One of the things that’s angered a lot of potential iPhone customers is the network lock-in. In the US, you have to suffer AT&T; in the UK, you deal with O2, with its penchant for regular network death—it’s always fun when you’re trying to call someone and there’s no network at all, because it’s fallen over like an old drunk with far too much whiskey inside him.

Today’s announcement from Orange (Orange to sell iPhone in UK) doesn’t exactly fill me with joy, though. It’s a bit like being at a packed cinema and someone sitting next to you with shit on their shoe. They get up to leave, and you’re happy about this, but then someone sits next to you with shit on their other shoe. Orange is not a great network, and its packages have gone batshit crazy in recent years (“Let’s use animals to brand them—people like animals! What’s that? We should provide value, flexibility or both? Are you MAD? WE WANT ANIMALS! YOU’RE FIRED!”)

Hope the first: this drives competition, pushing O2 to improve its services and drop its entry price to £25/month with half-decent minutes/texts/data allowances, rather than both companies essentially offering what O2 provides now—and for the same price.

Hope the second: Vodaphone throws its hat into the ring.