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O2 sells out of iPhones in the UK
Thursday, May 08 2008
by Maxim Kelly


O2 UK has sold out of the 8GB iPhone three weeks after
slashing the price by 37 percent, but is still charging Irish
customers EUR399 for the end-of-life product. 

An announcement on the O2 UK website confirmed the 8GB iPhone
was no longer available. The company also ran out of the 16GB
model at the same time, but stressed it would have more of
the larger-capacity handset in stock soon.  



In a statement, O2 UK said: "The 16GB iPhone was
temporarily out of stock on our online store this morning. We
are replenishing stock of the 16GB iPhone and customers
wishing to purchase through our online store will be able to
shortly."  



But O2 was unable to provide a straightforward answer
concerning future 8GB iPhone stocks. When asked by ENN
whether there were any plans to replenish stocks, a
spokeswoman replied: "We are currently reviewing our stock
of the 8GB iPhone."   



Carphone Warehouse in the UK was also out of stock of both
versions of the iPhone on Thursday.  



The clearance of 8GB iPhone stocks, which comes in the
lead-up to the expected announcement of a 3G iPhone next
month, adds further fuel to the fire of those who have
complained about O2's pricing strategy for the device in
Ireland.   



At the time of the Irish iPhone launch in March, Cubic
Telecom CEO Pat Phelan accused O2 of levying a "paddy tax"
on Irish consumers because of the "massive difference" in
tariff pricing between the UK and Ireland. He calculated
Irish users were getting 175 minutes talk time, 100 texts and
1GB of data for STG35 while UK users paid the same for 600
minutes talk time, 500 texts and unlimited data.  



Aside from tariff pricing, O2 and Apple are currently
charging Irish customers EUR399 for the 8GB iPhone, 55
percent above the discounted price of STG169 in the UK(taking
into account the different VAT rates in the UK and Ireland). 




While O2 has kept UK pricing for the 16GB iPhone at STG329,
the price is still 13 percent below the EUR499 charged in
Ireland (again, taking the different VAT rates into account).
 



Citing the March 2008 launch of the iPhone in Ireland, the
company's Irish operation has sought to defend the lack of a
price promotion on the 8GB model by claiming it is in a
different phase of the retail cycle compared to the UK, where
the product launched in November 2007. 



A spokeswoman for O2 Ireland added the iPhone was "going
well" and it had "enough in stock to cater for demand at
the minute".