O2 offers cut-price iPhone 4S to SMBs

O2 is offering small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) the chance to get hold of an iPhone 4S on a "lease."

The deals see the iPhone 4S handed over to SMBs with no upfront cost for one year. All firms need to do is contact O2 to ask for a lease, pay 45 a month and they'll get the phone, insurance as well as 500MB of data for 12 months.

Consumers can get hold of an iPhone 4S 16GB for 47, with 500MB of data, but they will be locked in for 24 months and will not get the extras SMBs do. These bonuses include unlimited O2 to O2 minutes and unlimited calls to 10 UK landlines and as many texts as required.

At the end of the lease, SMBs will be asked to hand the phone back to O2.

"We know that small businesses are used to leasing items from cars to photocopiers and office space," said Ben Dowd, director for O2 Business in the UK.

"They understand how it works and what the advantages of leasing are. We have simply taken this idea and applied it to the smartphone market."

Telecoms companies are flocking to SMBs in search for more revenue. Right back at the start of the year, Orange unveiled its Pocket Landline offering for SMBs, which was designed to ensure companies never missed calls wherever they were.

Tom Brewster is currently an associate editor at Forbes and an award-winning journalist who covers cyber security, surveillance, and privacy. Starting his career at ITPro as a staff writer and working up to a senior staff writer role, Tom has been covering the tech industry for more than ten years and is considered one of the leading journalists in his specialism.

He is a proud alum of the University of Sheffield where he secured an undergraduate degree in English Literature before undertaking a certification from General Assembly in web development.