Vodafone To Get iPhone For Europe?
By Christopher Nickson
June 29, 2007
According to reports, Vodafone is close to making a deal with Apple to market the iPhone in Europe when it's released there later this year.
Today’s U.S. release of the iPhone is probably the biggest mobile phone event of the year. But who will have the rights for the iPhone when it appears in Europe later this year? According to many, the frontrunner is Vodafone, one of the continent’s major mobile networks, which is close to inking a deal with Apple.
Sources have said only final details remain to be ironed out, including whether Apple will require a minimum sales guarantee, and any subsidies involved in the deal.
In the U.S., the iPhone will operate on both AT&T’s Edge data network as well as Wi-Fi networks. In Europe, however, 3G is almost everywhere, and offers much faster data speeds, so it’s expected the iPhone would be configured for that.
It would be a strong boost for Vodafone, who lost $11 billion last year. Although no date has been set for the phone’s European release, it’s expected to be before the end of the year. However, the price of the device could create problems, since consumers in Europe tend to spend a lot less on sets.
But with 200 million customers across Europe, Vodafone is a dominant player in the market, and it seems set to edge out Orange and Deutsche Telekom.