14 DAY TRIAL // It's a common fact that wireless carriers in the UK have long waited for O2's exclusivity on the Apple iPhone to come to an end, and that two of them already announced a while ago that they would soon offer the device to their users. One of these carriers, Orange, is now reported to prepare the iPhone for launch starting with November 10, only about two weeks from now.
According to a recent article on guardian.co.uk, the mobile phone carrier will have the device available on its airwaves the very next day O2's agreement with Apple will come to an end. Moreover, it seems that both the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS models will become available for purchase from the company that day, and the carrier will have it available for purchase both via its stores in the country as well as via Phones4U.
Not only that O2 has lost the exclusivity deal on the iPhone, but it seems that it also remains without some of the retailers that stocked the iPhone for it, including Carphone Warehouse, the only retailer that had the Apple device available during O2's reign, which is now said to plan on selling the device for Orange. According to the news site, Orange refused to comment on the availability of the iPhone.
One thing that should be noted here is that Vodafone, another large carrier in the UK, is also expected to start selling the iPhone in the near future, something that should happen only at the beginning of next year, as the distribution agreement between Vodafone and Apple states. Basically, this means that Orange and O2 will have to race head to head to win as many users as possible for the iPhone during the Christmas shopping season.
The Apple device is also expected to become available next year via another carrier in the country, 3, which already announced plans to have the handset on its airwaves sometime in 2010. As for T-Mobile UK, the carrier is expected to include the iPhone in its offering based on the recently announced partnership with Orange.