So, the "Jesus phone" finally arrives in the UK.

Apple has confirmed, as expected, that the UK partner for its much-hyped - and occasionally sabotaged - iPhone, is to be O2, and that the device will go on sale on November 9.

At £900 the starter package - including the £269 device and a minimum 18-month contract at £35 a month - is no snip.

It's likely, however, that many early customers - among them the tech cognescenti and the fashion-conscious who have become its disciples - will view the purchase not just as of a phone, but as a combined music player/internet browser/personal organiser device, and therefore as one worth the expenditure.

Apple unveils £900 UK iPhone

Apple says the £269 phone, player and internet surfer comes tied to a £35 a month contract with network operator O2

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The cost, however, will arguably be the least of O2's worries.

UK customers have long been used to their phones being heavily subsidised by their contracts, and analysts have pointed out that several other top-end handsets, particularly 3G handsets, would cost twice what the iPhone does were the cost not absorbed into the monthly tariff.

In trying to lure in as many new customers as possible with the promise that theirs is the UK's only iPhone-compatible network, the more significant issue for O2 may turn out to be whether Apple can contain the menace of 'iPhone unlocking'.

The reality is that today's event was not the UK launch at all, and that hundreds of iPhones bought in the US and on the internet are already being used to make calls on UK networks, courtesy of the many unlocking services now available on the internet.

Unlocking software, which in five minutes frees up the device to work on any network, can now be bought for as little as £25, meaning that an existing T-Mobile user can embark on life with an iPhone with his or her existing contract for an outlay of just under £300. (There are now also free versions of the unlock, though the level of expertise required to install them is greater.)

Another issue is network speed.

The iPhone is marketed as a phone, internet browser, and music player wrapped into one, but it is not a 3G device. That means that many of its most endearing features, when used via the phone network, can be painfully slow. (Owners typically report an internet page taking between 30 seconds and a minute to download on a 2.5G network.)

This is doubly disappointing for O2: firstly because it probably hoped that Steve Jobs would wait until the iPhone was a 3G device before launching in Europe, and secondly because it now has to upgrade its existing network to be compatible with Edge - the iPhone's designated network.

(Edge - 2.75G - is slightly faster than GPRS - 2.5G, which is faster than GSM - 2G. The analysts' analogy goes: if GPRS is like a one lane country lane, Edge is two lanes most of the time, standard 3G is like the M25 ,and HSDPA, one of the most advanced networks, is like a Los Angeles freeway, but without all the traffic.)

According to analysts, the cost to O2 of upgrading its network - which chief executive Matthew Key said today would offer 30 per cent coverage for iPhone on Edge by launch time - is likely to be in the millions, though not tens of millions, of pounds.

There is, of course, the promise that iPhone owners will have 'free, unlimited use' of the internet via the Cloud's network of 10,000 hotspots across the UK, which may offer some consolation.

Another thing O2 may not have betted on was Apple's announcement earlier this month that it would soon release the iPod 'touch' - essentially an iPhone without the phone - which will be another enticement for customers wanting an internet-capable, Apple device, but who are not willing switch networks.

Mr Key's rather careful comment, when asked about this at today's press conference, was: "One of the great things about working with Apple is they are always moving forward."

It mustn't be forgotten, however, that this is Apple - producer of the untouchable iPod - and that sales of the iPhone US passed the million mark in just 74 days.

Market research conducted by O2 prior to gaining the iPhone contract suggested that 40 per cent of 'high end' phone owners would switch networks for the privilege of using it.

The operator will be hoping very much that its figures were correct.

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