In the latest round of European iPhone dealings, it looks like Spain’s O2 wireless carrier has inked a deal with Apple to exclusively deliver the iPhone to the UK. We’ve been expecting this for a while now, but the interesting thing here is that O2 has reportedly agreed to kickback 40% of revenues to the Cupertino, CA. company.
The Guardian is reporting that Apple had agreed to give O2 a break on the retail price of the iPhone in return for the higher-than-expected revenue sharing scheme. Carphone Warehouse is also expected to help O2’s retail outlets hock the iPhone.
We’ll know more tomorrow, at the Apple news conference in London. The UK iPhone deal is expected to be announced tomorrow. T-Mobile Germany is expected to announce their own iPhone deal tomorrow while Orange will confirm what we already know on Thursday.
Keep in mind, this is a 40% revenue kickback – not a profit kickback. O2 may have used the revenue kickback to entice Apple to signing a deal with them over Vodafone. Of course, we’ll have to wait until the deal is officially announced tomorrow before we draw any solid conclusions. But if this deal goes down like we expect, Apple’s going to be rolling in the greenbacks – more than they already are.
[Via: The Guardian]