Play.com sells unlocked Apple iPhone 3G

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The unlocked device is sold SIM-free, meaning users can run the handset on any mobile phone network of their choice, rather than being tied to O2, Apple’s exclusive carrier of the iPhone in the UK.

Customers will have to a premium for the unlocked phones, however. Play.com is selling an unlocked 8GB iPhone for £549.99 and the unlocked 16GB model for £599.99. Stocks of the 16GB iPhone have already run out.

It’s a huge increase on the price customers have to pay for the phone when they sign up to a contract with O2. Customers can get an 8GB iPhone for free with a £44.05 per month, 18-month contract, or buy the 8GB handset on a pay-as-you-go basis for £342.33.

And Carphone Warehouse recently confirmed that it would start giving away the 16GB iPhone for free when customers sign up to a two-year O2 contract for £34.26 per month.

Apple is widely expected to unveil a new iPhone this summer at its Worldwide Developer’s Conference in San Francisco. It has already given gadget fans a sneak peek at its iPhone 3.0 software update, which will bring cut-and-paste to the iPhone, as well as the ability to send picture messages and get push-notifications from applications, such as instant-messaging programs, whenever a new message is received.

According to website Boy Genius Report, a source at AT&T, the exclusive iPhone carrier in the US, has confirmed that a new iPhone will be launched around mid-June, and that a new application will allow iPhone users to use their phone to control other gadgets around their home, such as their digital video recorder.

Apple has sold more than 17 million iPhones worldwide since the device first went on sale in July 2007.


Source:telegraph