O2 expects high demand for iPhone 3G: one per customer only
O2 has just announced that, due to expected high demand for the iPhone 3G, orders will be limited to just one per customer on a strictly first-come-first-serve basis. It’s not clear whether the Carphone Warehouse will also impose this restriction, but it’s likely.
Unlike our American friends, who have now been told by AT&T that the handset will go on sale from 8am local time at AT&T stores, all we have to go on is the 11th July date. Rumours of O2 stores opening at 7am may be true, though we never saw preregistration begin yesterday.
O2’s email, sent to anyone who expressed an interest in the iPhone 3G, ominously reads “we will be writing to you again before the 11th with details about how you could place your order”. Perhaps I’m just paranoid, but that use of the word “could” suggests that O2 may be able to pick and choose who is lucky enough to get their hands on the new handset come next Friday.
“Sorry sir, you’re not wearing the obligatory polo neck sweater. You’ll have to wait until August.”
Still no official word on prices for the pay-as-you-go handset, though AT&T is planning to charge $599 for the 8GB model and $699 for the 16GB model if bought without a contract. This would make O2’s leaked PAYG figures seem reasonable, though it’s likely the contract-free iPhone 3G won’t be available on launch day.
In related news, environmentally-conscious iPhone fans will be pleased to hear that Apple is to encase the iPhone 3G in packaging made from potato starch. Chips on the inside, chips on the outside… or something like that.
O2 staff will not get bonus points for asking the exasperated person 200th in the iPhone queue if they “want fries with that”.
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