OK, first let’s get something straight – I WANT to buy an iPhone, I really do. I’ve been waiting for this sucker for the best part of a decade and to be honest I think I’ve shown extraordinary and uncharacteristic patience. Now, though, my patience is really going to be tested…

Apple released the iPhone officially in the UK today on the O2 network, so of course the doors were flung open at 6:02pm. (Give whoever was in that marketing meeting a medal) Forget the fact it’s not 3G, forget the fact it costs nearly £300, and forget the fact that I still have 5 months of an Orange contract to see out – I did so very want to merrily join the queue as I strolled past, but my sanity returned, and after putting some distance between me and the Carphone Warehouse’s shiny display stands and sinking into the clammy tube train seat I tried desperately to be at one with the decision I’d made.

I’m going to wait. It won’t be easy, but I can do it…

I’m usually an early adopter, I like having these things early. I still have my first generation iPod which is totally dead but I can’t bring myself to throw it away as I was a member of that exclusive club before it caught on and white headphones were ten-a-penny. (One day will repurpose it but that’s another blog entry) People around me are going to start flashing their iPhones in my face and I’m going to have to grit my teeth and smile sweetly.

Why aren’t I buying an iPhone?

It’s expensive
It’s undoubtedly worth every penny at the point of purchase, but I’ve just maxed out the old credit cards on a trip to New York and Christmas is around the corner. It just wouldn’t be a sensible decision at the moment. The purchase price doesn’t bother me half as much as the ongoing monthly contract though. Bear in mind that usually in the UK we get our phones for free or heavily subsidised through our line rental, but for an iPhone I’d be buying to outright and then paying at least £35 a month for 18 months. That’s actually a total price of £899…

The call plan is rubbish
The minimum O2 call plan is £35 a month for which you get 200 minutes and 200 texts. That’s not really an amazing deal, there are some FAR better price plans out there, but O2 have apparently had to pay so much for the rights to the iPhone, I guess they have to recoup their money somehow. The word is that Apple are also taking a cut of this. Of course, it does include unlimited data, which is actually unlimited since the boss of O2 agreed their ‘fair use’ policy did actuall amount to a limit and was misleading.

It’s not 3G
Wi-Fi is all well and good, but the only reliable hotspot I know of at the moment is in my living room, where I would just use my PowerBook. I imagine 90% of the time I would be using data over O2′s EDGE network which I’ve heard is slow. My experience of using the iPhone in NYC confirmed this. I could put up with this limit if I didn’t know an iPhone v2 is undoubtedly around the corner, so by the second half of 2008 there will be a shiny new razor-sharp, lightning-fast iPhone and Apple will have left me behind again. The thing s: Can I wait until after next summer?

I’m still on Orange!
The biggest reason that I can’t get an iPhone is that I’m lumbered with Orange until April. I’ve been meaning to leave them for years, especially after the truly horriffic experience we had over their appalling broadband service. The thing is, last year they offered me so much stuff in their desperate attempt to retain my custom, that I caved in, and now I’m stuck with them for another 6 months. I could of course buy myself out, but that would cost £120, which makes the iPhone a LOT more costly.

So…

I’m not getting one, I’ll have to watch others prodding away at theirs, but I’m going to wait. By April I’m hoping the rumour-mill will give me something in the way of an iPhone v2 to focus on and after I’ve got one of those I can pat myself on the back for my good judgement. Of course, as the iPhone isn’t subsidised by the contract, in theory there wouldn’t be anything stopping me getting an one, then upgrading to the next version when it comes out and selling my original one. If O2 will allow this, (and they ought to) it might see me owning an iPhone sooner rather than later…