3 Mobile gets iPhone; warning to Optus and Vodafone staff

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Monday, 02 June 2008 07:37

Your IT - Mobility

3 Mobile gets the iPhone at last – but only for Hong Kong and Macau. Meanwhile the firing of iPhone sales staff at UK reseller O2 sends a clear warning to Optus and Vodafone sales staff in Australia to avoid the same fate.

Hutchison, the parent company of Three (3) Mobile, has announced that it will soon be selling the iPhone in Hong Kong and Macau.

Although 3 Mobile is well known for its leadership in bringing 3G telecommunications services to the world, 3 Mobile in Hong Kong and Macau also resells GSM and CDMA services in addition to 3G telecommunications, although no-one believes the next iPhone won’t be a 3G device.

Hutchison’s press release was as brief as all the others of late, saying only that: “Hutchison Telecommunications (Hong Kong) Limited today announced that it has signed an agreement with Apple to bring the iPhone to Hong Kong and Macau later this year.”

When willl 3 Mobile announce it will sell the iPhone in Australia? Sadly there's no word of that as yet, something that's also the case for Telstra.

That said, if neither company announces an iPhone sales deal pre-June 9, such a deal could still be issued post June 9. Such things could also depend on 3G iPhone stocks, of which there may simply not be enough to go around for all carriers just yet. Time will tell.

Meanwhile, iPhone sales staff, whether at Apple or one of its telecommunications partners, continue doing allegedly stupid things which see them end up either under investigation, getting fired, or both.

Although we have seen stories of Apple store employees accused of stealing hundreds of iPhones for resale profit, the latest story revolves around UK iPhone telco partner and reseller O2. 

An article in the Contractor UK says that O2 staff “abused their entitlement to discount on Apple’s iPhone by buying the handset at the reduced rate to later sell it on at a price over the internet.”

Six O2 employees have reportedly been fired, with another 20 under investigation.

Please read on to page 2 for details of the discounts achieved and why it portends badly for Vodafone and Optus staff thinking of doing the same thing, with telco attitudes to staff discounts radically and rapidly changing, at least when it comes to the iPhone.