Report: T-Mobile/O2/... Win iPhone Deal
Deutsche Telekom's (DT) mobile phone unit T-Mobile clinched a deal to bring Apple Inc.'s (AAPL) iPhone handset to Germany, according to a report in a German daily.
Spanish-owned mobile phone operator O2 has yet to sign any deal to bring iPhone mobile phones -- Apple Inc.'s latest "must-have" gadget -- to Britain.
Without citing sources, Rheinische Post said in a preview of a story to be published on Wednesday that T-Mobile is expected to sell the iPhone exclusively with a T-Mobile contract for around 450 euros ($612) starting Nov 1.
Deutsche Telekom and T-Mobile were not immediately available for comment.
Apple has signed up top U.S. telecoms operator AT&T Inc. (T) in an exclusive deal for at least two years to sell the phone in the United States, where customers willing to sign a two-year contract are expected to pay $500 to $600 for a handset.
In Europe, Britain's Vodafone Group (VOD), Deutsche Telekom, Paris-based France Telecom (FTE) and Spain's Telefonica (TEF) have been tipped as potential partners for Apple.
But the reports, some of which tipped France Telecom's Orange as close to securing a similar deal in France and which followed a German newspaper article on Wednesday that Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile was set to win a German contract, weighed on European market leader Vodafone's shares.
Shares in Vodafone Group Plc, which jumped last week partly on hopes the group would secure an exclusive, pan-European iPhone deal, slipped by more than two percent by the close. Telefonica, Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom traded broadly flat in a weaker European telecoms market.
Some analysts noted that Apple, whose iPhones combine its hugely popular iPod digital music player, a video player and Web browser, looked set to mimic the three-country strategy it used to launch its iTunes online music store in Europe in 2004.
Source: Reuters
Spanish-owned mobile phone operator O2 has yet to sign any deal to bring iPhone mobile phones -- Apple Inc.'s latest "must-have" gadget -- to Britain.
Without citing sources, Rheinische Post said in a preview of a story to be published on Wednesday that T-Mobile is expected to sell the iPhone exclusively with a T-Mobile contract for around 450 euros ($612) starting Nov 1.
Deutsche Telekom and T-Mobile were not immediately available for comment.
Apple has signed up top U.S. telecoms operator AT&T Inc. (T) in an exclusive deal for at least two years to sell the phone in the United States, where customers willing to sign a two-year contract are expected to pay $500 to $600 for a handset.
In Europe, Britain's Vodafone Group (VOD), Deutsche Telekom, Paris-based France Telecom (FTE) and Spain's Telefonica (TEF) have been tipped as potential partners for Apple.
But the reports, some of which tipped France Telecom's Orange as close to securing a similar deal in France and which followed a German newspaper article on Wednesday that Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile was set to win a German contract, weighed on European market leader Vodafone's shares.
Shares in Vodafone Group Plc, which jumped last week partly on hopes the group would secure an exclusive, pan-European iPhone deal, slipped by more than two percent by the close. Telefonica, Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom traded broadly flat in a weaker European telecoms market.
Some analysts noted that Apple, whose iPhones combine its hugely popular iPod digital music player, a video player and Web browser, looked set to mimic the three-country strategy it used to launch its iTunes online music store in Europe in 2004.
Source: Reuters