If the rumors are true, Apple will be on to a major financial winner in Europe with the iPhone. In an unprecedented deal, the company is said to be demanding 10% of the iPhone voice and data revenue from potential European carriers.
Will anyone bite? Yes, because consumers want the phone, and that means networks will bite the bullet and meet Apple’s terms. It worked before with the iPod, where the iTunes store was effectively able to dictate terms to record labels who wanted to sell music there.
For several months there’s been widespread speculation over who’ll sign up the iPhone in Europe. Currently the betting seems to be on Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile in Germany, Telefonica’s O2 in the United Kingdom, and France Telecom’s Orange in France. However, no one’s talking yet. It’s likely that the announcement will be made later this week at a Berlin trade show.
However, that date might prove premature. France Telecom executive Louis-Pierre Wenes said, “Several operators are still in talks with Apple. I think it will be several weeks beforewe have an announcement. A deal in September, as has been reported, seems impossible to me, if only for technical reasons.” In the U.S. Apple has an exclusive deal with AT&T for the iPhone, and reportedly receives $3 a month for each iPhone subscriber and $8 for each new subscriber.
