Three UK swims with the tide – iPhone 4 announced
Russel’s answer was that it was something that they were considering but hinted that Cupertino would need to offer a better deal first – although, ultimately, Three likes to ‘swim in the opposite direction’ to the rest of the industry.
Today, however, the tide has turned. Three have announced that they will be selling the iPhone 4 and will be taking pre-orders from the 15th of June.
This also makes the UK, possibly, the most iPhone-friendly country in the world, with all four networks – five if you still count Orange and T-Mobile as separate entities – offering Apple’s latest smartphone.
It seems that we Brits can’t get enough iPhone.
That said, I’ll go out on a whim here and predict that the iPhone’s pricing and tariffs won’t reflect the seemingly competitive landscape. Sure, they’ll be a few minor differences here and there, and existing customers who are about to drift out of contract will always be able to strike up a better deal, but largely pricing will be dictated by Steve Jobs.
As I’ve said before, the retail monopoly has been broken but Apple’s supply monopoly remains in place – and I bet Three UK’s pricing and that of its competitors will reflect this.