iPhone to hit Tesco shelves

iPhone exclusivity is well and truly over, in the UK at least, with the news that supermarket Tesco is to stock the device and might even do so in time for Christmas.

It might be that Tesco Mobile, which is a 50:50 joint venture MVNO with O2 UK, had something of an edge in the negotiations, given that O2 has had iPhone exclusivity for the past two years.

O2’s advantage was brought to an end however with Orange’s recent launch of the device, and news that Vodafone will sell the handset after Christmas. So it looks like Tesco might even beat Vodafone to the punch, allowing consumers to buy an iPhone 3G or 3GS whist picking up the turkey. There’s no detail on pricing however, although telecoms.com doesn’t reckon the much talked about iPhone price war will happen, especially in light or Orange’s offering.