German and UK iPhone sales exceed targets

German T-Mobile and O2 in the UK, the mobile operators with exclusive sales rights in their countries, reported strong first-day iPhone sales. T-Mobile reported selling 10,000 devices on the first day. O2 sales greatly exceeded expectations, with 8,000 in sales compared to the 3,000 target. Orange France, with the exclusive rights in France, will launch the device on November 29. The devices cost €399 ($540) in France for the 8GB model and £269 ($550) in the UK. Users in both countries are required to sign special subscription packages. It is reported that O2 has a 5 year exclusivity deal, similar to ATT's contract in the U.S. Of special interest is the fact that O2 UK agreed to give Apple 40 percent (yes, 40%) of the revenue it makes from customers using the device, while it was reported that the launch in France was delayed because of Orange discontent with demands for at least 33% of service revenues.

2 comments:

Monte said...

Vodafone Germany just slapped T-Mobile with a court order preventing it from selling the iPhone until the phone is available SIM-free, a significant challenge to Apple's go-to-market strategy. France law also requires the device to be SIM-Free.

Jean Scholtes said...

Another reason for discontent, in this case on the German side of the cross-border (labor) market, might be the Orange announcement of the 27th, indicating that the SIM-Free device in France will be around 35% cheaper than the German Sim-Free version.