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Orange tight-lipped about iPhone pricing

Mon Sep 28 2009, 08:53 AM UTC+01:00

Orange will offer the iPhone 3GS to its UK customers by Christmas, but the firm is remaining tight-lipped about how much the device will cost or exactly when it will launch. In a memo to staff, CEO Thomas Alexander describes the iPhone as “one of the best devices ever made in the history of mobile”, but says that dates and pricing will remain secret for the time being.

In the memo, Alexander says breaking rival operator O2's grip on the iPhone took “months of hard work and dogged determination from a small group of people”. This suggests Apple was for some time undecided about whether to break its exclusive contract with O2. However, the fact that Apple eventually signed a deal with Orange suggests the firm is considering breaking exclusive arrangements in other countries.

The news will come as a blow to O2, which is currently coming to terms with a proposed merger between Orange and T-Mobile that could unseat it from its place as the UK's largest mobile operator. The iPhone is credited with helping the firm boost its share of the UK market and without sole ownership of the device, the company’s fortunes could suffer.

Apple's decision fuels speculation that the largest US mobile operator, Verizon, is poised to wrest the iPhone from its nearest competitor, AT&T. Rumours that Apple is preparing to offer the iPhone through Verizon received a boost last week when it was reported that the operator had turned down the chance to carry Palm's Pre handset, seen as one of the iPhone's most credible challengers. Commentators suggest that Verizon, which lacks high-profile handsets to lure customers from other networks, would only have turned down the Pre if it had lined up another compelling device, such as the iPhone.