Simplyfreeiphone dot com

Tesco is to enter the increasingly crowded market for Apple’s iPhone next week when the grocer will launch a mini price war on the smartphone. The supermarket group, which secured the rights to the phone last month, will start selling the 3G and 3GS iPhone models on Monday, offering a annual contract for just £20 a month. Customers will have to pay £222 for the basic 3G 8GB handset however.

The deal undercuts rivals O2 and Orange, which offer a lowest rate of just over £29 a month. Tesco also requires customers to sign up only for one year, compared to two years at its rivals, though their contracts make no charge for the phone.

I’ve just been alerted to this breaking news on the BBC website:

Supermarket giant Tesco has joined a growing number of UK firms offering Apple’s popular iPhone.

A spokesperson for the firm said that it hoped to offer the iPhone 3GS  ”in time for Christmas”. Although Tesco has not revealed tariffs, the spokesperson said that its prices were “competitive”.