UK's O2 places orders for "hundreds of thousands" of iPhones
O2, the largest mobile carrier in the UK and exclusive provider of Apple's iPhone for the region, says it expects the touch-screen handset to become its fastest selling phone yet when it goes on sale this Friday at 6:00 p.m.
Carolina Milanesi, an analyst at Gartner, found Key's forecast to be on the conservative end, and instead believes between 350,000 and 400,000 iPhones could be sold in the UK by January. Part of that success will have to hinge on O2's retail partner in the region, Carphone Warehouse.
In a separate interview with the Telegraph, Key recalls openly admitting to Apple chief executive Steve Jobs that O2 would need to use Carphone Warehouse as a retail partner to maximise distribution if it were selected as the exclusive iPhone carrier for the UK.
Key's openness reportedly chimed with Apple, which later revealed to have already mystery-shopped all O2's stores in the UK — something Jobs also did for himself before Apple formally announced its intention to use O2 as its exclusive provider for iPhone in the region.
"He's a hugely impressive guy, hugely impressive guy," Key said of Jobs. ''He clearly knows his stuff in a level of detail that for someone at that level is mindblowing, and he has a great incisiveness in terms of what the customer wants and needs in products."
The O2 chief said he knew immediately after his first two-hour meeting with Jobs that iPhone was a device he absolutely had to offer to his customners.
"In the UK market, where the top four networks have pretty much equal shares, it offers a great way for me to get a hell of a lot of high-value customers on to O2 and drive up data usage," he said.
48 Comments
Well, even if the low end of this forecast comes to pass, I'd like to see what all our snotty/snooty "3G+GPS+5MP+MMS+3rdParty-or-bust" pals in the EU have to say!
[Yoda voice] Jobs is strong with the RDF force, he is [\\Yoda voice]
According to MacUser.co.uk, O2 have also removed the "fair usage policy" for data !
I'm in the UK with a 3G phone, and would switch off 3G if I knew how. I just don't need it, and with free access to The Cloud, I'm thinking 3G is even less important. Looking forward to Friday.
What's with this "region" talk as well? Makes it sound more like a state of the EU. Whilst our politicians might be pushing for a United State of Europe, the people are protesting. The UK, whilst made up of four countries, is itself a country as well.
I look forward to seeing how well it does.
What's with this "region" talk as well? Makes it sound more like a state of the EU. Whilst our politicians might be pushing for a United State of Europe, the people are protesting. The UK, whilst made up of four countries, is itself a country as well.
Is the fourth country Northern Ireland? Is O2 releasing iPhone there as well?