While Apple were busy offering the US the iPod Touch, elsewhere around the globe people are still waiting for the iPhone - today, Jobs & co gave people in the UK good news and bad about their version of the coveted handset, which is set to launch, exclusively to carrier O2, on 9th November. It was a pretty short event in all - which our man with the frequent flyer miles, Vincent Nguyen, went specially to London for - but most of the big questions were touched upon (if not, in some frustrating cases, answered). So we know that come 9th November UK customers will be able to buy an 8GB iPhone, identical to the US model, for £269 with an 18-month contract.

Visual Voicemail has been freshly fettled for O2, while the biggest disappointment is the lack of a 3G upgrade which Jobs claimed was due to the required chips being particularly power-hungry. To salve the pain, Apple and O2 have negotiated free WiFi use from popular hotspot company The Cloud, who have 7,500 access points ready and waiting to rescue you from the drag of EDGE data, which so far O2 only has 30% coverage of anyway.

In a Q&A session following the announcement, reporters put questions about unlocking, alternative carriers and that elusive 3G upgrade; you can see his responses in our videos from the event, but to summarise he was by turns cagey, flattering and dismissive! You’ll be able to pick up the iPhone at O2 stores, Apple stores and UK cellphone retailer Carphone Warehouse; as with the US launch they’ll be limiting it to two handsets per customer, but they’re also refusing to take cash.

Three exclusive plans have been announced, all of them contract based with no pay-as-you-go option, coming in at £35, £45 and £55. All include unlimited (with fair-use policy of around 1400 pages per day) data and a variable amount of inclusive SMS messages and voice calls. Activation is handled using the same iTunes procedure as in the US, and O2 are claiming that number transfers from rival networks or existing customers can be ported in around five days (during which time you’ll have a temporary number).

UK users will be undoubtedly disappointed with the lack of high-speed cellular browsing, which despite Steve’s battery concerns is becoming pretty much standard on handsets sold in the country, and at the price which - albeit against a weak dollar - works out to $538 as opposed to $399 in the US after the recent price-cut. When asked if Apple UK would perform a similar price slash, Jobs said that nothing was planned but given the nature of the technology market “it could happen”. Lots of laughter at the time, but if the furore in the US has shown anything it’s that early-adopters don’t like being made to feel like suckers.

Will the iPhone revolutionise the UK cellphone market and strike fear into rival networks, as some members of the press are already claiming? Frankly, the more interesting aspect is the development of contract plans - particularly unlimited data, which the O2 rep said would be made available for other devices on the network come October 1st - and the integration with other data access providers (in this case The Cloud) where previously operators have been reluctant to inter-operate and have priced services accordingly, dissuading high. Online activation is similarly going to shake up the established model of buying a new handset, as it did in the US. What hasn’t happened is the major leap ahead of competitors that some expected a 3G iPhone to represent, nor a price tag in line with UK customer’s usual expectations of a “free” phone. It’ll be interesting to see how sales pan out in what could be argued to be a more discriminating market.

Videos from the Apple Event:

The new iPhone UK adverts:

SlashGear have the full Apple Event transcript, as Live Blogged, here, as well as a gallery of photos.