European Union nations and £6 elsewhere.
O2 doesn't say whether the Pay As You Go options will be available outside of its official outlets but may depend more heavily on these than on contract signups for its sales: a company official has warned that Apple retail stores may be forced to offer prepaid iPhones without the infrastructure in place to process contract subscribers.
"The new 3G 8GB iPhone for Pay & Go will be available for £299.99 and 16GB for £359.99," O2 said in a statement on its tariffs website, with normal calls costing 5p per minute.
Those who spend a minimum amount filling their accounts with call times can also choose from any one of several plans that add "free" features on top of their normal calls. Customers spending between £10 to £14 per month can add 500 minutes of bonus calling time whenever they call from a registered postcode, such as their homes or offices; they can alternately choose a text package that adds 300 SMS messages within the UK, an evenings and weekends package that adds 50 minutes regardless of area, an unlimited O2-to-O2 SMS package, or 100 minutes of international calling from the UK.
Those spending more get additional time, culminating in a £30 minimum that either gives unlimited calls from a specific location and between O2 users, unlimited UK messages, 300 evening and weekend minutes, and 200 international minutes. Most of the plans are only available through O2's online store.
Those prices include unlimited browsing and Wi-Fi for the first six months after customers activate the phone, but are discontinued after the initial period. Customers will afterwards need to spend an extra £10 per month beyond their prepaid voice to maintain the unlimited data access.
At the end of the six months, O2 says it will notify customers at the end of the six month period by text, which will allow them to easily unsubscribe if they choose to do so. Data roaming is allowed but costs as much as £3 per megabyte in European Union nations and £6 elsewhere.
O2 doesn't say whether the Pay As You Go options will be available outside of its official outlets but may depend more heavily on these than on contract signups for its sales: a company official has warned that Apple retail stores may be forced to offer prepaid iPhones without the infrastructure in place to process contract subscribers.
Comments
I still can't understand why people keep on referring to the retail price of the phone at $199 when it's clearly not.
Also @ iDaq, the word "brower" isn't in the article, and WIFI is the term used for a wireless local network, such as internet access in a Starbucks.
I can upgrade to the new 3G phonr for just £10 per month, and pass on my v1 iphone to my daughter
as a pay as you go. seeing this plan she may as well forgo the visual voice mail and sign up for a standard plan with any other provieder.
So the unsubsidised, retail price of the phone is over $600. Where are all the morons who told me I was pulling figures out the air when I suggested this two weeks ago? They wouldn't know analysis if it chased them down the street and bit them on the arse.
I still can't understand why people keep on referring to the retail price of the phone at $199 when it's clearly not.
I think that there is going to be a great deal of disappointed people out there who don't follow these forums, and just don't understand that the retail price is in fact going to be much greater than they thought. $199 with a contract, probably $600 + without? I haven't heard wether or not the phone is even available without a contract in the US, though I'm guessing by law, it has to be?
I know it's to get customers hooked on data, but 6 months is a pretty long time.
I hope they offer no-data options in the US. I'd be tempted.
I think that there is going to be a great deal of disappointed people out there who don't follow these forums, and just don't understand that the retail price is in fact going to be much greater than they thought. $199 with a contract, probably $600 + without?
There won't be any disappointed people. Everyone in the US buys a cell phone with a contract. The tiny percentage who don't are chalked up (accurately) as the sliver of the population who are not happy about anything that has to do with withdrawals from their wallet.
Fucking Apple is really screwing U.S. purchasers buy wedding us to the evil empire. I freaking hate the death star. Europeans are so much more advance than us with their wireless technology and unteathered freedom when it comes to carrier choice.
$600 will buy you a simlocked iphone from O2.
Haven't you learned anything from the iphone launch in Europe 6 months ago --- Europeans were stuck to the same simlocked iphone as Americans did.
I haven't heard wether or not the phone is even available without a contract in the US, though I'm guessing by law, it has to be?
Was the first iPhone sold without a contract? That answers your question in regards to the law.
There won't be any disappointed people. Everyone in the US buys a cell phone with a contract. The tiny percentage who don't are chalked up (accurately) as the sliver of the population who are not happy about anything that has to do with withdrawals from their wallet.
Accurately?
Accurately?
In 2007 I spent £15 topping up my Orange phone. So far in 2008 I've already spent £15 topping up my phone. Oh God I must cut down on this extravagance right now!
I also get 1825 free Texts a year with this phone because in 2005 I bought from Sainsbury's a £25 Text Card that they actually sold for £2.50. This entitles you to 5 free Texts per day for 1 Year.
Fortunately for me Orange have never stopped the offer and I have continued to get these free Texts 2 and a half years later.
The iPhone is very Tempting and Desirable as a pay-as-you-go phone but my Sony Ericsson k800i and 16 GB iPod Touch with it's £4 per month 'The Cloud' Wi-fi connection are enough for my needs.
$600 will buy you a simlocked iphone from O2.
Haven't you learned anything from the iphone launch in Europe 6 months ago --- Europeans were stuck to the same simlocked iphone as Americans did.
I do not think this is the case now. It appears here in Finland that the iPhones have to be sold unlocked. But they are still part of a contract. Sonera has not released much info but my friends say that they will be unlocked, and the prices should be around 250/350 Euro respectively for the 8/16 gig models.
Man, you guys in the UK have it good. These are plans we could only dream about here in Germany. Unlimited data for 10 pounds! We have to pay 35 euros (almost 30 pounds) for that privilege! And 5p (7c) calls are unheard of - minimum here is 9c, and with the big carriers, that's only when you spend around 50 euros a month.. crazy..
Was the first iPhone sold without a contract? That answers your question in regards to the law.
They have it even better here in Finland. I pay 9 Euros, all I can eat data. You can get a quality of service package for a bit more, and there are NO caps on the data. Unlimited here means truly unlimted.
I dont see any price plans on the page after I hit the link in the post, am I the only one or O2 has pull the details down?
According to MacRumors the details were posted on the O2 website and then taken down again. Presumably someone at O2 made a mistake and posted the prices too early. I had a look on the O2 website and it still says that the prices are 'coming soon'. Hopefully these prices are correct as they look good value to me.
They have it even better here in Finland. I pay 9 Euros, all I can eat data. You can get a quality of service package for a bit more, and there are NO caps on the data. Unlimited here means truly unlimted.
It does here too -- on the iPhone anyway. There was a bit of outcry when they announced "unlimited (fair use 200MB)", so they backtracked and said there were no limits at all.
Amorya
Was the first iPhone sold without a contract? That answers your question in regards to the law.
The first iPhone was sold with a carrier lock, but as you walked out of the store in the USA, you had not yet entered into any contractual obligation to pay AT&T one further cent. You entered into a service contract later on, in the comfort of your own home, via iTunes during activation. Until you went through the activation process, you were the proud owner of a $300 paperweight, but there was no service contract.
So strictly speaking, your first example doesn't actually answer the question of whether or not it is legal in the USA to make the sale of a product contingent on the purchase of a separate, ongoing service contract.
From the information we've received so far, it appears that the new 3G iPhone cannot be bought in the USA unless you allow AT&T to subsidize a portion of the retail price and you simultaneously enter into a service contract with AT&T. If that's actually true, then in Apple/AT&T's opinion, the practice is legal.