iPhone Hits the UK

The much hyped UK launch of the iPhone took place today in London, where it was announced that 02 would be the operator of choice. The event was well covered by TechCrunch. O2 password protect their press releases on their website (uh duh!), but most of the press and analysts have posted their views. Not much news, still no 3G and a fairly heftly tarrif from O2, as covered in the Guardian yesterday. At the launch, Mr Jobs said that 3G support would have reduced the battery life, due to additional power requirements. The tariffs do feature unlimited GPRS usage and the WiFi gives access when you find a HotSpot - not so easy in London these days.

There will undoubtedly be stories about people hacking the UK iPhones to work on other networks, but as at least one user has found out, this might not be a good idea unless you want a no-phone.

The iPhone has huge promise as a communication s device. The iPod can be integrated with GTD, the iPhone and iTouch have the potential to take this to another level, making it a great productivity tool. I am sure that Apple will add more features as time goes on, the recently discovered iTouch system mode implies there are extra capabilities. It would be great to have a universal capture device that had a voice recorder, camera and email all in one. After the fuss in the US, lots of people will be waiting to see if there will be a price drop - the current pricing means the first year of owning an iPhone will set you back over one thousand pounds. That makes a pretty tough ROI for me, which will defend against the “but it is soon cool, buy it” urge.

Update: The Guardian has posted an article on the launch. It looks like Internet access will be via The Cloud’s Hot Spots. Will the iPhone make it as a GTD PDA?