Apple launched its iPhone in the UK less than three months ago, but exclusive network provider 02 have already seen fit to lower the price of their monthly tariffs.

02 won the race to be Apple’s partner in the UK, and is the only network provider for the iPhone, unless you jailbreak your phone to use with a different network. It’s basically the AT&T for British Apple customers.

The iPhone launched in the UK on November 9th, and started very well, with Apple enthusiasts queuing overnight in the rain just to get their hands on the gadget, but since then sales have slowed substantially. In fact, reports suggested just this month that the iPhone hadn’t sold the number of units expected of it over the first two months.

Which leads me on to today’s announcement of a cut in tariff prices, and more minutes and texts given away to iPhone users on the 02 network. Of course they’re not linked, I’m sure sales had nothing to do with the move whatsoever.

The current lowest monthly tariff of £35 will now offer users three times as many texts and minutes for their money. The mid priced £55 per month deal will now be cut to just £45 from this Friday. And just for those people who can’t get enough of their iPhones, and have very deep pockets, 02 are introducing a new £75 a month tariff, which will come with 3,000 minutes and 500 text messages.

All existing customers, who have already bought their handsets, and are on 18 month contracts, will be changed over to the new plans by the middle of March.

Steve Alder, an 02 spokesman, told The Guardian that this was merely an adjustment, and didn’t signal anything about the overall state of iPhone sales in the UK:

“These things take time to organise. This is not a reaction to anything we’re concerned about,” he said. “We’re very happy with the kind of customers, and the number of customers that we’re getting.”

Sure sure, and the Queen of England plays the Wii in her spare time. The Brits are a notoriously fickle bunch when it comes to technology, and buying gadgets, and surveys had shown that they weren’t buying the iPhone due to the high cost of owning one.

Although these newly introduced tariffs go some way towards helping, I really can’t see the iPhone doing anywhere near as well in Europe as it has in the States.

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Entry was posted on Wednesday, January 30th, 2008 at 3:48 pm under Apple, Cell phones, Opinion, Retail, Technology.

Read more entries by Dave Parrack.
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