Following the iPhone's launch in the US earlier this ear, Apple are set to launch their much-hyped phone in the UK.

Mobile phone operator O2, owned by Spain's Telefonica, has won the exclusive contract to sell the handset, which features touch-sensitive screen, combined with built-in iPod player and wireless media browser.

|PIC1|The phones will be sold in O2, Carphone Warehouse and Apple stores from 9 November costing £269 including VAT.

Users will get free use of 7,500 wi-fi hotspots giving faster internet access.

Customers will have to pay a minimum cost of 899 pounds for the iPhone , though will not have access to use the high-speed 3G networks.

Instead, customers will be offered, Edge, which works on existing networks, though is much slower than 3G.

In the US, Apple recently slashed the price of its $599 model to $399, having sold over one million units, 900,000 are now forecast for the September quarter.