Will T-Mobile Carry The Iphone In Europe?
05.14.07 - 03:37pm
Here in the U.S. the iPhone will be sold via Cingular or the “New” AT&T, however, with the U.S. release possibly less than a month away, it has still not been decided who will carry the iPhone in Europe, when it is released there in the fall.
Typically a cell phone is released and sold via multiple carriers allowing for mass market penetration. The iPhone is taking a different route selling, at least in the U.S., exclusively through Cingular. This means one must already be a Cingular customer or go though the sometimes painful and costly process of switching carriers and abolishing previous contracts.
Cingular is not available in Europe leaving Apple to find another source to carry the iPhone. Vodafone is currently the largest carrier in Europe with over 200 million subscribers, Spain’s Telefnica is number two. The German T-Mobile is number 3 overall with 101 million subscribers - less than half of what Vodafone has and yet it is T-Mobile that is reportedly the front runner in negotiations to carry the phone in Europe.
This may have an underlying cause behind it as once the contract with Cingular is up in two years, and with a partnership already formed with the European T-Mobile it would then be a simple step to include it in the American T-Mobile thus reaching 85% of U.S. customers.
Still the T-Mobile base in the U.S. is only 25 million, not coming close to Vodafone’s 200 million. T-Mobile also has little or no presence in Italy, Spain or France which would make the iphone almost obsolete in these markets.
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