AppleInsider Staff
The multi-function touch-screen handset will be available in the region beginning March 14 in an 8GB model for €399 and a 16GB iPhone for €499, O2 said during its fiscal fourth quarter conference call.
Similar to distribution in the UK, the iPhone will be made available through the carrier's retail stores as well as Carphone Warehouse stores.
Customers will be able to select between three monthly tariffs (calling plans), starting with a €45 option that includes 175 anytime minutes and 100 text messages. A €65 tariff includes 350 anytime minutes and 150 text messages, while the high end tariff offers 700 minutes and 250 text messages for €100.
All of the tariffs require an 18-month agreement and none include unlimited data or Visual Voicemail at this time. Instead, all three include just 1GB of data transfer and a 15c per minute charge for checking messages.
Ireland is just the fifth country to see an official rollout of the Apple handset and the first of 2008, joining the United States (AT&T), UK (O2), France (Orange), and Germany (T-Mobile), which launched last year.
Interestingly, word of the iPhone's arrival in the region comes just one day after eagle-eyed enthusiasts spotted references to O2 and Ireland in the latest version of the iPhone's firmware. The same firmware also included references to T-Mobile Austria.
Andrew Orr
Wesley Hilliard
Malcolm Owen
Christine McKee
William Gallagher
66 Comments
1 GB of data per month?
Terrible plans, and no incentive to switch to O2 if there's another carrier you can use in Ireland with an unlocked iPhone.
Terrible plans, and no incentive to switch to O2 if there's another carrier you can use in Ireland with an unlocked iPhone.
Hell yeah! The Irish are getting screwed. This will later be known as The Irish Data Famine.
I didn't expect to see the iPhone come to Ireland..
Disappointed with the price plans... And no visual voice mail? Whats the story with that?
I just bought a cracked iPhone last week and I'm toying with the idea of changing over to O2.. It's just hassle waiting for updates and cracking the software..
I guess the key thing to take from this is that Apple is willing to compromise and release without some of the signature features of the iPhone... Whether thats a good thing in the long run remains to be seen...