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Following close behind a similar sizeable price reduction in Germany, the UK price of the iconic iPhone has now been slashed by a solid 100 GBP, leading to claims by industry watchers that Apple’s touch-screen smartphone is struggling to maintain its sales momentum.
UK carrier O2 and retailer Carphone Warehouse slice 100GBP off the iPhone. Credit: Apple.
Put in place by exclusive UK carrier O2 and prominent retailer the Carphone Warehouse, the limited-time offer sees the iPhone drop from its old selling price of 269 GBP down to a much more -- albeit temporarily -- pocket-tempting 169 GBP.
The price reduction will run until June 01 and applies to all tariff plans for the 8GB iPhone. The more storage friendly 16GB model is not included in the drop and remains priced at 329 GBP.
While O2 is claiming the 100 GBP price cut makes Apple’s iPhone an “unbeatable proposition” in the mobile phone market, and Carphone Warehouse believes the cut will “broaden the phone’s appeal,” the BBC’s technology expert, Rory Cellan-Jones, is not wholly convinced.
Specifically, Cellan-Jones has offered that the reduction’s rather abrupt appearance is perhaps an indication that Apple’s device isn’t selling as well as its exclusive UK carrier would like.
Of course, O2’s outlook is to remind potential critics that since its November 2007 launch, the iPhone has risen to become the carrier’s fastest-selling mobile phone handset and that the price reduction is merely an attempt to expand further upon such successful foundations.
The 100GBP hardware price cut arrives after O2 began widening the iPhone’s appeal in February by reducing some of its tariff prices and also tripling the text and minute allocations assigned to the handset’s standard 35 GBP per month usage plan.
While O2 and Carphone Warehouse may well be looking to use the price reduction to build on the iPhone’s current success, the sudden drop is also likely to fuel speculation that carriers and retailers are eager to shift first-generation (EDGE) stock ahead of the arrival of Apple’s second-generation model, which will come equipped with superior 3G network technology.
The recent price drop in Germany saw exclusive regional carrier T-Mobile hack the 8GB iPhone down to a mere 99 Euros (which is the equivalent of just 78 GBP).
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