I'm always amused how end-product compromises (read: deficiencies) lead to certain UI design decisions. Particularly so here with the iPhone's visual indication of whether or not you're picking up the full-blown 384kbps (chortle - Ed.) experience.

Where by amused, I of course mean royally flummoxed.

The skinny: November 9th, the 8GB iPhone at £269 with unlimited data plans from £35 to £55, subject to fair usage).

About bloody time! In terms of price, the device and tarrif details aren't too steep - but November does seem awfully far off. Looks like reports of O2 getting in at the 11th hour were correct. As for O2 bending over to accomodate Apple - if the claims that 40% of all service revenues going straight to Apple are accurate, it's certainly unprecedented in the mobile industry.

Apple have very little to lose here, as in the US Market, where any reasonable number of sales almost guarantee Apple a break-even figure, if not a profit. With O2, the deal is a little more shaky. Having to invest in covering the country with an EDGE network is no small task – and 30% coverage at launch isn’t all that impressive, either. In fact, it plain sucks. Of course, those partial to watching paint dry can fall back on GPRS until the rollout is complete.

I do wonder whether we’ll see them ramp coverage quickly, or hold out for a 2008 timeframe for the release of a 3G UMTS iPhone and quietly leave EDGE coverage behind. Despite being a reliable and comparatively cheap upgrade for existing GSM/GPRS networks, I think O2 will need to get more use out of the investment they're putting in now, otherwise the deal will might not work out for them. A single-device network upgrade proposition with eventual users numbering in the low millions - it wont come cheap!

It’s no surprise then that in this instance, Apple and O2 have leveraged O2’s existing usage of The Cloud, a country-wide Wi-Fi coverage project. Bearing in mind the project is due to cover many major metropolitan areas in the coming years, free access to The Cloud’s 7,500 Wi-Fi hotspots is a welcome addition to an already well-priced unlimited data plan.

Talking of prices, while £269 is steep bearing in mind the conversion rate, if you indulge Steve Jobs’ “VAT makes business over the pond pricey” argument, it’s certainly nice that Apple haven’t screwed us over by pitching for the original $600 asking price, plus market differences. And bearing in mind the US $300 figure doens't include sales taxes, that's only a £28 difference when you exclude VAT over here. I think that's a record for Apple pricing a UK item and resisting the urge to mark it up by simply changing the dollar sign in to a pound one.

I also think the £250-300 ballpark is a sensible one - and one that (excluding the "Oh my God, a contract phone with a price tag" camp) should see a lot of satisfied owners. If you’re really looking to get some bang for your buck, now that we know that hardware specs are identical on the European unit, there’s nothing to stop individuals purchasing a US iPhone at the cut dollar, sans-VAT conversion rate, then using the UK iTunes activation process to restore it when signing up for O2 later in the year.

As suspected, the Carphone Warehouse (Worst. Named. Store. Ever.) got in on the action too. Apple, worried by O2’s retail outlet presence, have drafted in the 1,300 store-strong mobile retail giant to assist with sales. Let’s hope O2’s network holds up with thousands of iTunes iPhone activations better than O2’s online store has this morning (flooded by requests for information, it’s still down three hours later).

The 1.1.1 firmware update present on the UK iPhone also brings with it the expected updates in terms of European keyboard support (is the globe button next to the space bar for localised characters?), closed captioning and user-selectable carrier options (presumably for roaming?). Also welcome is the home button double-click shortcut which, like the iPod touch, brings up controls for the currently playing songs, whether or not the iPhone is locked or in a different application. Again, as in the US, the update brings the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store access promised, which debuts first in October on the iPod touch.

The Apple UK PR release also contains a few other nitty-gritty details, namely that availability and activation will run much the same as in the US, where O2 will offer cross-grades to existing customers with different tarrifs. £35 buys you 200 minutes and SMS messages, while £45 and £55 will ramp you up to 600 minutes and 1200 minutes respectively, both with a 500 SMS message allowance. Number porting is a given, but may take up to 5 days during which time you'll enjoy a temporary number. That should be a relief to those not hoping to see a repeat of customers being left with expensive paper weights for up to 48 hours while activation went through AT&T procurement.

All in all, a predictable UK launch for one of the hottest products of the year, but a welcome one for sure. Bring on November 9th.


Update: 2pm and the O2 promo page is finally back up again after "improving their store." Up, but intermittent - bravo O2.

Update 2: So busy infact, they not only moved the page, but made it lighter and more static. Though why does the text at the bottom say the iPhone is available from 19th October, I wonder? Looks like someone was pushing for an earlier launch...