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The move will signal the end of O2's exclusive deal with Apple to carry the iPhone in the UK. Orange says that more than 250,000 people have pre-registered their interest in the device so far.
But consumers hoping that the end of the exclusivity agreement will spark a price war between network operators will be left disappointed, with tariff pricing, contract periods and handset costs similar between the two operators.
For example, a 32GB iPhone 3GS handset will cost £96.50 on Orange's £44.04 per month, two-year contract; on O2, the same handset costs £96.89 on a £44.05 per month, two-year contract. That means Orange customers will pay just 39p less for the device than O2 customers, and will save a penny per month on the cost of their contracts.
However, Orange said it offered a "cheaper point of entry", with the 8GB iPhone 3G, the predecessor to the iPhone 3GS, available for free on a two-year, £29.36 per month contract; on O2, the cheapest tariff for this device on a two-year contract is £34.26 per month. It means that users signing up with Orange will save £117.60 over the life of the contract.
Vodafone is also due to start selling the iPhone from next year, and some customers say they will wait until then to see if Vodafone offers more competitive pricing.
"Uninspired with Orange's iPhone tariffs," wrote one person on Twitter. "I'll be wrapping the 3G in cotton wool and waiting for the best deal on the new iPhone in June."
"It's not the price war we were expecting so we hope Vodafone shakes things up," said Andrew Lim, an analyst with mobile phone comparison site Recombu.
All Orange contracts come with "unlimited" data use, which is designed to allow people to take advantage of the high-speed internet connections and full web browser available on the iPhone. However, there is a fair usage cap of 750MB of data use per month, although most users are unlikely to reach that figure.
Orange says that existing customers who want an iPhone will be prioritised, although the company says it is "confident" in its stock levels and that "there won't be a supply issue".
“Since we announced the iPhone on Orange we have already seen more than a quarter of a million customers register their interest on our website," said Tom Alexander, chief executive of Orange. "We will be matching their enthusiasm with a 3G mobile broadband network that covers more people in the UK than any other operator, a commitment to deliver the best 3G experience on the iPhone and best-in-class applications and plans.”
O2 has been criticised in recent months for outages in its data networks that have left iPhone users unable to make or receive calls. Some iPhone users have been so disgruntled with the quality of their network connection that they say they will switch to Orange in the hope of more consistent data connectivity.
Orange will be selling the iPhone in a number of stores, including Carphone Warehouse, Orange shops, and Phones4U. Carphone Warehouse said that by the end of the year, they expect to have sold more than one million iPhones since the device first went on sale in the UK in November 2007.
The iPhone 3GS is the latest device in the range, and has a touch-screen, three-megapixel camera with video-recording functions, a digital compass and voice control. Users can choose from more than 85,000 applications available through the iTunes App Store and download them on to their device.
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