It had to happen: UK operator O2 is slashing the price of the 8GB version of the iPhone to £169 ($332) from £269 ($528), prompting more chatter that the arrival of the 3G iPhone is nigh, reports Mobile Today. The price cuts come two weeks after T-Mobile Germany trimmed the price of 8GB iPhones to 99 euros from 399 euros ($628). O2 is limiting the sale from tomorrow until 1 June and will not include the 16GB version, which stays at its original price of £329 ($646). In the UK, press reports based on anecdotal evidence suggested iPhone sales were languishing, with only one iPhone sold each week in a typically sized O2 store. In January, however, O2 CEO Matthew Key refuted them, saying that iPhone sales were “in line” with “internal goals"--which was 200,000 by the end of January. O2 has also tweaked data plans that included the iPhone, which was again seized upon as evidence of poor sales. The operator took pains to say that the new data plans were merely an adjustment and that they did not signal anything about iPhone sales.

• O2 UK Cuts iPhone Tariff; Says Only An “Adjustment”
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• UK iPhone Sales Sluggish?