With Tesco releasing its price list for the iPhone, which it starts selling from 14 December, there is a question over which of the three UK sources of iPhones has got its pricing right.
The odd one out appears to be Orange, which is charging a flat fee of £122.34 a month for a two-year contract with unlimited minutes but a 750Mbyte "fair usage" download limit. This makes an Orange contract almost twice as expensive over the term of the contract as O2 or Tesco.
O2 appears to offer the best deal for those who do a lot on the internet, offering 50 hours of talk time and unlimited downloads.
Tesco's offer unbundles the cost of the phone from airtime, charging £407 for the top-end 3GS with 32Mbytes of memory and £60 a month for unlimited airtime and downloads.
iPhone prices for a 24-month contract
| 3G (8Mbytes) | 3GS (16Mbytes) | 3GS (32Mbytes) | Airtime per month | Total cost of ownership | Other | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tesco | £222 |
£320 |
£407 |
60 |
£1,847 |
Unlimited minutes and data |
| Orange | - |
- |
- |
£122.34 |
£2,936 |
Unlimted minutes, 750Mbytes data |
| O2 | - |
- |
- |
£73.41 |
£1,761 |
3,000 minutes, unlimited data |
