Apple to begin EU iPhone push with O2

Stan Beer
Thursday, 05 July 2007 16:34

Business IT - Technology

Just days after a monstrous US launch, Apple's iPhone is being readied for its European onslaught with news coming out of the UK that Telefonika's mobile phone subsidiary O2 will be the exclusive carrier for the UK. If a Financial Times report , which claims to have inside knowledge, is correct then the big loser in Europe will be the continent's largest carrier Vodafone.

According to the report, O2 will be the UK iPhone carrier, Orange will look after France, while T-Mobile will get the nod from Apple in Germany.

As the FT points out, ironically Vodafone may miss out on the initial iPhone business because it's 3G network is too advanced for the current 2.5G handset Apple has just brought to market.

If the report is true, some may consider that Apple is taking a bit of a risk by releasing a new mobile product based on old generation technology in the advanced European market which is already accustomed to a more advanced level of mobile telecommunications than the US. Europeans are also accustomed to buying their phones on subsidised plans with minimal or no upfront cost - something that Apple reportedly has no intention of doing with iPhone.

In Apple's favor, however, is the almost unbelievable response to the iPhone's US release. Early indications appear to show that US consumers are not viewing the iPhone as another mobile phone or even smartphone but an entirely new type of multifunction communications and entertainment device. Whether European consumers respond in a similar fashion remains to be seen. If so, then Steve Jobs will feel confident that his new toy is ready to take the world by storm.