A quick look at the UK iPhone

I had a pre-release ‘look’ at one of 8 UK iPhones this afternoon thanks to the chaps at Carphone Warehouse. I asked if I could put some questions to their Head of Products (or Handsets, or the like) as I’d very much like to understand their expectations and reasons for their choice to work with Apple. Obviously the device itself is a winner, but did they fight a hard game with their competitors? Or was it always a dead cert? I wonder. Lots of questions to ask.

I’ve had my own iPhone for quite some time — enough to have used it continuously for 30 days to really get a view of what it’s like. But I really wanted to peer at a UK one.

Why? Well, geeky interest, I suppose. But I also wanted to see if there were any key changes.

There aren’t. It’s an updated set of firmware — 1.1.2 if memory serves — and of course, that comes with an iTunes button that lets you download direct from iTunes. But if you’ve upgraded your existing US iPhone, you should have that icon.

It was nice to see Maps and Youtube working — and good to see the o2 logo top left of the device. I’m very well disposed to o2 after their about turn on unlimited data recently.

Yup, folk are going to love it. Not least, Carphone Warehouse staffers who, I’m sure, will be loving the fact that the average retail time for the device can be measured in seconds since there are no contracts. There’s no arsing around with bits of paper, price plan brochures and the like. If you want an iPhone, simply choose the 4 or 8gig version, stick in your credit card and bish-bash-bosh, the device is in the bag and handed over, next-customer-please. It’s up to you to activate the device from your computer later on — and that’s when you commit to the contracts. What a breath of fresh air for the people retailing the devices!

Incidentally, I wonder if there will be a pay-as-you-go option. I forgot to ask…