UK Apple iPhone now £169 at Carphone Warehouse
From tomorrow, the 8GB iPhone is now available on o2, via Carphone Warehouse, for £169 pounds — on a 600 minute, 500 text, unlimited data £35/month price plan (18 months, I imagine).
Good news!
The even better news is that anyone who purchased an iPhone from Carphone Warehouse within the last 30 days will, under the company’s Ultimate Price Promise scheme, receive £100 worth of vouchers automatically. Cool!
From the Carphone release:
Launched 10 years ago and already responsible for customers receiving millions of pounds, the Ultimate Price Promise means The Carphone Warehouse will automatically give vouchers to the value of £100 to anyone who has purchased an iPhone from the store in the last 30 days.
“The iPhone has changed the landscape and we’re delighted that we can lower its price and broaden its appeal,” says Andrew Harrison, UK CEO, The Carphone Warehouse. “Of course, significant price reductions can make people who have recently purchased feel like they missed out, so with our Ultimate Price Promise customers will get an unexpected bonus.”
Interesting, interesting.
Arghhh… now I know how those Americans felt when the price first dropped….
Actually, no I don’t - we all knew it would happen and I can live with it after 6 months. Every other handset follows that kind of discounting process.
What is more important is will I be able to upgrade to the 3G version in-contract when it’s first available? Or will it be for new contracts only…
Posted by Ben Smith on April 15th, 2008 at 5:33 pm.Does that mean that the 3G iPhone is near?
Posted by Nacho on April 15th, 2008 at 9:05 pm.@Nacho: The deal ends in June. Apple’s WWDC is around then - I’d guess iPhone the new iPhone OS will launch on a 3G handset (although still be available for the original models).
Posted by Ben Smith on April 16th, 2008 at 7:41 am.@ben smith: thank you, v interesting. Lack of 3G is one of the many issues I have with the iPhone, I will wait until then to get my hands on one
Posted by nacho on April 16th, 2008 at 11:39 am.Bit of a contradiction here from CPW, the Ultimate Price Promise according to the website states:
“If the price you paid for your handset on the same network and tariff is higher than the price listed in our following month’s Buyers’ Guide, we’ll send you a credit voucher for the difference.”
So something bought on 1 March then reduced on 15 April would qualify, however, in the press release they have sneakily limited this to the past 30 days so it must have been purchased on or after 16 March to qualify.
Unfortunately, my iPhone purchase on 14 March means I do not receive the refund and despite speaking to a number of people at various levels in CPW they have refused to change their stance.
Posted by Phil W on April 16th, 2008 at 2:00 pm.My bet is the 3g version is within a few months. Once the 3g iPhone hits the streets, the value for the first iPhones should really come down…
Posted by Giff Gfroerer, i2SMS on April 16th, 2008 at 6:54 pm.Nacho asks: “Does that mean that the 3G iPhone is near?”
Well, Julia reports that O2’s “…maximum downlink available for ‘mobile broadband’ will be 1.8Mbps, going up to 3.6Mbps in June this year”.
So I’d guess the UK 3G iPhone will be launched around then.
If CPW’s current £169 offer becomes the price of the Edge iPhone, how much will the 3G version cost?
£269 seems too cheap to me but would be a superb price point to ‘break’ the UK mobile broadband market.
HeavyLight’s last blog post..O2 rebrand cock-up shock!
Posted by HeavyLight on April 18th, 2008 at 10:06 am.