Hey Folks,

You may have noticed my hiatus from these boards of late, I do keep reading them but just don't have a chance to reply. I have been really busy, and now the project is reaching fruition I have a more time and wanted to share some exciting news for Orange customers.

The CEO of Orange will be announcing today that the iPhone 3GS will be available direct by the end of Autumn this year. It will be available direct on the web, through telesales and in retail. Pricing and launch date will be revealed at a later date, but the initial news about the phone is no longer a secret and will be public knowledge shortly.

Exciting news for Orange and it's customers - and even O2 customers as there is no longer a monopoly on the device. Lets look forward to some competitive price points on the device and tarrifs.

Can pre-register interest at https://interest.orange.co.uk/default.aspx

More info at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8278073.stm

Was just about to come back and post the register interest link

http://www.orange.co.uk/iPhone

Also a bit more info for you:

Orange UK will sell the latest iPhone, the iPhone 8GB 3G and 3GS 16GB and 32GB in both white and black, through all the Orange direct channels including high street stores, the web shop, telesales channels, and selected partners.

Wonder how many people will register interest in the first 24 hours? I know three people who have already registered their details!

It's very interesting, I wonder if it'll stimulate a bit of competition in tariff pricing between o2 and Orange or whether Apple have much say in the pricing structure now that it's a non-exclusive deal. Personally I think the cost of the device itself is probably about right, but don't like o2's monthly pricing much.

Well the register interest site is taking a while to load so I believe a few are trying to do so, and front line staff are receiving increased enquiry calls about the device already so interest is definitely high.

wooo cant wait I am currently using a 3G on orange so this will be great when it's all official I will be ringing to change my tariff if they do an iPhone tariff.

this will be my next years upgrade

I got my iphone on pay as you on O2 but the OH will definitely be interested he's been an Orange customer for donkeys years and would love an iphone

Well I'll certainly be interested to see what price point and talkplans Orange come up with and if O2 respond to try to be competitive. I ended up getting the 3GS on PAYG (and selling my 3G) as the contract I had with my 3G doesn't run out till January - I may end up switching to Orange for the next one though if the price is right as I get rather poor O2 reception at work.

I wonder if this will mean that O2 will have to allow their iPhones to be unlocked once end of contract is reached?

They should have done that anyway.

Its nice to see the iPhone officially coming to Orange - its been unofficially available for a good amount of time already - a colleague had them from Orange on a business tariff at his employers. It was a "sweetener" of sorts. He couldn't stand them, kept his WM devices.

Orange will probably spoil it by having their livery all over it.

I can't say anything too much - but can you see Apple allowing Orange to write their own firmware?

Didn't think so.

thats the one beauty with the iPhone, jobbs will not let anyone infect it with their own firmware

Another thing I'm wondering is whether Apple will now start offering unlocked handsets from their website as they do in other places where they have multi-carrier agreements (e.g. australia).

Ooh, I'm an Orange Dolphin customer, and really looking forward to this.

Is Oranges 3G service better than O2's then?
Wife is due to upgrade on O2 and I am in a month or so, we've both got 3G iPhones.
Been trying to get her a 16GB 3Gs for the last few weeks on O2, like hens teeth so still nowt, might be time to jump ship.

Yes OJ do have a better 3G network, it will be interesting to see the reaction of an O2 customer when they see the iPhone working much faster for a OJ customer when downloading/uploading data.

do Orange have better coverage than O2? i used to be with vodaphone, but have noticed O2's coverage doesn't seen as good.

if Orange is better, should it be possible to switch from a PAYG SIM to an Orange one?

Iain

Orange have the largest 2G/3G Intergrated network out of the Big 4.

Coverage itself is swings and roundabouts though to be fair with all of the major networks. All claim to have a high 90% coverage, but coverage holes exist.

Oh happy days are here again, la la lala la la lala...

I've already got a 3GS on PAYG, but if Orange start offering a SIM only tariff for existing iPhone owners, I'm there! Au revior O2 - it's been... brief.

When I had an Orange contract the data network was terrible! It either dropped connections or just didn't connect.

Exact same location back on O2 and I get perfect 3G, quick, speedy and reliable.

Nice! The competition should be good, and should get the iPhone into more hands.

Now if it was going onto Vodafone, Id be tempted to switch.

very pleased about this - i'm due an upgrade next may so hopefully by then, there'll be some competitive price plans.

LOL theres nothing to tell aside from the press release

The likely hood is there will be a small price war at least from Orange's side, I expect it will be free on 24mth contracts around £35 per month, but this is where the key part comes in. Unless you're a liberate customer (employee in other words), Orange doesn't offer at present an all you can eat data bundle currently its 500mb. I suspect there will be specific iPhone tariffs akin to the Nokia 5800 Comes With Music, so there will be unlimited data but also I think to kick O2's backside there will be unlimited texts. As this is a huge gripe for a lot of iPhone users presently.

The only thing that bothers me now is I have been somewhat nonchalant towards the phone for the last 2 yrs and I wonder now if I have to treat it like the jesus phone Apple would have us believe. I am not saying its a bad phone, never have done its just a phone nothing special beyond its UI. However this should also mean that the popularity of the phone will increase in thsi country at least.

Lawe13 do you reckon we'll be able to use friends and family with the iPhone?

Cant see the competition being too fierce. Both networks will need to cover the costs of the handsets in the tariff. Plus, Orange staff get paid much more comission than O2 staff so there is a bigger cost to cover there!

Orange seem to like giving free crap away so guess they'll go with some of that!

As I understand it O2 stores work on a voucher system don't they?

Orange staff get paid on average 7 quid per upgrade/new contract handset they dish out on 18/24 months (in Retail ain't a clue what goes on in retentions).

As for free crap.........not sure what you mean by that