iPhone crosses the puddle. 3G missing in action.

Apple have really missed the boat here. 2.5G will (and has) sold like hot cakes in the US as it's the standard, but with Widespread 3G in the UK, the early adopter will be loath to step back from 3G to 2.5G. The Camera is inadequate compared to those currently available and a lack of MMS will be a big miss for some people.

O2 have the worst customer service in the UK, and only 200 texts for £35 a month is absurd.

Nokia, Motorola and Sony have new devices due out that will more than compete with the iPhone.

On top of all of this, the iPod Touch is probably a bigger threat to the iPhone than any other mobile phone, it has the two features most people want, Music and Browsing.

The Fanboys will buy one, some who like the look will buy one, but with the high price for the device, poor monthly package and poor 2.5G Coverage it's not going to sell half as well as in the US.

The pricing in the UK is not just down to VAT. Various process, banking charges and service fees are all higher in the UK than just about anywhere in Europe. This the means the gernal cost of living is much higher.

With the iPhone, most Americans and American companies treat everything like it's part of America, refusing to cater for individual countries. Some Americans even think Europe is one country!! Anti-American has unforutnately been growing around the world for a while as a result while Americans choose to ignore this and it's consequences.

I have a mobile phone and it works well however I do want an iPhone. I also own an ageing iPod. So for my money, I could get an 8GB iPhone with a much slow internet connection than I'm used to and on a worse network, or stick with my mobile and get an iPod Classic with 160GB (enough to use it as a backup hard drive as well).

The decision is an easy one to make. Get an iPod classic and wait a couple of years before getting an iPhone.

Now that the 3G version is officially announced to arrive in 2008 I wonder how many in Europe will actually fork over that much money for a phone that is getting devalued so fast. Those same people have been getting the latest handsets for free under long term or heavy use contracts so it makes absolutely no sense unless one is quite well off and simply spends without thinking.

If Apple could have coupled the gorgeous iPhone interface with smartphone standards like 3G, MMS and a video-capable camera, maybe then they could justify the combination of high handset and contract prices.

But they didn't, and what UK customers are left with is a very nice, but very expensive handset which doesn't support some of the most basic features of its competitors.

And for that reason, it deserves to tank over here. This is greed on the part of either Apple or O2, and I'm guessing since most other networks passed on the contract terms, it's not O2.

According to the mobile data association 352 million MMS messages were sent in the UK in 2006... ...that numbers not going to drop. Enough said about that.

As many people have said you can much better phones with higher spec for less. Apple are clearly selling this product as an Ipod that can make calls. They are selling the brand, the interface... ...and that is what people will buy. Shiny goods with an apple logo.

It's not the phone price thats the problem its that O2 have made a special tariff just for the iPhone that is a rip off - only 200mins and 200texts for £35/month!!! What were they thinking.

"No 3G
No MMS
No Video recording
No Starbucks WiFi (As it’s run by T-Mobile)"

1. What what I've read, the real world speeds of 3G isn't all that, so perhaps isn't such a big deal
2. I send way more email than MMS. Lack of MMS makes no difference to me at all.
3. The cloud hotspots are closer to me than the nearest starbucks. TBH, having a hotspot in the pub is a much better deal than having it in the coffee shop :)

In Australia Telstra wants it to be next-G ( UMTS 850 with HSDPA ) giving 3.6Mbs, they are abandoning all others.

With you alasdair...bluetooth limitations are one of my only gripes...2mp is fine for a phone camera, I have a Canon EOS if I want to take a proper picture. 5mp, 7mp is all useless behind the cheap lens and flash on a phone, like the N95's GPS is a very very poor substitute for a tomtom or a garmin and just leaves it needing more power. The iPhone, judging by real world battery reports, strikes the right balance for actually having a usable device. The amount of my friends whose N95s are bricks by the end of an evening is ludicrous...

One thing I do want, though, is wifi syncing with my mac...then I can have my iPhone sitting in a dock next to my bed, charging, playing music until I sleep and waking me up, while it's synce my pod casts etc overnight...THAT would be nice.

Let's face it, Apple will sell bucket-loads of iPhones in the UK to a wide demographic [including me] because the iPhone quite simply has the best user experience for any mobile to date.

No MMS? Big deal, nobody uses MMS [except perhaps Dazaroonie] or needs to use MMS when you've got mobile email.

No 3G? Big deal, nobody needs 3G when at home/work and increasingly WiFi is replacing 3G for out-of-home usage. Have you tried using 3G on a train recently?

No free ringtones? Oh, grow up.

To be honest, I'm getting really sick of people complaining about the fact that the handset costs £269. Okay, so I can sign up to a new 18 month contract and get a free handset [like the fugly Nokia 95] but I'm more than used to buying new handsets during my contract period and paying upwards of £300, so it's no big deal.

I'm also getting tired of people bitching about the 2 Megapixel camera. Jeez - if you want a decent stills camera, buy a Digital SLR. And if you want a decent video camera, buy something that'll shoot HD.

No doubt iPhone version 2.0 will solve lots of issues and be a better unit but to be honest version 1.0 is still miles ahead of any other unit out there in terms of the actual user experience.

My only complaint is that they've crippled Bluetooth.