European iPhone carrier still up in the air
With the US launch of the iPhone only a few months away, speculation has been increasing as to who exactly will be offering the iPhone in other countries. Europe in particular has been fueling several rumors, with Vodafone getting the most attention. Adding to the complexity are the murmurs of a 3G iPhone for Europe.
Perhaps tellingly, the head of Vodafone has spoken enthusiastically about the iPhone. It may seem like a no-brainer not to speak ill of the iPhone if you’re an executive at a major mobile phone carrier, but just tell that to Australia’s Telstra, whose motto is “No bridge left unburned.” There’s also the simple fact that if Apple is set on using only one carrier in Europe, there aren’t a great number of options to choose from.
If the decision by Apple to focus on having one carrier for all of Europe strikes you as curious, there are likely some very good justifications. As the Vodafone chief said, the iPhone should be exciting to many companies because of the revenue potential opened up by its multimedia capabilities. Carriers can now get a piece of the iTunes Store action, in a sense. For Apple, though, each carrier represents a new party to go through long negotiations with and to maintain a relationship with. Doing this across several countries and carriers would be incredibly complicated and time consuming. With a larger carrier like Vodafone, this is greatly simplified.
For our European readers out there, do you have a carrier preference for the iPhone? Would you be happy with Vodafone?
Filed under: iPhone News
I am in The Netherlands and Vodafone is one of the 5 mobile phone networks. Out of them it is one of the 2 that are quality providers (another one is a domestic powerhouse, ex-monopoly KPN).
Vodafone has a good reputation here, they were the first to bring 3G network, first with HSDPA, etc. However their motto is that service should be good enough and their standards of service are not always up to KPN golden standard. But they are good enough, they have reasonable price plans (flat fee UMTS data plan is something like 50 euro’s per month which is too much for individual users, but fine for businesses).
They also have adventage if you travel elsewehere in EU because you can use their other networks in those coutries to call cheaper. I am not their customer now, but I will switch to them if they get iPhone. The total package (phone + carrier) is better then any other phone+carrier package on the market except for the really very very cheap ones.
I expect that Vodafone will need to adjust their priceplans to fit data intensive needs of the iPhone and price sensitive wallets of the consumers.
Vodafone has sold its Swedish branch to Telenor, and it has been rebranded to Telenor. It seems Vodafone is pulling out of markets where it can’t compete.
Europe simply has more operators, and Apple shouldn’t limit the sales of its iPhone by tying it to one single operator in Europe.
If Vodafone take on the iPhone I will move to them as soon as possible. They have an ok coverage in the UK, not quite as good as T Mobile here in Scotland. However I’d be willing to accept the small loss of coverage for the iPhone.
No way would I switch to Vodafone. I have an amazing deal with Orange (£15 for 2000 cross network minutes). Anyway,,, an Orange Apple would be cool!