Reports from Register Hardware and guardian.co.uk suggest the appearance of the iPhone 3G on the British T-Mobile network could happen in the next few months.
The Register said O2âs exclusive agreement for the iPhone 3GS appears to remain secure. O2 would also carry the iPhone 3G.
âThis represents a major shift in how Apple markets the iPhone,â The Register said, âwhich currently relies on network exclusives to get a decent subsidy; giving that up shows either greater confidence or reflected disappointment in how O2 has priced up the latest offering.â
The report from guardian.co.uk goes a step further: It states it is âunderstoodâ that both Orange and Vodafone are interested in providing the iPhone on their networks as well, if Apple changes its strategy. If that were to come to pass, all of the U.K.âs major cell phone carriers would provide some version of the iPhone.
Richard Moat, T-Mobile U.K.âs new managing director, has taken his position as the company is in the midst of financial trouble. Because T-Mobile does not offer the best handset selection, gaining access to the iPhone 3G would be a major coup for Moat.
âMoat, however, is preparing to reveal his plans to turn around T-Mobile's fortunes in the UK market,â guardian.co.uk wrote, âwhere it has fallen far behind O2, Vodafone and Orange.â
When it was released in Europe in November of 2007, the iPhone debuted on O2 in the United Kingdom and on T-Mobile in Germany. Much like it did with AT&T in the U.S., Apple secured exclusive agreements with carriers in each nation.
Though it is headquartered in Germany, T-Mobile has subsidiaries in various nations, including the U.S. and U.K.
Though exclusivity for the iPhone through one carrier is the most common arrangement, non-exclusive deals are not unheard of. Since 2008, Apple has signed a number of non-exclusive carrier contracts in various countries.
14 Comments
Let's hope T-Mobile US will follow soon! I am sick of at&t!!!
Its About time this happened..
Then Iphone users with o2 will get a better deal on there tariffs...
Bring it on Apple
Very good news if true. Competition is good for consumers.
O2 have the highest tariffs and lowest subsidies of any of the major networks in the UK. Their 3G coverage is also the poorest. T-Mobile should be able to shake things up nicely.
That is very true. T-Mobile has always had a very poor selection of phones.
The situation outside of the USA is of course different than here, since most if not all networks use the GSM-system. In the USA only AT&T offers GSM on the 3G frequencies that the iPhone uses.
T-Mobile is still far away from their goal they set in 2001 to become the largest mobile network in the USA, but also in other countries they don't seem to do as well as they would like. I wouldn't be surprised when T-Mobile had already tried to get the iPhone on their US-network too, but as we all know, this has been secured by AT&T.
However anyone who knows the German mentality will agree that they are very stubborn, tough negotiators and usually get what they want. We'll wait and see...
Seems odd that T-Mobile would be picking it up as the 5th worst network out of the available 5. That and they are selling their UK outfit, with Vodafone a likely contender as a potential bidder.