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Contractual obligations

In November 2007, I bought an iPhone 8GB. I was in the middle of an existing contract with O2, and it cost me £269, with a new 18-month contract.

In July 2008, I bought an iPhone 3G 16GB. I was still in the middle of an existing contract with O2, and it cost me £189 with a new 18-month contract.

In June 2009, I want to buy an iPhone 3G S 32GB. I am still in the middle of an existing contract with O2, and if I want to do so it will cost me £512 with a 18-month contract (unless I commit to a 24-month contract, in which case it will cost me £413).

A fair portion of people seem to think that by having signed a contract this renders complaints about this cost null and void; I respectfully disagree. By charging customers a significant amount up front for the device, the network operator has set a precedent* that the consumer owns the device outright where previously it was obviously subsidised.

Whilst this will presumably create some negative press for O2, most customers will have to make the hard choice: cough up the extra or wait before buying the new device. I don’t think Apple would be happy with either situation though; I have to wonder how much longer they will be continue network exclusivity in the face of this and other criticism of carriers dragging their heels.

*Some have remarked that this has long been the case for “Smartphones”, but given that most of these devices have not been popular with most consumers and were instead more heavily targeted at business customers, it’s fair to say most people are new to this concept.