How to get an iPhone in the UK – THIS WEEKEND!

You need one. Even if you don’t particularly want one or like Apple that much, iPhone is the must-have gadget for at least the rest of June and the best thing to show girls in the pub this summer. So here’s how to make sure you get one before the novelty wears off.

iPhone is quad-band GSM so is fully compatible with UK networks. But remember, the iPhone is locked to AT&T in the States so you’ll need to get it unlocked upon its arrival. Which means paying some unsavoury back-street merchant about £20 and hoping he doesn’t break/steal it or scratch the screen with his big, clumsy fingers and tools.

Or, if you want to guarantee your iPhone works, get it set up in the States first then use it in the UK under a roaming tariff. It’ll mean paying a vast amount of money to use the thing here, but if you want the newest Apple products that’s sort of what you have to do anyway.

Here are a few other ways to guarantee yourself an iPhone well before the UK launch…

BUY AN EBAY FAKE
No one over here’s going to know what the genuine iPhone looks and feels like in the flesh for months, so they’ll probably fall for a good fake. Just don’t let anyone hold it, else they might know from the cheap plastic casing and the way the logo actually says “EyePhone”. Say you’re precious about it and only let people look at it from quite far away.

TOTAL PRICE: £100

GO TO NEW YORK AND CAMP OUT FOR ONE
You deserve a holiday. It’s hard work sitting in that office being on Messenger all day. So fly to New York and buy an iPhone yourself – you can get a return from about £290 at the moment, plus if you’re camping outside an Apple store you save money by not getting a hotel room. And with the current exchange rate, it’ll no doubt work out cheaper than waiting for the UK model to come out. The 4GB model’s ‘only’ $499 – which is £250 and a bargain if you’re picking one up yourself.

TOTAL PRICE: £540

MAKE AN INTERNET FRIEND BUY ONE
You must know someone who lives in America. Come on, someone in your Warcraft guild must live out there? One of your blog readers? That random woman you occasionally talk to on Messenger? Pay them a 20 percent commission and try to get a couple sent over so you’ve got one to eBay yourself for a vast profit. And make sure they mark the package as a “gift” and say it’s only worth $5, so you don’t get done for import duty.

TOTAL PRICE: £300

BUY A LINKSYS IPHONE
Remember this? The one with the law suit? Get one of these and you can tell people in all honesty that you own an iPhone. You can even take a lie detector test. Just tell everyone you paid so much money for it you’re keeping it at home. And if anyone comes round, say you’ve lent it to a magazine for a photo shoot as it’s THAT IN DEMAND.

TOTAL PRICE: £78.85

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