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UK: O2 iPhone exclusive to end in October?

Categories: O2, UK News
By: , IntoMobile
Thursday, August 6th, 2009 at 1:50 PM
The iPhone 3G

Well yes, according to Mobile Entertainment. They are claiming to have seen docs that state October 9th is ‘end of days’, so to speak.

Apparently O2 has the rights to sell iPhones for 5 years, but only has exclusivity for 2 years. What this would probably mean is that T-Mobile and Orange (who have been strongly linked with the iPhone) get the iPhone 3G, but O2 (I’d guess) will get to keep exclusivity on the iPhone 3GS – and I’d bet they won’t surrender the exclusivity on further handsets either!

Interestingly, although the iPhone is sold in around 80 countries, it’s only exclusive in the US, UK, and Germany – so changes in the UK wouldn’t be a massive shock.

I personally can’t wait to see the kind of tariffs that T-Mobile and Orange will come with, if they do get the rights to sell the iPhone 3G – it could suddenly make things VERY interesting!

[Via: Mobile-Ent.biz]

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About The Author

Ben Robinson

Ben is a 10+ year veteran of the Mobile industry – starting his career when SMS was a still a relatively new concept for most people (!), he has now consulted on everything from bleeding-edge Mobile content, to the next-gen accessories you might view it on. As a result he has a broad and deep knowledge in numerous areas of Mobile – from network operators to device vendors, to infrastructure and middleware vendors (not to mention content delivery) – and has worked for companies in all of these areas! He is based in the UK, a hotbed of activity for mobile, and recently became a father for the second time – as oppose to in his younger years when he was happy spend time tweaking all manner of mobile devices to 'nth' degree, he now looks for services and hardware that provide the most efficient, compact, and reliable improvements to his already manic life! It’s his opinion that Mobile solutions should be there to help to make your life better – if a particular solution (be it service or device) isn’t doing this, he believes you need to ask the very important question of why you continue to use it... His focus at IntoMobile is mainly on Mobile content, services, and infrastructure, particularly as regards the UK market – and with the occasional look at devices. Additionally, using his extensive experience in the industry, he will provide commentary on the industry at large, with regular (and hopefully thought-provoking) articles.