Many months after the handset’s US launch and mere days from becoming available in the UK, the iPhone’s chastity is under threat already from ambitious hackers who aim to unlock the handset from sole network O2 “within hours” of it going on sale.  It’s an ambitious sign of the ambivalence some users are feeling toward both Apple and their UK partner, fuelled by pricing significantly higher than their US counterparts are faced with – £269 ($560) for the handset, and the cheapest line rental package comes in at £35 ($73) a month – and specifications that pale, on the page at least, compared to that offered in other high-end handsets. 

Analysts, frankly, aren’t impressed:

“Our view is that 200,000 in the first couple of months is a very aggressive target.  This is very different from the frenzied launch in the US, which will not be repeated. In addition, there’s an alternative product which people interested in buying into a similar experience can get — the iPod Touch” Ben Wood, CCS Insight

O2 recently lifted the data cap on the iPhone-related package, but concerns are still being raised regarding the lack of EDGE coverage in the UK.  So far only 30-percent of the UK has EDGE service, predominantly biased toward major cities, a fact guaranteed to dampen the spirits of the sort of high-end users the network expects to flock to the iPhone.