Tesco Makes iPhone £1 Cheaper, 3 Keeps Quiet

Queues have formed for the launch of the iPhone 4, and the first few customers have purchased it. Tesco Mobile has announced its prices – leaving 3 as the best hope for a cheaper iPhone.

Tesco is keeping the price of the iPhone 4 high, and all the major UK operators will be stocking the iPhone 4, but  T-Mobile and 3 have yet to declare their tafiffs, however gadget site Pocket-Lint has reported that 3’s customer services  is offering to undercut rival plans.

Customers queue for iPhone 4

“Was it worth it?” one customer was asked, as he emerged from the O2 shop in Oxford Street, after queuing for at least two hours to get hold of the new Apple device. “Absolutely!” he replied.

For customers looking to shop around, Tesco Mobile uses O2’s network, so its prices are unsurprisingly similar to the other operators. Bargain hunters have unearthed the fact that one one plan you can “buy” the phone only £19 – as long as you pay £45 a month for two years.

Others have found that Apple has knocked £1 off the price of the new Apple phone. If you buy it wihout a contract from Tesco it will cost you £479, while it costs £480 on pay-as-you go from Orange, or £499 from the Apple site, although Apple’s pre-order stock sold out immediately.

When O2 announced its iPhone tariffs it caused confusion, and the operator’s stock of iPhones is limited to its existing customers.  O2 is currenlty facing a protest at its decision to stop offering unlimited mobile data, because high usage by some people has been overloading the network. Vodafone released its prices last week, as did Orange.

The joker in the pack, 3, is keeping very quiet, but a reader of Pocket-Lint reports that the operator was willing to undercut a quoted price from Orange. Where Orange offered a 16GB handset for £119 on a £35 monthly scheme, 3 offered the phone for £99 with £30 a month.

There will be details that may change the value of that, and it seems likely that 3 will also be giving priority to its existing customers. Anyone who asked to be told, will be getting a text from 3 today about the actual price plans.

The iPhone 4 is smaller and thinner than previous iPhones, and has a larger battery capable of 7 hours of talk time. It has a front-facing camera for video conferencing. Its iOS4 operating system, 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.