Cloud over British iPhone launch

Overpriced and grindingly slow, the iPhone may struggle to win us over, says linton chiswick

London's Regent Street Apple Store closed to normal business this morning as CEO Steve Jobs introduced an invited audience of journalists to the UK iPhone. It wasn't exactly a blind date. The invitations had read, "Mum is no longer the word", but after months of speculation about launch dates, mobile phone networks and European specifications, most had put two and two together.

O2 was confirmed as the UK iPhone partner. The device will be available from November 9, priced at £269, locked to 18-month contracts with £35, £45 and £55 monthly tariffs. Perks include unlimited data transfer (for internet browsing and email) and free WiFi via a special deal with The Cloud, a public hotspot provider.

Before the announcement there had been speculation that the UK iPhone might be upgraded to operate on the 3G network,

British mobile phone users may balk at paying a minimum of £900 over 18 months for an iPhone

offering higher web-browsing speeds than its US counterpart on the slower 'EDGE' network. But Steve Jobs ruled out a 3G iPhone for the immediate future, blaming problems with battery life.

While US iPhone users have been largely pleased with the device's performance, EDGE has proved an irritation. The UK experience will be worse. Only 30 per cent of the country currently has access to O2's EDGE network, so many new iPhone users will be relying on a standard and grindingly slow GPRS connection to use the iPhone's web capabilities while out of range of a WiFi zone.

But it's the price that's immediately under the spotlight. British mobile phone users are used to seeing the cost of their handsets subsidised by their carriers, and - especially in an uncertain economic climate - may balk at paying a minimum of £900 over 18 months.

Meanwhile, it's being rumoured that O2 have signed as much as 40 per cent of iPhone-related revenue over to Apple, terms which are - according to one rival carrier - "madly money-losing".