Orange iPhone 3G arriving October?
The only way to get an iPhone on Orange is to hack the network lock, right? Wrong - possibly. According to reports, Orange could be about to deliver a sucker punch to rival O2 by stealing the rights to the UK iPhone.
The etailer Omio has put the cat among the O2 pigeons by pasting on its blog that it's received information from a, "very, very credible source," that the iPhone will be turning Orange sometime soon - and possibly by October.
It muses that poor sales of the original iPhone caused Apple to rethink its deal with O2, placing a time limit on its exclusivity for the 3G release.
There's been absolutely nothing official from O2, Orange or Apple on this but we await October with interest.
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Comments
s200
3 years ago
My understanding from very credible sources at o2 is that they have a multi year deal and this has not changed. The fact that Apple have allowed o2 to get the pricing right and offer the phone that people want means they cannot supply enough handsets to meet demand. And to solve this they will offer it to Orange - I think someone may want more traffic to their blog!
o2 are a great carrier my experiences of Orange have been terrible.
I think it will be on PAYG in October and maybe Orange are trying to agree a deal but I cannot imagine Apple being that gready and o2 allowing it.
angelus79
3 years ago
Total and utter nonsense. This "credible" source sounds like some lazy journo has been listening to stories in his local and typing them up while pissed.
o2 have a secure multi year deal as s200 rightly stated and this is in no way in jeopardy whatsoever.
This website is getting worse in terms of rumours an specualtion- aren't journalist's supposed to look for the facts?
The only thing we may see next year is people who were on the original iphone 18 month contract unlocking there phones "legally"-or unlatching as it is known- and moving to a different network.
Apparently the current law states that phones can only be locked for a certain period of time then the suppliers have to provide unlatching codes on request, usually at a cost of £30 or so. this may see some moving to other networks but they will lose some features such as visual voicemail and free wifi. Also if something goes wrong o2 won't support them and the other suppliers will not be iphone trained.
02 and Apple have their business heads on with this product and they're making a fortune in the UK- lets hope they also keep a good track record of customer satisfaction and they won't lose too many customers in the future.
ameek
3 years ago
sounds like bull to me...
i have moved over to o2 from orange as they basically didnt have any phones that really wowed me....
well the iphone has wow factor and wether in 6 months i would have regretted it i dont know...
orange wont be able to offer the wifi unless they jump in to bed with the cloud or t-mobile.... bt wont work with them cos of the obvious connection with o2.
p.s. i might be on my third iphone the first didnt recognise sim cards the second dont like wifi....hopefully you all have had better luck.
Lee Jones Jnr
3 years ago
The Cloud is owned by BT so there wont be any deal done with Orange. T-Mobile wont be offering to share either, they are a competitor.
waterhouse_melons
3 years ago
this would be wicked if it were to happen as there would be competition between the two companies for the best offers... but, im guessing this wont happen =[
MaliciousMike
3 years ago
I spoke to orange last week about transferring my number to my sexy new iPhone.
The roumers, according to Orange, are untrue.
O2 have a "forever and ever" monopoly on the iPhone according to Orange.
That said though, whatever contract Apple and O2 seem to have together, news like this could cause shaky ground.
Either way... It doesn't bother me what network it's on, as long as i get free 3G access with my iPhone!