Quote from sam93 :

She didn't price it up with any network, it was from a apple shop in the trafford centre in manchester and with everything for it, by that I mean extras what don't come with the phone added up to £1,500, thats when they first came to the country. I know what there price is now, but that is only when I had a look for them on the net the other day.

That's like saying the G25 steering wheel is £2000, because you can buy loads of stuff that doesn't come with it, like a brand new PC and 24" monitor.
The iPhone was £269 the day it came out and it is still £269. Even if you buy it from an Apple store it is still technically an O2 phone. All iPhones in the UK are O2 phones, weather u buy it from an Apple store, Carphone Warehouse, or O2.