3 Announces Best UK iPhone 4 Prices

The UK’s smallest mobile operator, 3, has as predicted come out with the cheapest offer for the iPhone 4, clearly aiming to grow its presence and build a share of the smartphone market.

The operator has confirmed its price plans, with the Apple iPhone 4 costing £99 when bought with a £30-a-month plan. This gives the user 500 minutes, 5000 texts, 1GB data and 5000 minutes on 3’s network.  To get “free” handset, users have to go to £45 a month.

But when could we get one?

That is a better offer than those announced by O2, Vodafone or even Tesco, as other operators are generally expecting at least £60 per month if users don’t want to pay money up front for the device.

However, the operator’s coverage may be less good in some areas, and it is still teasing customers – it hasn’t said whether that is 18 or 24 months, and nor has it said when customers can actually get an iPhone 4 – though some have predicted they will be available next week.

Business has been brisk for shops that have stock of the new device, with users queuing up. Apple’s pre-order stock sold from its site very rapidly

The iPhone 4 is smaller and thinner than earlier devices, aand allows more talk time. It has two cameras, to support video conferencing, and its iOS4 operating system – also available for the iPad and older iPhones – has abilities such as multitasking.

Some predicted that iPhone prices would reduce this year, but demand has been very high. In the US, pre-orders for the iPhone 4 crashed Apple and AT&T servers.