New iPhone free for certain O2 customers in the UK

O2

Aw, lucky!!! New O2 customers in the United Kingdom will be able to grab an 8GB iPhone 3G for free with monthly plans of £45 and up. The required contract is only 18 months, too. Mike Butcher of our TechCrunch UK site says

The news is pretty astounding. From going from a device which costs over £300 to virtually free at POS will supercharge iPhone sales in the UK and make it a real contender for mobile web startups as a platform. It will also suck out early adopters from other networks.

Butcher also caught wind that new iPhones will be able to be ordered online from O2’s web site and “will be sent out as O2 gets them from Apple,” whereas it’s being reported that here in the US, the new iPhone won’t be sold online at first – you’ll have to camp out at an Apple store or an AT&T retail location to get one.