UK

O2 customers can now purchase iTunes credit and have it charged to their wireless bill

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 29, 2014

Telefónica-owned UK carrier O2 announced via a press release on Monday that its customers can now buy iTunes credit and have the purchase charged directly to their monthly wireless bill. Furthermore, customers can also purchase iTunes credit by taking it out of their Pay & Go phone credit.

The development is part of Charge to Mobile, an alternative method of payment already used by over a hundred merchants in the United Kingdom through O2’s online and mobile channels. Folks can use Charge to Mobile to pay for digital content, with O2 claiming that its customers have made over ten million transactions to date.

Entertainment and Sky Movies monthly passes now available to Apple TV users in UK

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 24, 2014

Owners of the Apple TV media-streaming box in the United Kingdom can now take advantage of both Entertainment Month Pass and Sky Movies Month Pass via an expanded NOW TV channel by UK home entertainment and communications provider Sky, technology website Engadget reported and Sky confirmed Wednesday.

These two new options are in addition to the existing £9.99 (US$16.5) Sky Sports day pass which launched on NOW TV in December 2013.

Check out cheeky newspaper ad by British carrier O2 that hints at iPhone 6

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 1, 2014

Cat humor is making the jump from the Internet to print in a cheeky new newspaper advertisement by Telefónica-owned British carrier O2. The ad amusingly teases the next iPhone, which will be announced next Tuesday.

A quick photo of the advertisement has been shared on Twitter Monday morning by Tom Warren, Senior Reporter for the technology website The Verge.

“Our O2 Gurus can help you master your smart devices,” reads the ad's copy. “Unless it's the new ... as it's not out until ... / .... / ...”.

Jump past the fold for the full scan of the advertisement.

Apple drops Apple TV price to €99 in Europe and £79 in the UK

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 18, 2014

Boy, Apple surely seems laser-focused on making its products more price-competitive. Minutes after releasing a $200 cheaper baseline 21.5-inch iMac model, now starting at just $1,099, word comes that its set-top box, the Apple TV which retails for $99 in the United States, has been discounted in the United Kingdom and across the European Union markets....

iTunes Radio expanding to UK soon, iAd director meets with UK ad agencies

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 27, 2016

More signs are pointing to an imminent iTunes Radio launch in the United Kingdom. The company recently banned London-based music streaming service Bloom.fm from advertising on its iAd platform citing competitive reasons and now Apple's iAd director is meeting with the country's ad agencies, seemingly in preparation for iTunes Radio roll-out in the 63 million people market of United Kingdom...

Apple bans UK’s iTunes Radio competitor from iAd

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 11, 2014

Bloom.fm, a London-based music streaming service, on Friday made it known on Twitter that Apple's blocked it from advertising on its iAd platform, citing competitive reasons.

"Apple just banned our ads because we're 'a competitive service to iTunes Radio and it is against Apple policy'", reads the tweet.

The service has a catalog of 22 million tracks that can be streamed for as low as £1 a month (about $1.67).

It's easy to see why Apple has taken a stance against the service: its own iTunes Store sells individual song downloads for the price of a month's worth of unlimited streaming on Bloom.fm. The development has prompted Bloom.fm to boast that "We must be big time now", adding the team was surprised to learn that Apple even noticed what such a small company was doing...

8GB iPhone 5c only available in UK, France, Germany, Australia and China

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 18, 2014

Apple's newly launched cheaper iPhone 5c model with eight gigabytes of storage is only available in select few markets, a spokesperson for the company confirmed Tuesday. The device is available in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Australia and China. It is not, however, on sale in the United States, for the time being.

By comparison, the relaunched fourth-generation iPad with Retina display is available across all territories because that device is a replacement for the company's phased-out iPad 2 and now represents the new entry-level, full-size iPad offering. The introduction of the entry-level 8GB iPhone 5c is largely viewed as an effort to help boost the device's lagging sales...

AT&T and UK’s EE sign LTE roaming agreement

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 17, 2013

After announcing last week it'd become the first major U.S. wireless carrier to offer international roaming through a new partnership with Canada's Rogers Communications, the nation's second-largest carrier, AT&T, today announced another global LTE agreement, this one with the United Kingdom's top 4G LTE network, Everything Everywhere, or just EE.

The deal makes EE UK's first domestic wireless provider to offer inbound 4G LTE roaming for travellers on international networks visiting the UK. AT&T's customers traveling abroad will be able to hop over to EE's fast 4G LTE network some time in the first half of next year, EE said Tuesday...

Sky Sports channel with daily passes now available to UK’s Apple TV owners

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 17, 2013

If you live in the United Kingdom and own Apple's $99 Apple TV, turn on your media-streaming box and look for a newly-added content source, the Sky Sports channel from Now TV. There's a total of six different Sky Sports channels to choose from, including F1 racing, Barclays Premier League football matches, cricket and more.

And cable cutters, check this out - you can purchase rather pricey daily passes from within the app, without the need for a cable subscription, thanks to Now TV and Sky Sports both sharing the same parent company, British Sky Broadcasting Group plc (BSkyB)...

Three switches on its UK 4G LTE network, expands roaming to US

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

Three, one of UK's top wireless companies, yesterday began turning on its new fourth-generation Long-Term Evolution (LTE) network in select locations. The carrier claims to run the UK’s fastest-growing 3G network which covers more than 97 percent of the country's population.

In addition to Three's first LTE sightings in the UK, the company is also extending its Feel At Home roaming service to the United States, starting today. The U.S. joins other countries where Feel At Home has been available, including Austria, Australia, Denmark, Hong Kong, Italy, the Republic of Ireland and Sweden.

The service allows Three's UK-based Feel At Home customers to use their voice minutes, text messages and cellular data for no charge while traveling outside the UK and roaming the aforementioned countries...

In-store iPhone trade-in launches in UK

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated September 26, 2016

The rumors were true: Apple launching its iPhone trade-in program in the United States in late-August, the company on Monday officially announced that customers visiting its retail stores across the United Kingdom can bring in their previous-generation iPhone for reuse or recycling and receive a credit that can be used toward the purchase of a new iPhone. More details right after the fold...

Apple’s iPhone trade-in program reportedly headed to the UK

Cody Lee ∙ October 9, 2013

Following rumors and speculation, Apple officially launched its iPhone trade-in program on August 30. Available in all US Apple Stores, customers can use the program to turn their old iPhones into cash—up to $280.

At the moment, Apple is only accepting trade-ins in the United States, but that could be changing soon. According to a new report, the company has plans to launch the program in the UK within the next few months...