Thursday, August 16,2007 @ 9:35am
iPhone coming to O2, Vodafone?
A British cellular retailer is hosting one of the first listings for the iPhone in Europe, despite the the lack of any formal announcements by Apple or local carriers. The site Mobiles.co.uk lists the phone for as little as £100 on the O2 network, a price which is unlikely to be accurate, since after conversion it would still be $300 to $400 less than the US cost. A similar listing exists on the site for Vodafone, but no prices have been attached. In either case Mobiles warns that its figures are "based on the best information available to us at this moment in time," and that it may change prices and specifications closer to release, informing customers as necessary.
The identity of the iPhone's European carrier(s) is still a topic of considerable speculation, with companies such as O2, T-Mobile and Vodafone all being rumored to be in position for a contract. While the former two are strong candidates however, indications suggest that Vodafone may be hesistant to adopt the current iPhone, not the least because it lacks the 3G broadband services common to much of Vodafone's European market. It instead uses EDGE, a protocol which even Apple CEO Steve Jobs admits can be slow.