Deutsche Telekom has been home to the iPhone in Germany, but that may all soon come to an end just before the holidays hit. It also looks like Vodafone and O2 will be set to sell the popular Apple smartphone once that exclusivity deal is over, bringing the total number of providers in Germany selling the smartphone to three.
The Wall Street Journal reports, according to its sources:
Vodafone Group PLC and Telefónica SA’s O2 will sell the iPhone in addition to Deutsche Telekom, the people said. One said that deals haven’t been finalized, but added that negotiations are in an advanced stage. Deutsche Telekom’s exclusive rights to sell the device haven’t been extended and could end as early as October, posing a threat to growth in its home market.
Deutsche Telekom’s mobile-service revenue has outperformed that of its German rivals in recent quarters, partly because Deutsche Telekom has held exclusive rights to sell the iPhone since November 2007. Germany is the last major European market in which one provider has exclusive rights to sell the iPhone.
Apparently, Deutsche Telekom was also becoming annoyed with the iPhone 4 delays and shortages, which probably didn’t help its business much.
At the same time, Deutsche Telekom has been frustrated over delayed iPhone 4 shipments from Apple. Niek Jan van Damme, managing director of Deutsche Telekom’s German business, complained to the German magazine Focus last weekend that German consumers have to wait nine weeks for Apple’s iPhone 4.
Nine weeks! And you thought your one to three week wait in the U.S. was bad.
Now if only AT&T would lose its exclusivity in the United States, which it sort of hinted at just a few weeks ago as it assured its investors of its future. Would it mean an Apple smartphone for T-Mobile in the U.S.? Or perhaps a CDMA version for the Verizon or Sprint network? It wouldn’t make too much sense to me with LTE networks on the way, but it’s a possibility.
[Via: WSJ]