UK

O2 has started unlocking iPhones in the UK for users who want to switch from their network to Orange UK, the newest carrier to get the iPhone there. Users who signed up to have their devices unlocked have begun receiving texts messages instructing them to replace the O2 SIM card with that of a different carrier (in their case, Orange), and connect the device to iTunes. It's as simple as that.

UK carrier Orange has announced their pricing for the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS today to take effect at the official launch on November 10th. Prices vary with the contract you sign up for, ranging from free with an extensive plan to £539 for the 32 GB iPhone 3GS with a contract-free pay as you go plan. The pricing structure is almost exactly the same as O2's, with the exception of a lower 24-month contract and twice as many minutes and text on their entry-level 18-month contract.

Orange has announced that they will begin offering the iPhone 3GS in the UK starting on November 10, exactly one day after O2's contract for iPhone exclusivity in the region ends. While Vodafone has also announced plans to offer the device, it won't be until 2010, putting Orange in line to benefit most from the anti-O2 crowd.

A new web site has surfaced that allows users you watch live television via a QuickTime player in Safari. Per Macworld UK, tvcatchup.com allows both iPhone and desktop conputer users to currently watch 11 channels - BBC1, BBC2, ITV1, ITV2, Channel 4, Five, BBC Three, Film4, E4, More4, and 4Music.

In spite of an upcoming price war and a potential influx of iPhone handsets being returned, O2's UK division has temporarily run out of both the 16 and 32 GB iPhone 3GS models from the company's online store. According to The Telegraph, most physical outlets are said to have been without phones for two weeks. Supplies of the 32GB model were only depleted on or after September 28th.

On Friday, wireless carrier T-Mobile confirmed last month's rumors that the operator was scouring Europe for contract-free Apple iPhones to offer as incentives for customers to stay with them.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Richard Moat, UK managing director of T-Mobile stated that T-Mobile had supplied iPhones "to a few hundred" high-value contract customers.

UK iPhone carrier O2 has signed a deal with BT Openzone, adding another 3,000 Wi-Fi hotspots that O2 iPhone users can now access in hotels, airports and coffee shops, including Starbucks. This is in addition to the 5,000 owned and operated by The Cloud that iPhone owners can also access.
[via Macworld]

In retaliation of AT&T and O2's unwillingness to subsidize the iPhone 3G S for current 3G owners, users on Twitter are forming "twittitions", a new virtual petition that users can "sign" by posting a tweet. At the time this was written, the Twitition for O2, which was created first, was at 2621 signatures, and the AT&T Twitition at 1858 signatures.

According to Mobile Today, O2 will be dropping the price of the iPhone 3G some time this May in preparation for a new iPhone launch from Apple either some time this June or July. The price drop will make the 8GB model free on the £35 and £45/month contracts where it currently costs between £59 and £159.

Classes on developing for the iPhone in one way or another have been popping up around the US, even though the strict NDA attached to the iPhone SDK remains in place. The NDA indirectly prohibits the sharing of information on how to write code for the iPhone, but that's not stopping North London's Qantm College from introducing their own iPhone Game Development course.