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Apple Reaches iPhone Deals with T-Mobile, Orange, and O2: FT Report

12:35 am on August 23, 2007 | Category: Business, Cell Phones, Mobile Devices, Telecom Services, Wireless

Apple Inc. has finalized its first three iPhone deals with European wireless carriers, after weeks of intense negotiations, according to a recent report in the Financial Times newspaper.

The Apple iPhone will be sold exclusively by T-Mobile in Germany, Orange in France, and O2 in the UK, according to the report. Each of these mobile phone operators has agreed to give Apple 10% of all voice and data revenue generated by the device, according to unnamed sources cited by the Financial Times.

Apple is expected to formally announce the iPhone deals next week at the IFA international consumer electronics exhibition in Berlin, after which carriers will rush to get the iPhone on store shelves in time for the Christmas shopping season.

The iPhone device is virtually guaranteed to give a boost to Apple’s chosen carriers, said Forrester Research analyst, Niek van Veen, in a recent interview, which is why Apple has been able to drive such a hard bargain for exclusive contracts.

The hardware giant’s apparent request for a percentage of revenues, however, has made negotiations long and difficult to say the least.

“It’s more than just a question of reach and what Apple wants, it’s how much operators are willing to sacrifice their current [business] model for this phone,” van Veen commented.

But ultimately, the pressure to have iPhones in stores by Christmas seems to have forced carriers to act fast, granting Apple’s revolutionary profit-sharing request, for better or worse.

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