Rebellion over O2 iPhone pricing

Pocket-lint readers not happy with costs

9 June 2009 9:55 GMT / By Duncan Geere

One of the downsides of bringing smartphones to the mass market is that you have to deal with that mass market, and its rage whenever you put the slightest foot wrong.

O2 and Apple executives no doubt lingered a little longer in bed this morning, not wanting to get up and have to deal with the fallout from the announcement of pricing for the iPhone 3G S, widely regarded as too high.

Pocket-lint has been inundated with comments from angry iPhone customers who aren't happy about pricing, both for the phone but also for the contract. There's also considerable resentment over the lack of an "upgrade" option for existing customers.

O2 has announced that the new handset will cost £275 on an 18-month, £35 contract. On top of that, if you want to be able to use the device's net connection on your computer, it's another £15 for 3GB of data a month.

Pocket-lint commenters told us:
- "Hold on O2! Surely if I'm on a contract I'm already paying for my 'unlimited' data" - Josho, UK
- "The minimum term contract available to me on launch day of the 3G was 18 months - why should that now be used against me when I want the new model?" - JohnONolan, UK
- "£15 a month to use my existing 'unlimited' 3g connection on my laptop? I dont think so!" - DG, UK
- "Did you notice that in US prices have gone down for 3G, whereas here O2 has increased it!" - TG, UK

Meanwhile, a petition has begun calling for cheaper tethering, and Facebook groups have formed demanding early upgrades be offered for the device like they were for the original iPhone to 3G transition. O2 has confirmed on its official Twitter feed that users will have to buy themselves out of an existing contract to upgrade, and then sign a new one. That would cost £210 to buy out six months on a £35 contract.

The Twitter storm is erupting, too. Hundreds of tweets tagged with #o2fail are pouring in every few minutes. Many link to the aforementioned petition, though it's only gained just over a hundred virtual signatures at the time of writing.

Meanwhile, the US doesn't have it all rosy either. Despite getting a slight price cut on the handset, Americans are up in arms about having to wait until later this year for the tethering and MMS features that have no confirmed date for availability.

Full tags

Phones, Apple, iPhone, WWDC09, Carphone Warehouse, O2, Tariffs